Bill Maher appears to be on good terms with Trumpworld.
The 70-year-old HBO host joined Kid Rock and Stephen A. Smith as guests of President Trump at the White House earlier this month, and after dinner, Trump suggested to reporters that Maher’s criticism of him on his late-night show was mostly bragging and that he “likes me a lot more than people think.”
“Yeah, I did it again, bitches,” Maher said of her four-hour dinner with Trump during his opening monologue on “Real Time” Friday night, adding, “You know what? Fuck you. I love these dinners.”
Maher then managed to recruit Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s former press secretary who left her post in August, as a guest for an interview on his show “Real Time.” It’s a curious pairing given that Maher previously attacked Leavitt on his program after the then-press secretary defended Trump by shouting, “Calm down, pig!” to Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey when asked about Jeffrey Epstein aboard Air Force One. Leavitt misrepresented the incident, saying, “It’s actually admirable. This is the president being frank and open and honest. It’s actually good,” prompting Maher to jokingly tell Leavitt, “Well, in that case: Shut up, bitch.”
So, Maher welcomed Leavitt to “Real Time” Friday night, where he mostly treated her with kid gloves and mocked her successor, Katie Zacharia, for only lasting five days on the job.
“The president sends his regards,” Leavitt told Maher. “I told him I’d come on the show and he said, ‘Tell him he loved that dinner and he knows it.'”
“I like it,” Maher admitted, before returning to Leavitt. “You were the youngest to do this job… So what are you going to do now?
Leavitt said she left her job to care for her two young children, ages 2 and 6 months, then said she would start as a pundit on Fox News on November 1. No follow-up from Maher about the Trump-Fox News pipeline, but rather a silly retort about how Trump wants to turn the White House press pool into a real swimming pool.
Cue Maher: “You know what? That’s the only thing people get mad at me about…I don’t care about any of that. I love ballroom! America needs a ballroom. This is the United States of America.”
The softball questions and flattery didn’t stop there, as Maher asked Leavitt about her penchant for being “sarcastic” and asked no follow-up questions when she touted Trump’s war with Iran.
Maher delivered a litany of compliments about Trump, saying he “gets it” and, when Leavitt claimed Trump was “much more sane than the previous (president)” who was “mentally ill,” Maher responded, “He’s a lot more energetic.”
It’s another reminder that Maher is not a journalist and refuses to challenge the conservative guests on his show. He’s just happy they’re here.
Gn entert
