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On Friday’s episode of *Real Time*, host Bill Maher expressed concern that the Democratic Party is becoming a “ghost brand,” drawing a comparison between the party’s declining popularity and the downfall of the former department store giant, Sears.
“The cautionary tale of the ghost brand is an important one because it applies not only to business but also to politics. I fear the Democratic Party is at risk of becoming a ghost brand too,” Maher warned. “Like Sears, it used to be mighty and ascendant and popular.”
Maher described a ghost brand as “a company or a store that, like Sears, still exists, but only as a pathetic shell of its former self. The brands that make you say, ‘Oh, they’re still making that.’ Because they screwed themselves out of relevance and now their logos haunt us, wandering, neither alive nor dead like Mitch McConnell.”
Pointing to Sears’ former significance, Maher noted that at one point the company accounted for 1% of the entire U.S. economy and 41% of the country’s appliance market. However, Sears eventually faded into obscurity, leaving behind its status as an American staple. Maher expressed concern that the Democratic Party may be facing a similar fate in American politics.
“Democrats once controlled Congress and the Supreme Court, or at least competitively. But now, even at a time when President Trump is turning 250 years of democracy into jean shorts, the Democrats have their lowest rating in 35 years — 63% unfavorable,” he said. “What happened? I don’t know. What happened to Sears?”
Maher continued, “It used to be synonymous with the American dream because it kept faith with what the customer wanted. Did we love Sears? No. But that was beside the point. You just went.”
The *Real Time* host also mentioned another American ghost brand—the adult lifestyle brand Playboy. He joked that Sears was the place “who sold your father a mattress,” and Playboy magazine was what he hid under it.
According to Maher, Playboy used to be a “surefire product” until they started “messing around with the formula.” He compared this shift to the Democratic Party’s changes, saying, “Like the Democratic Party, Playboy decided they didn’t need straight men anymore. They put transgender women and gay men on the cover and, predictably, sales — like their subscribers’ penises — collapsed.”
“The staff began using terms like intersectionality, sex positivity and privileging. And in response, Playboy readers used terms like, ‘No thanks, get the f out of here, and bye-bye,’” Maher argued.
Maher closed his night of analogies by referencing Barneys, once a dominant force in American retail that later became a ghost brand. The fashion brand was forced to close its flagship Madison Avenue store after filing for bankruptcy in 2019, marking another example of a once-great retailer falling into irrelevance.
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**BILL MAHER BELIEVES THIS OUTSIDER COULD BE THE KEY TO RESTORE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S CREDIBILITY WITH VOTERS**
**BILL MAHER ADMITS HE STILL FEARS GETTING CANCELED DESPITE CULTURAL ‘VIBE SHIFT’ AFTER ELECTION**
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https://www.foxnews.com/media/bill-maher-fears-democratic-party-becoming-ghost-brand-draws-comparison-sears
