President Trump has a lot on his plate, and so too does the nation. Sunday, he took to Truth Social to address the people. The 1,300-word-plus screed was triggered by Friday’s episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” a mainstay on HBO since 2003.
The comedian referred to Trump as a “lame duck” president with low approval ratings during a segment with his guest, former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Trump, 80, likely expected praise from his fellow curmudgeon Maher, 70, since the men had recently dined together at the White House. It was their second such date following a controversial get-together in March 2025, which Maher juiced for all it was worth in an effort to stand out from his fellow late-night hosts.
Maher’s chummy relationship with Trump has made him an outlier among his peers, many of whom have been in the president’s crosshairs. CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show after decades on the air following pressure from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair. Trump has bitterly complained about being treated unfairly by Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers.
They, too, now have targets on their backs. Maher has avoided the same fate by railing on Trump only half as much as his late-night peers, leaning into various MAGA grievances about the “woke” left and forging a fair-weather friendship with the second-term president. If the Maher of 2003 could see himself now, he’d likely dedicate a searing monologue to the hypocrisy.
The host was once positioned as an irreverent comedian whose political satire was guided by his no-BS take on Capitol Hill and American culture. Common sense over party fealty. Political correctness be damned.
But as the political landscape has shifted, so too has Maher’s approach. Now he plays the role of a staunchly nonpartisan crank on TV while dining with the president in person. I’m the bad guy because I go and say face-to-face to the man the things you write in articles that he’ll never read, but OK.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
