It now appears that President Donald J. Trump has completely won over one of his most savage critics, with comic and social critic Bill Maher still gushing about a recent White House dinner with the GOP leader.
Maher and his fellow celebs Kid Rock and Stephen A. Smith recently sat down to break bread with Trump, who was a gracious host during the trio’s visit, and after years of what seemed to be a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, the leftist comedian may have found that the cure is simple hospitality and a willingness to listen.
The presence of Maher and Smith at the dinner has chafed leftists, but the old-school liberal doesn’t care, and he defended sitting down with Trump on Friday’s edition of “Real Time With Bill Maher” on HBO.
Bill Maher tells critics he’s not sorry about dining with Trump again:
“F*CK YOU, I LIKE THESE DINNERS!”
MAHER: “Yeah, I did it again, bitches. I know I’m the bad guy because I go and say face-to-face with the man the things you write in articles that he’ll NEVER READ, but okay, I — you know what? F*CK YOU, I like these dinners!”
“There was just something thrilling about being announced when you’re in the White House… and you hear the aide say, ‘Sir, your 7 o’clock low-ratings dummy is here.’”
According to Stephen A. Smith, who was at the dinner, the four-hour meal between Maher and President Trump got very heated. In the end, the two agreed they could disagree without hating each other, and they parted on good terms.
After the meeting, Trump said Maher “likes me a lot more than people understand, and I actually like him.”
— The Vigilant Fox
(@VigilantFox) October 24, 2026
“Yeah, I did it again, bitches. I know 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 okay, I — you know what?” Maher told the audience. “F**k you, I like these dinners.”
“First of all, you’re in the White House. There’s just something thrilling about being announced when you’re in the White House. That moment when you’re outside the Oval Office, and you hear the aide say, ‘Sir, your seven o’clock, low ratings dummy is here,” he joked.
Maher continued to generously dole out the praise.
Bill Maher admits he was amazed by Trump’s patience and says there are “so many moments” where he gets it.
MAHER: “He’s just so imperious when he’s out of the White House, and when he’s there, the TOTAL OPPOSITE.”
“He never pulls rank. No matter how flippant I get, he never goes, ‘How dare you say that in the White House?’”
“I mean, I can talk to him just like I talk to any guy at a bar.”
“There are so many moments where he gets it.”
Stephen A. Smith described a similar experience about the dinner, saying Trump “could not have been nicer,” just weeks after taking a shot at his IQ.
— The Vigilant Fox
“He’s just so imperious when he’s out of the White House, and when he’s there, the total opposite,” he said. “He never pulls rank. No matter how flippant I get, he never goes, ‘How dare you say that in the White House?’”
“I mean, I can talk to him just like I talk to any guy at a bar,” Maher gushed. “There are so many moments where he gets it.”
After the dinner, Trump said that Maher “likes me a lot more than people understand, and I actually like him” despite years of zinging him on social media.
Maher had initially gotten together with Trump in early 2025 after he took office for his second term.
“A crazy person doesn’t live in the White House. A person who plays a crazy person on TV a lot lives there, which I know is f**ked up, but it’s not as f**ked up as I thought it was,” he explained to his audience at the time.
Twelve days ago, I had dinner with President Trump, a dinner that my friend @KidRock set up because we share the belief that there has to be something better than hurling insults from 3000 miles away. https://t.co/KE2t2eyBkI
— Bill Maher (@billmaher) April 12, 2025
Maher’s special guest on Friday was former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, and during their one-on-one conversation, he reverted to form by criticizing Trump over his treatment of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, a man who is fawned over by Democrats.
“Honestly, I think what he’s doing with Russia is unconscionable,” he said. “And Lindsey Graham was the guy who always talked him out of that. If Lindsay Graham was alive, I just don’t think that Trump would be doing the stuff he’s doing, basically putting a knife in the back of Zelensky.”
Maher also praised Trump over reversing course on the plan to livestream the execution of Fort Hood mass murdering terrorist Nidal Hasan.
“Somebody talked him out of that,” he said. “He does listen. When he’s in that White House, he looks you in the eye, he never interrupts, he never gets mad, he listens.”
