In his latest stand-up special (“Drop Dead Years,” showing on Hulu), comedian Bill Burr opens with an admission (profanity alert): “I don’t watch the news. People who watch the news fascinate me. You just want to walk around in fight-or-flight mode your whole f***ing life. I don’t pay attention to sh**, I don’t know what’s going on.” While out promoting the release of his act, he proves this to be completely accurate.

Now to start, this is not a complaint about Burr having opinions or even what he said directly. He is a comedian, after all, and one of my favorites in fact. I savor his ability to spread criticisms across the spectrum while being self-deprecating as well. The man embodies the term acerbic, and is potently hilarious.

The issue is that while making the rounds on podcasts and radio shows, he has been targeting Elon Musk, and doing so in the most base form. Burr references the overwrought coverage of Musk supposedly displaying the Third Reich salute during the Trump inauguration events and goes on to declare Musk as a definitive Nazi. 

Bill Burr today roasting Elon Musk pic.twitter.com/1KTR4pgVgo

— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) March 10, 2025

"That idiot Elon Musk - evidently he's a Nazi. I just refuse to believe it was an accidental, two-times Sieg Heil. And he does it at a presidential inauguration."

Yes, it is the tired trope heard constantly from the Left – and this is not to say Burr is a leftist. But here is the start of why this is an issue. This is not a knee-jerk defense of Musk – it is an issue because this kind of discussion is one Burr himself has mocked in his older routines. He has noted that whenever people invoke Hitler/Nazis in discussions, it completely chills discourse. He called it “dropping the H-bomb.”

Few years ago Bill Burr made fun of the "everyone I don't like is Hitler" people and Now Bill literally has become the People he used to make fun of.
pic.twitter.com/JCnQNccXDS

— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) March 15, 2025

Now today he has become that very individual and it displays the very heart of the problems seen these days from the Left, from Democrats, and the media. It is shallow lashing out at perceived demons in complete defiance of past positions. These voices of late have been seen taking positions 180 degrees out of phase of their own avowed values. More than simple hypocrisy – it is stark contradictions and a reversal of past positions.

Take Elon Musk himself. A few short years ago he was beloved by the Left. He made successful electric cars, supplied charging stations that are top of the line, he provided Starlink to Ukraine, and was pushing space flight to the next generation. Then he bought Twitter and opened the platform to all voices and thus began his transition to being a pariah of the liberal set.

He is just one example because, much like Burr, the Left is combating items they used to celebrate. Look at why the Twitter purchase angers them; they lost control of the language, when for generations censorship was one of their pet causes. After years of claiming the battle on behalf of women’s rights, they just voted in unison against protecting female athletics. They are mad at Musk for actively cutting the government when previously the likes of Barack Obama, Chuck Schumer, and Liz Warren preached about slashing government waste. The Dems tried to fight the recent budget battle with the Senate filibuster, a tactic they recently described as being a racist tool in Congress. And more examples exist.

This is not designed to impugn Bill Burr because what is being seen is how widespread the off-balanced thinking has become, showing beyond politics. The emotional reactions to the new Trump administration and the efforts of Elon and his DOGE team leads to this emotional reaction frequently seen, past cemented positions be damned. 

As Burr becomes the very punchline he once delivered, he becomes the embodiment of the problems the Left is mired in, with no hope of rectifying. Instead the problem appears to be metastasizing, and the lack of treatment means the damage will only broaden. Rather than looking for their cure, we need to be mindful of this reality as we watch the party devolve all the more. It is an object lesson for all moving forward. If you are not careful, you can become ensnared by the very reaction you are promoting.

Watch a well-known Nazi supporting comic Bill Burr pay tribute to the master race. pic.twitter.com/Tpp3vC4MYz

— Jim O'Brien (@Elon4TWin) March 15, 2025