Bill Maher mocks the left's outrage over 'Lake America' with a dig at political correctness

The HBO host used his monologue to ridicule the left's outrage over Trump's decision to rename Lake Ontario, and took a jab at those who advocate changing terms to fit a political agenda.

In the midst of a trade war with Canada, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday from the Oval Office to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America," one of the Great Lakes.

Maher: "Just ask any Latinx birthing person"

During Friday's opening segment of "Real Time," the comedian mocked the left's reaction to Trump's decision. "Trump is so mad at Canada he renamed Lake Ontario Lake America," he joked. "Now I gotta buy a new globe again."

But his sharpest jab came when responding to those criticizing the move. "The liberals are very pissed at this," he noted. "They say you can’t just go around changing things to fit your political agenda. Just ask any Latinx birthing person."

With that statement, Maher took direct aim at the hypocrisy that, according to him, permeates the debate: the left, which has been pushing for changes in terminology for years, can't complain now that someone else is changing the names.

Criticism from conservative media

Maher's stance resonated with voices in conservative media analysis. Curtis Houck, managing editor of NewsBusters, pointed out to Fox News Digital that the fact that terms like "Latinx" or "birthing person" have become the subject of ridicule rather than a serious demographic statement is a hopeful sign that "woke" is a thing of the past.

"If only the liberal, elitist media could more consistently get the picture," Houck added, "the left needs to take a seat before they can say anything about anything being renamed."

For his part, Tim Graham, executive editor of NewsBusters, went further: "Liberals want to rename all kinds of things to satisfy their urge for wokeness. Just in this decade, they've pulled down all kinds of statues and renamed scads of military bases. What they hate is anything Trump does to add a patriotic pro-America tinge to something which they associate more with his ego than with patriotism."

Graham concluded that the media, by systematically yielding to demands from ethnic and LGBT advocacy groups to reshape language, are in no position to seriously object to the name changes. "They just want to be the only people who get to rename things," he declared.