Bill Maher is heading to the White House to meet with Donald Trump again partly because, in Maher’s words, “he was like, really nice.”
The last time the ostensibly liberal Maher made the pilgrimage to D.C. to meet with Trump, he indignantly lashed out at those who criticized him for doing so. Speaking on HBO’s Real Time after the summit in April 2025, Maher noted that Trump has been engaging in a “trade war and disappearing people, ruling by decree, threatening judges, gutting the government with glee.”
But despite these actions, which Maher himself said he is disturbed by, Trump still managed to impress him.
“Trump was gracious and measured,” Maher told his audience at the time. “And why he isn’t that in other settings, I don’t know and I can’t answer and it’s not my place to answer.”
This is hardly the point, but it is eminently strange that Maher – a comedian who never shuts up about the alleged scourge of censorship – self-censors when it comes to discerning why the most powerful person in the world is incapable of not being a prick a lot of the time.
Anyway, on Monday, Maher dropped the latest episode of his podcast, Club Random, where he ruminates on the pressing matters of the day with other celebrities while smoking weed and drinking. During a conversation with Hollywood super-agent Ari Emanuel, Maher slammed Larry David, who, in response to Maher’s dinner with Trump last year, published an op-ed in The New York Times titled “My Dinner With Adolf.” In it, David regaled the reader with a fictional tale of dining with Hitler in 1939:
He was wearing a tan suit with a swastika armband and gave me an enthusiastic greeting that caught me off guard. Frankly, it was a warmer greeting than I normally get from my parents, and it was accompanied by a slap on my back. I found the whole thing quite disarming. I joked that I was surprised to see him in a tan suit because if he wore that out, it would be perceived as un-Führer-like. That amused him to no end, and I realized I’d never seen him laugh before. Suddenly he seemed so human. Here I was, prepared to meet Hitler, the one I’d seen and heard — the public Hitler. But this private Hitler was a completely different animal. And oddly enough, this one seemed more authentic, like this was the real Hitler. The whole thing had my head spinning.
Back in the present day on Club Random, Maher called David’s critique a “purist” approach to politics.
“That’s what I hate about the ‘purist left’ – purity, it’s the easiest thing to be,” Maher said. “And by the way, you know you’re not a political sophisticate when you immediately go to the Hitler card.”
It’s easy to dismiss David’s critique by saying he played “the Hitler card.” But the point of the op-ed wasn’t to compare Trump to Hitler. It was to dunk on Maher for being such a willing dupe of a malevolent president. Even the worst person you can think of undoubtedly had some moments in which they were not repulsive, and instead were “nice” or even downright endearing. You may have seen home video footage of Hitler having a good time with Eva Braun and other members of his inner circle, or playing with his dog Blondi. These moments, however, do not present you with some impenetrable conundrum regarding Hitler the smiling dog-lover vs. Hitler the scowling Jew-killer. You do not look quizzically at this dichotomy and wonder how, despite Hitler’s monstrous acts, he could seem like such a normal, if not affable man at times. And you do not do that because you are not Bill Maher. You know that just because someone is nice to you for a moment instead of doing evil things to other people in that moment, you absolutely do not gotta hand it to him.
During their conversation, Emanuel called Trump a “workaholic,” prompting Maher to note that much of that work is for ill. In the exchange, the host explained he will pay Trump another visit.
“And I’m going to have dinner with him again next week,” Maher said, adding:
MAHER: It’s so weird, you know. After the first dinner, I went back to doing what I do, and for people who don’t want–
EMANUEL: He probably screamed at you. “Low-rated loser!”
MAHER: It never stops. He tried to stop me from getting the Mark Twain Award.
EMANUEL: He said, “Ari, you only call me because you’re the president.” I said, “Yes, that’s true. You are the president. I gotta get things done!”
MAHER: But then, like, he just, out of the blue, “Let’s have dinner again.” I was like, “Great.” And he was like, really nice. Like, “I promise I won’t say bad things about you like I did the last time.” And I texted back and I said, “You know what? You’re the president of the United States. Say whatever the f*ck you want. I’m just glad we’re talking.” It’s just that– it’s like being called a hockey puck by Don Rickles. It’s just what he does. It’s how he talks.
Comedians do not carry cards identifying themselves as such, but if they did, Maher should have his revoked permanently for comparing Trump to Don Rickles. Even if somehow the comparison was apt – and it is not – Trump is not an insult comic, but the president of the United States. In treating Trump like some mere Borscht Belt act instead of a wannabe comedian who also prosecutes his political enemies is either to misread the moment, or to see the moment for what it is, but not care too much because Trump was “nice” to you a couple of times.
Maher went on to extol the virtues of seizing the opportunity to meet with Trump in a private setting, saying that it’s worth it even if there’s a small chance of persuading Trump on something.
“I keep telling people, ‘He needs more people like us, not less,'” Maher said.
And how did Maher’s last meeting with Trump go? I’ll let the president himself sum it up in this excerpt from a marathon Truth Social screed:
Sometimes in life you waste time! T.V. Host Bill Maher asked to have dinner with me through one of his friends, also a friend of mine, and I agreed. He came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be. He was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself and, to soothe his nerves, immediately, within seconds, asked for a “Vodka Tonic.”
Yeah, more dialogue with Trump. That’ll do it.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
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