No matter what anyone of any persuasion thinks of the idea of a late-night host breaking bread with an often-monologue-reviled President, Bill Maher’s retelling of his recent White House tete-a-tete with Donald Trump on Friday night’s Real Time was much funnier than My Dinner with Andre.
In fact, it was a reasonable, and reasonably illuminating, rundown of the unlikely encounter between a late-night host and a politician who despises late-night hosts in general, and Maher specifically, whom Trump has called “stupid, dummy, a lowlife dummy, a deranged asshole” and dozens of other insults, as cited by Maher himself, with some glee, on his own show.
But more than that, this personal recounting of the dinner was unusual, something not seen or heard often in late night, which was interesting on its own. And it led into a strong show overall, with a Trump-centric skew, including an idolator (Steve Bannon), a frequent defender (Piers Morgan), and a well-informed critic, (author Josh Rogin).
Maher has been at the game for a long time and has his supporters and detractors. His audience is among the most juiced laughers in late-night.
That showed again in the opening monologue, which had several well-crafted jokes, many of which took the Trump Administration to task, as Maher usually does. As always, his studio audience responded to the Trump barbs with enthusiasm.
But as the show progressed and Maher shared his now more nuanced views about Trump, inspired by what he described as a gracious welcome at the White House, the audience seemed to listen and laugh more thoughtfully.
Maher described himself as an avowed centrist comic, which is true if you define that as someone who mocks Republicans and Democrats equally. But he also seems to understand that the MAGA crowd is a bit different because they accept no inference that their ideas could ever be wrong. (During his exchange with Bannon, Maher skillfully jumped all over Bannon for implying Trump might be “wrong” about tariffs, and how even a hint of that might get Bannon in big trouble.)
Likewise, he told more left-leaning viewers that if his “book report” on his meal with Trump “was not enough pure Trump hate for you, I don’t give a fuck.”
Maher isn’t the first of those who’ve had exchanges with Trump in private to describe him as having a surprising charm. It clearly beguiled Maher, enough to express an interest in being accepted by Trump as a friend.
That meant he did not get the often vicious blowback that accompanies most challenges to Trump’s version of events. Maher said he confronted Trump about his noxious campaign to discredit President Obama’s citizenship and Trump offered “just a little smile, as if to say, I get it.”
But at the same time Maher acknowledged he was getting the backstage version, the good-humored version, someone able to laugh at himself.
He went on to describe seeing clips of Trump on television later that same night, ranting, calling someone “disgusting, you’re a terrible person.” That had Maher wondering: “Who’s that guy? What happened to Glinda the Good Witch?”
This contrast led Maher to believe the real person was the one he saw close up at the White House. “A crazy person doesn’t live in the White House,” he said. “A person who plays a crazy person a lot on TV lives there, which I know is fucked up. It’s just not as fucked up as I thought it was.”
Maher is smart enough to recognize that he can’t be sure which is the real version and which is the performance. Many folks who have experienced the personal version of Trump close up have more toxic memories of the encounters. A lot of them worked in his first Administration.
Maher was going on this first, personal interaction, which left a favorable taste. But he said he had “no illusions” that once back at his own job, a late-night host telling biting jokes about policies like “trade wars” and “disappearing people,” Trump might quickly be starting a new list of insulting epithets to hurl at him.
He saved a remarkable moment for the end of the tale. Maher recalled telling Trump: “You’re scaring people. Do you really want to be scaring your own citizens so much?”
There’s a question that could bring every scared citizen to the edge of their seats: “And?”
Maher said he couldn’t remember Trump’s reply.
That seemed a little like missing the answer when Perry Mason asks the guy on the stand: “You killed your wife, didn’t you!”
Whatever Trump said, it apparently wasn’t deep or thoughtful enough to make an impression.
Earlier in his career, Trump was a regular guest across the landscape of late night. He was reliable because he always came to play; back then—when he was on camera, anyway—he was always the guy Maher encountered at The White House: genial, self-aware, willing to laugh at himself.
In a way this was his return to late night, and he was genial, self-aware, willing to laugh at himself with the host. Only now the show comes to him.
Related story:
Here’s the (Mostly) Complete List of Insults Trump Signed for Bill Maher
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Maher doesn’t remember the most important question ever? I call B.S.
+1
Did anyone notice that Bill got annoyed, almost to point of nastiness, when new panelist, Josh Rogin, suggested that what Bill experienced may have been an act? Seemed like Maher didn’t want to be awakened from his Dinner with Donald moment, especially by some new guy, who he spit out… “I don’t know you”. My takeaway was that the Donald is a very complicated guy. Capable of charm but maybe a charm fueled by pathological energy. Also, I was left with the feeling that Bill wants to believe in the Trump he experienced instead of the Trump that everyone else knows.
His job on HBO is secure now.
glad Carter picked up on the most unbelievable part of the visit, when Maher asked a great question about why Trump can’t be the genial guy of the visit and not spend his time scaring people with all his chaos
Trump gives an answer and Maher can’t remember the answer to his excellent question?…bizarre
Yeah, hard pass. Nothing funny about breaking bread with a fascist. But Maher is the new It Boy for MAGAt and of course a rich, entitled white man doesn’t see or care about the dangers that PAB presents to immigrants, people of color, women and the poor.
Maher’s ‘well, he was nice to me in private’ is a gross, willful whitewashing of who Trump is but then again, it’s how all those cult members end up surprised when the leopard eats their faces. They think they’re special and the beast will never turn on them. The rest of us, who have heard Trump’s words and more frightenly, watched the actions of him and his Administration goons since January, don’t have that luxury.
Bill delivered a great monologue and followed-up with a terrific story. Bill Maher Rocks!
You have rocks in your head if you think Bunghole Bill Maher rocks, bitchboy!
This is who Bunghole Bill Maher is. A useful imbecile for a dim bulb of a human being in Drumpf. May he rocket straight through to irelevancy now!