Bill Maher breaks silence on Trump's 1,300-word rant against him - USA Today
Bill Maher has spoken out for the first time about President Donald Trump's lengthy tirade against him.
On the Oct. 30 episode of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," the comedian responded to Trump slamming him in a more than 1,300-word post on Truth Social after the pair had dinner together at the White House earlier this month. The post was Trump's longest ever on Truth Social.
"Did you see the 1,300-word tweet he sent out? Longest ever! Kind of a flex," Maher said in his monologue. "I tell you, dining at the White House is the opposite of the Cheesecake Factory: After you leave, they review you. He went off on me like Kelly Clarkson in a toy store."
Maher, who held a copy of the entire post printed out on multiple pieces of paper, continued that the "whole point" of his dinners with Trump is that he and the president can talk and disagree without hating each other. "And then, I go back to my job here, and then, the heartaches begin," he said.
While Maher said he wouldn't refute Trump's entire post, he read through parts of it to address several of the president's statements, including when Trump told Maher not to call him anymore.
"I've never called you," Maher said. "You call me! I'd be afraid to call you; you're the president. I think you're too busy. Well, plainly not."
In response to Trump saying that Maher "invited himself to the White House," the comedian hit back, "As if you could do that!" Maher also denied that he "had a seriously bruised eye and nose area," as Trump claimed.
"There are pictures of it β that you gave me!" Maher pointed out. "I don't have it. It's in the pictures!"
Maher's first guest on the show was Sen. Ted Cruz, who said the opening monologue was "funny as hell." But Maher told the Republican senator he is "trying not to fight" and "could have been meaner" in his response to Trump.
In his rant posted on Oct. 25, Trump blasted Maher as a "COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER." The diatribe came after Trump and Maher had dinner together at the White House with Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock on Oct. 15.
At first, the president described the dinner as "great," but Maher's first show after their meeting appeared to set him off: Maher opened his Oct. 23 monologue by remarking that Trump "has the lowest approval rating of any midterm candidate ever" and saying that Republicans are distancing themselves from him going into the midterm elections.
In his post, Trump denied "losing the support and approval of the Republican Party" and said that Maher is "not very smart" and is a "biased, dumb SLEAZEBAG."
Trump and Maher previously had dinner at the White House in 2025. At the time, some of Maher's liberal viewers criticized him for the choice, but he defended it. He did so again on his Oct. 23 show.
"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," he said. "But OK. You know what? [Screw] you. I like these dinners."
Maher said the dinner "went on for four hours," though Trump denied it, maintaining it lasted only two and that "we have the timestamps" to prove it. Though Maher said he criticized Trump on a number of things at the dinner, he gave the president credit for treating him well.
"Trump never lost his temper. He never yelled. He never interrupted," Maher said. He joked he "could not have been treated better if I was Russian" and later quipped, "I'm an optimist. I prefer to think of the president as half sane."
On his Oct. 23 show, Maher also sat down with former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. As they began the interview, she relayed a message from Trump. "The president sends his regards," Leavitt said. "I told him I was coming on the show, and he said, 'Tell him he loved that dinner, and he knows it.'"
Prior to the most recent dust-up, Trump slammed Maher in a 500-word Truth Social post in February. In reference to their original 2025 dinner, Trump said it was a "total waste of time for me to have this jerk at the White House."
