The dinner, which Maher described during Friday’s episode of his weekly show “Real Time With Bill Maher,” was arranged by musician Kid Rock, a mutual friend of both men. It took place roughly two weeks prior at the White House and was intended, he said, as an effort to foster dialogue rather than division.
Maher opened the segment by dismissing suggestions that the meeting was a political summit.
“I have no power. I’m a comedian,” he said, emphasizing that the dinner was not about brokering deals but exploring common ground between ideological opponents.
“No, I didn’t go MAGA,” Maher told his audience, noting that there was no pressure to do so.
Instead, he said he was met by a version of the president he believed was different from his public persona.
“The guy I met is not the person who, the night before, tweeted a bunch of nasty crap,” Maher said. “But when I got there, that guy wasn’t living there.”
He added that Maher would likely continue to criticize him publicly, regardless of what occurred privately.
“Who knows, though, maybe I’ll be proven wrong? In any event, I’m doing a favor for a friend,” he wrote.
Maher brought up that post in his dialogue, saying that he told the president he was wrong when he said the night before the dinner that he was critical of all things the president had done.
“Not true, check the tapes,” he said.
“Moving Israel’s embassy to Jerusalem? Loved it. The border did need to be controlled. I’m glad the cops are getting their morale back. DEI had gone too far. Biological men shouldn’t be playing women’s sports. Europe should pay for their defense. And of course, it makes sense that Arab countries should take in Arab refugees—like the million Syrians who wound up in Germany—when Saudi Arabia took none.”
During the dinner itself, Maher said the conversation ranged from policy matters such as Iran’s nuclear program to the situation in Gaza. Maher said the president was genuine in his inquiries and didn’t become defensive when challenged.
Maher said there were many moments where he joked or contradicted the president, but that he “took it in” and “didn’t get mad or call me a left-wing lunatic.”
One standout moment came when Trump referenced a past legal dispute involving Maher, in which the comedian had jokingly said the president’s father was an orangutan. Maher said he used the gag to counter Trump’s “birther” claims about President Barack Obama not being born in the United States. The president reportedly responded with a smile.
Maher said that his views had not changed.
“I’ll be critical about a lot of what he’s doing,” he said. “But I also think he now understands I have a job to do.”
The conversation, according to Maher, was candid and even humorous. At one point, the president joked about President Ronald Reagan’s hair being his best quality, according to Maher. Maher replied that Reagan also helped bring down communism.
“A crazy person doesn’t live in the White House,” Maher said. “A person who plays a crazy person on TV a lot lives there.”
Trump has not made any public remarks about the dinner since it occurred.
