Comedian Sarah Silverman says 'patriotism is perverted,' blames the right

Liberal comedian Sarah Silverman, who has a show on Hulu called “I Love you, America,” said patriotism has been perverted by the right in an interview with Vice News.

What she said

“Patriotism is perverted. We’re not on the same page of what it means. To me, being patriotic is loving your country — being a citizen, having a voice, being e pluribus unum. How perverted is it to go from “We are one” to “We are number one,” which is such a childish idea."

Silverman continued, "The president is childish. He was stunted around eight years old — maybe something traumatic happened — but he stopped growing emotionally. And yet, he got all the way to the presidency. There are a lot of pathologies that are not healthy but can bring great success, if that’s how you measure success. The deepest people look at the world with wide-open eyes — which is childlike, not childish.”

Other tidbits from the interview

Silverman said she believes people on the left and the right are more alike than they are different, and blamed differences on media consumption.

“I have to think that oligarchs and billionaire wealth addicts aside, for the most part, we are more alike than we think,” Silverman said. “We’re just getting our news from outlets that are telling us different types of stories.”

As an example of that, Silverman noted a positive relationship she has with a Republican.

“I went to Nashville and wrote a country song, and I fell in love with the guy who helped me,” Silverman said. “He’s running for Congress now, as a Republican, and now there’s someone who’s a Republican running for office that I love."

That’s an apparent reference to country music songwriter Lee Thomas Miller, who has written for Brad Paisley, Jamey Johnson and Tim McGraw. Miller announced his candidacy for the District 7 House seat in Tennessee that has been held by Rep. Marsha Blackburn for almost two decades.

Miller and Silverman wrote a song together to help raise money for victims of the Las Vegas shooting.

“We have to look at the hypocrisies inside ourselves. It’s important to listen to other people and find out where our disconnects are," Silverman said.

You can read Silverman’s full conversation with Vice News here.