Donald Trump has renewed his feud with Bill Maher following this weekend’s episode of HBO’s Real Time, which featured California governor and potential presidential candidate Gavin Newsom.
Fox News Channel picked up Maher’s sit-down with Newsom, excerpting it across multiple Saturday programs—coverage that appears to have sparked Trump’s latest rant.
“I hate seeing Fox, and other Conservative Outlets, constantly making Low Rated Bill Maher ‘relevant’ as it pertains to the Republican Party, and beyond,” the president wrote Saturday evening on Truth Social. “Bill Maher is a weak and ineffective person who I got to know very well during my [April 2025] dinner with him at the White House.”
Midway through their 14-minute Real Time interview, Maher pressed Newsom with a series of unflattering facts about California and criticisms of his governorship. Trump, however, took issue with how Maher handled Newsom’s responses.
“Bill Maher started by saying that California was doing poorly, only to have Newscum speak for an extended period of time, and lie about the facts,” Trump wrote, using his nickname for the potential 2028 Democratic candidate.
Newsom “took Bill Maher ‘over the coals,’” Trump added, misstating the idiom. “Bill Maher was defenseless, and totally deficient. Either he didn’t have the knowledge, or he choked, because Gavin went on and on about how good California is doing, while it’s doing very poorly—having, by far, the worst year it’s ever had.”
Returning to Fox News’ coverage, Trump argued the network should stop reporting on Maher. “Fox should stop putting [him] on. He’s not representing us,” he wrote, adding that airing clips from Maher’s HBO program makes the channel look “weak, stupid, and ineffective.”
“DON’T USE BILL MAHER ANY LONGER AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF YOU!” Trump concluded. “I hate hearing that ‘Bill Maher said…’—Bill Maher is a MORON, though slightly more talented than Jimmy Kimmel.”
Trump last targeted Maher in mid-February after a Real Time monologue mocked the president’s claim that Canada’s new trade deal with China would lead to the end of ice hockey. That marked their first public clash since their White House dinner. Maher later responded with a nine-minute rebuttal on the show.
It was later announced that Maher will receive the Mark Twain Prize from the Kennedy Center this June, a decision that was apparently complicated by the fact that Trump is the center’s board chair. Trump is not expected to attend Maher’s induction ceremony.
Read Trump’s latest anti-Maher post below.
