Bill Maher and President Donald Trump. Michael Kovac/Getty Images for J/P Haitian Relief Organization, Nathan Howard/Getty Images That didn’t take long.
President Donald Trump is once again criticizing Bill Maher, host of HBO‘s Real Time With Bill Maher — only days after the two had what he previously referred to as a “great dinner” at the White House.
On Sunday, Trump posted a scathing 1,318-word diatribe on Truth Social blasting Maher as a “complete and total loser” (in all caps).
“Let’s talk about this COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER, Bill Maher,” he began. “He’s got a Low Rated Show on equally Low Rated HBO, which was once, long ago, a Network of Quality and Excitement — But that’s all gone. It’s not ‘HOT’ anymore!” (Capitals and uppercasing are all Trump’s.)
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Trump then turned his ire to producer Chuck LaBella, who’s worked with Maher for years across multiple productions, nothing that LaBella was a “gofer” on Trump’s reality competition show The Apprentice, and also a friend of Trump’s at the time.
“[B]ecause of the success of that show, Number One and Top Rated on many weeks, with the Finale’ [sic] being among the Top Shows of the Year, he was automatically and quickly brought up through the Ranks of NBC, along with everyone else associated with that Historic ‘Happening,'” Trump wrote. “The Success of the Apprentice was so great that everyone partook — It built many careers, and that is a wonderful thing. Some people say it even built my career, because I became President (I would have won without it!). In any event, over the last few years, LaBella would call me nonstop to say, ‘Hello,’ be very nice, and tell me how much Bill Maher ‘loves’ and respects me, and would constantly ask of me, even before I was President, for any form of meeting with Maher and, would I do his show? When I became President, I agreed to meet, after the first one, and the last one, but never agreed to do his show, which he wants me to do, DESPARATELY [sic] — It won’t happen! When I have watched the show, which isn’t often, it always ends with dishonesty, about me at least, but, who cares?”
Trump apparently was upset with Maher over some jokes made on Friday’s installment of Real Time. In his monologue, Maher mocked the president’s approval ratings and recent comments about men’s physiques, while referring to his own recent visit to the White House.
“It’s just a little odd that Trump keeps gushing about men’s bodies, and how handsome they are, and their jawlines, and their asses, their physiques,” Maher said. “I’m a little hurt. I was there for dinner for four hours last week, and not a peep. Nothing.”
He added: “Trump has the lowest approval rating of any midterm candidate ever. Only 1 percent of the Republicans are mentioning him in their ads.”
In his post, Trump cited several polls claiming Trump is the most popular Republican of all time, beating out both Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln.
Also on the show, Maher made a joke about Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who ran an ad featuring Democrat gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, calling her daughter “a liar.” Actor and Arthur reportedly have not been in touch since 1978, when Arthur’s second husband, Cledith Arthur, was indicted and charged with raping Actor, who was 12 at the time. The Ramaswamy campaign has said it will spend $4 million to promote the ad Ohio, with Trump and Vice President JD Vance both backing the decision to run the spot.
“Trump said this is fair game,” Maher said on his show. “A 12-year-old rape victim is fair game? I know that looks bad. It sounds better on a birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein.”
Trump and Maher had dinner at the White House earlier this month with Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock. Afterward, Trump told reporters: “It was a great dinner. It was a very informative dinner, Smart people. Stephen A. is great. Bill Maher — I will tell you what. He likes me a lot more than people understand, and I actually like him. It was a good dinner.”
However, on Sunday, in his Trump Social post, Trump called Maher or LaBella a “pothead” and said he “looked like hell this time” (it’s really unclear which person he was referring to). He also said that Maher “was drunk and had alcohol in his hand as he walked through the White House.”
The president also wrote that Maher “lies about everything” and accused him of using a “Laughter Machine [sic]” because his jokes “aren’t funny or even any good.”
Trump then recalled their first dinner together, in March 2025, and how that came about.
“Chuck LaBella, and my friend, Kid Rock, called me incessantly about meeting with Bill Maher,” Trump wrote “My first response was, ‘Fellas, this guy’s a Goofball.’ They said, ‘He wants to go down to the White House, be with you, and talk. He said you’re very smart, but you’re not into the Liberal Platform. Will you start thinking about it?’ He invited himself to the White House! We had our first meeting, Bill was very nervous. He asked for a drink. He was very insecure, and he had a seriously bruised eye and nose area, as though somebody had just beaten him up — But it wasn’t me!”
After that dinner, Trump was at first complimentary but then later criticized Maher. On Sunday, Trump claimed LaBella pushed hard for a second dinner. He also disputed Maher’s statement that the second dinner lasted four hours.
“Overall, I thought it was a good meeting,” he wrote. “It didn’t last four hours, it lasted two hours, maybe less, and everybody was happy. We have the timestamps. I learned nothing, and felt it was a waste of time. After the first dinner, Bill Maher was friendly, I guess, everyone walked away pleased. He gave me a good first show, with lots of Laughing Machine laughter, which is a real term, but it is what it is, and then reverted back to his former self, and his old ways. I understand that. He’s doing his thing. I never took it very personally. I would always mock his Low Ratings, whenever I heard. He’s not a nice guy, and what he spouts isn’t what he believes. He has to cater to his base, which is mostly composed of Losers, and people who don’t like working.”
Trump ended his post by addressing Maher directly: “You’re also a coward who is afraid to tell the truth about how well our Country is running because of your few ‘fans,’ and how badly the Dumocrats have done, almost destroying the U.S.A. If I hadn’t won the Election, it would be DEAD! Also, turn your Laugh Machine off, it’s a joke when they laugh uncontrollably, even when you say nothing funny, and I’m going to have the Republicans not cover you anymore, because they try to talk about you as a guy who is transformative. You’re not transformative, you’re a Loser! I never watched your show much, but I will never watch it again, because it is nothing more than FAKE NEWS that America, and the World, is unfortunately subjected to. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Maher’s reps for comment.
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