Bill Maher Fires Back at Trump's Long Online Attack, Holding the Post Up on Air
Bill Maher answered President Donald Trump's attack on him the way he answers most things: on air, with jokes. On the Friday, 30 October, episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher held up a printed copy of Trump's post, spread across several sheets of paper, according to USA Today.
The post came first. Trump wrote it on Truth Social, the social media platform he uses, on a Sunday. It ran 1,318 words, and it went after Maher, the show and its producer, Chuck LaBella. Trump called Maher a "complete and total loser," as The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Trump made several specific claims. He said Maher did not think taking nuclear weapons away from Iran was a good thing. Maher disputed that on the programme by playing clips that showed the opposite. Trump also said Maher calls him constantly and invited himself to the White House. Maher denied it. "I've never called you, you call me," he said. Trump further called Maher a "major POTHEAD" and said he had alcohol in his hand while walking through the White House.
Maher's reply was built around jokes. He said Trump "went off on me like Kelly Clarkson in a toy store." He also joked that dining at the White House is the opposite of the Cheesecake Factory, because after you leave, they review you. On eating with Trump, he said it is like dating Taylor Swift, a line the New York Post also carried.
The two men had met before the online exchange. The Daily Beast reported that they had dined together at the White House before the post appeared.
Maher's segment opens with a monologue, the comedian's opening speech in which he talks through the week's news. That is where he took on the post. Real Time airs on HBO, the premium cable and streaming channel, and its episodes usually run weekly.
For viewers, the exchange is a rare moment where a president's social media post and a late-night style talk show directly answered each other in the same week. Maher's response was delivered with a stack of paper in his hands and a punchline ready for each line of the post.
