The comedian’s on-again, off-again bromance with the president is back in flux after dining at the White House.
President Donald Trump claims that Bill Maher “likes me a lot more than people understand,” saying he learned the comedian’s true colors after hosting him at a White House dinner.
Trump says that Maher, like fellow dinner guest ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, “have to put on a certain little facade for their people.”
In reality, the president told reporters Friday, “They like Trump, and I like them.”
Trump, 80, and Bill Maher, 70, have long had a tumultuous relationship that dates back to before his first term in office. However, some fans have accused Maher in recent years of going soft on Trump after dining with him twice at the White House.
Maher responded to the criticism by characterizing the March 2025 dinner as a “Nixon to China thing,” referring to the former president’s 1972 visit to meet leader Mao Zedong, whereby his hardline anti-communist credentials allowed him to reach out to the other side without appearing weak.
“I had established my credentials, I think, rather well, as a critic, and that never stopped after the dinner,” Maher said in February.
Sign up for the obsessed newsletter
Get the best of Obsessed delivered right to your inbox
The feud between Maher and Trump began in 2013, when Maher joked on NBC’s The Tonight Show that he would donate $5 million to charity if the then-real estate mogul could prove he was not the son of an orangutan. Trump filed a lawsuit against Maher over the claims, though this was later dropped.
Bill Maher and Donald Trump attend the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles in 2004.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Since then, Maher has repeatedly criticized Trump as dangerous on his long-running talk show, Real Time with Bill Maher, while Trump has accused Maher of having “a major case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
However, Maher said this year that he believes it is important to talk with the president, rather than dismissing him, and that though there are plenty of Trump decisions the comedian “hates,” there is also a shorter list of things that “I’m glad he did.”
Representatives for Maher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump called the most recent dinner on Friday “great,” adding that he likes Maher and that he gave the guests a tour of the White House’s ballroom, which is still under construction.
MAGA musician Kid Rock, who also attended the dinner and is a close friend of Trump, said that the meeting was “epic.”
The dinner conversation included Maher and Kid Rock’s opinions on Democratic Socialist politician Abdul El-Sayed.
“The point I would like to make with, especially El-Sayed, is that we need to be very careful. And even friends like my friend, Bill Maher, agree with me on this, with these ideologies that I don’t believe are compatible with Western civilization,” Rock said in an interview with Fox and Friends.
Maher said on Monday on his Club Random podcast that the invitation to the White House came “out of the blue,” noting that just last month Trump posted on Truth Social that Maher’s ratings were “so low.”
Maher said Trump promised him in advance that he would not criticize him following the dinner, as he did last year. Maher said he responded: “‘You know what, you’re the president of the United States. Say whatever the f–k you want.’”
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Best Value
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You’re all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
Subscription$0.00
Total$0.00
