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Here’s What Blew Bill Maher’s Mind After Having Dinner With Trump

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  April 12, 2025 2:00 PM

HBO host Bill Maher had dinner with President Donald Trump recently. It was arranged by his friend Kid Rock, who warned Maher that if he wanted to get a word in, he’d have to cut off the president of the United States. That didn’t happen. What transpired was an ode to normalcy, a gathering of two people with differing views that didn’t come with fisticuffs or Molotov cocktails. I have always said that I respect Maher for being more than willing to be friends and speak with people he likely can’t stand. If anything, both men walked away agreeing on one thing: they don’t like the folks from both of their aisles who didn’t like that they were having this event. 

“Everything I’ve ever not liked about him…was absent, at least on this night,” said Maher. 

Maher had his mind blown at this dinner, not because he was at the White House, which he’d never turn down. He spoke about how this is a once-in-a-lifetime privilege, something he’d never dreamed of coming true. The president was gracious, had a sense of humor, was measured, and respectful. 

During dinner, Trump deferred to Maher about the day's issues, like the Iran Deal and the Gaza War, asking for his input. And there were jokes: Trump brought up the lawsuit he filed against Maher over an orangutan sex joke made about him. Without any hesitation, the comedian said it was done because he didn’t like the president questioning Barack Obama’s birth certificate. There was no animus over it, or anything Maher said that ran counter to the president throughout the night. 

Maher told Trump that some of his Gaza remarks were wacky but supported the idea that the strip could be Dubai and not hell. The HBO host also pushed back against Trump’s notion that his program was always Trump-bashing. 

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Maher thinks DEI went too far, is happy police officer morale is rising, thinks Arab nations should take in Palestinian refugees, loved moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the border did need to be secured, biological men shouldn’t play in women’s sports, and European nations should be paying for their defense.  

Still, we all know the split is more 70/30, maybe more when it comes to where these commentaries lie, but just one deviation has put Maher on the ‘outs’ with most liberal circles. 

Maher even printed a list of insults Trump hurled at the comedian, which he brought with him, and the president autographed them. This dinner was never about Maher being red-pilled. I’ve said that he’s never going to be a Trump supporter or a conservative, but he’s not nuts. And the comedian also walked away thinking the same about the president. Also, Maher voted for Obama and Clinton, and admitted he wouldn't have been as candid with them as he was with Trump. He didn't feel like he needed to walk on eggshells, which he noted is part of the problem with Democrats and their addiction to faux outrage. 

As he often does, he noted that yelling at one another, not engaging, and hurling hate is unhealthy. It was a straightforward report on the night. And even after all that, guest Josh Rogin seemed irritated by it, adding that maybe Trump didn’t come into this event with good intentions and used Maher as a public relations prop. Yeah, like this dinner is going to change the attitudes liberals have about the president. He rambled on, too, which led to Maher quickly shutting him down.