Bill Maher Reveals His Biggest ‘Disappointment’ With Trump’s Trip
Comedian and pundit Bill Maher revealed his biggesst disappointment with President Donald Trump over his trip to China for a summit with China’s President Xi Jinping.
On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was Ben McKenzie, who wrote, directed, and produced the new documentary “Everyone is Lying to You for Money.”
The panel guests were Dan Jones, historian, podcaster, and author of the forthcoming book “Castles: A Fortified History of the World from the Bronze Age to the Nuclear Age”; and David French, New York Times columnist, visiting professor at Lipscomb University, and co-host of the podcast “Advisory Opinions.”
During the panel segment, Maher said his biggest “disappointment” from the trip was Trump’s failure to make progress on the issue of Artificial Intelligence:
BILL MAHER: I appreciate that. I know why you’re happy that the big summit in China went fantastic. No, Trump is on his way back right now. It’s late Friday afternoon in Los Angeles. He’s probably in the air, coming back to Andrews Air Force Base and relations with China. I can just tell they’re better now. I ordered takeout today. And the menu said, go ahead, make some substitution. Which you don’t often see on the menu.
But honestly, Trump, he hates China, but he loves Xi. He loves President Xi. To say this was a love fest between these two guys is an understatement. As he left, Trump thanked Xi profusely for his hospitality, and Xi thanked Trump for making China way more popular around the world. It’s funny–.
Our two countries have a lot of issues between them, but it seemed like in this big summit, there were mostly avoided, no demands, except you have to try these dumplings. That was the only…
And, uh… No, you know what? China knows what Trump likes. What does he like? He likes the pump and the parades, and he likes the red carpet, and there were thousands of children waving American flags and… You know, and Xi, he’s clever, you know. He knows.
He bargained like someone who knows he holds the cards now, ever since Trump backed down on their big trade war. In fact, as a subtle dig, they served orange chicken.
S-subtle, the Chinese. Yeah, and Xi, Xi not holding back here, he said, we are a declining nation. Oh, and Trump, he said, you know, he doesn’t engage him like that. He just said, well, you know what, when he said declining nation, he was talking about Biden’s four years.
And Trump is right. Under Trump, gas prices, they haven’t declined. And inflation, that’s not declining. But, you know, Trump, he loves this guy. He calls him a tough cookie. He loves it, loves it. Tough cookie. He says he’s a great leader. I say it to everybody. He didn’t say it me, but, you… No, maybe… Maybe he did and I didn’t hear it because I was so nervous.
Now, Trump says with Xi, there’s no games with him. Getting a little weird. You know, at one point, Xi told his translator, tell Trump, “don’t catch feeling.”.
It’s a little… I’m glad our leaders of these two powerful countries and nuclear weapons aren’t fighting, but it’s getting a little, you know, personal. Trump said, you what he said about Xi, he said, if you went to Hollywood, you couldn’t find in central casting a better guy for the… At one point he said, Xi, your hair smells terrific.
Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
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