"These applauses are, i'm finding, more depressing than..."

...the fools who make the statements."

Well, our Left are, among all the things Prager points out, essentially bullies.

A bully only functions well when he has an unresisting victim, and he brings with him a posse of bully wanna-be's who form a backdrop of support for the bully.

In echoing or mirroring what the bully does, the posse gain a large degree of status as they borrow his importance and power. They are only too happy to join in on the game of ridiculing or belittling the target and watching him helplessly cry, run away, or grow to an outraged anger.

Maher's audience are "sharers in the indignation" and they need to promote Reiner's belittling and ridicule so they can bask in it all the more themselves. It's a rare person who steps back from the party and looks at himself and what he's getting out of the bully event, and then says no to it.