Bill Maher issued a scathing response to Donald Trump’s Valentine’s Day criticism of him, blasting the president as having “Bill Maher Derangement Syndrome.”
The comedian sounded off on the president during Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” where he responded at length to Trump’s many digs posted on Truth Social last month.
“Someone has to help Donald Trump understand that I don’t suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. He suffers from Bill Maher Derangement Syndrome,” Maher said. “Three weeks ago, I woke up to some things the president had written on his Truth Social media platform that somehow were not true. I don’t know how they got in there. It’s not like the president to just make things up when he’s mad.”
He continued: “But on this occasion, he did, which I forgive. But on Valentine’s Day, that hurt. But just to set the record straight from what the president claimed, I didn’t ask for the dinner. Our mutual friend asked me. It’s on tape from my podcast. Also, I wasn’t nervous and scared, and the dinner wasn’t quick.”
As Maher went on, he defended that his meal with Trump lasted “three hours,” and clarified what (and how much) he drank during their evening together.
“I was having a good time. So were you, Don, because we were talking like real humans, not like that crazy act you put on in public,” he added. “But I know that’s what you do. You are, if anything, a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. And so you did here listing your accomplishments and how hurt you feel that people, including me, have not recognized them enough.”
Per Maher, Trump texted him after the dinner, blasting him as “part of the lunatic left,” but — after arguing “for a while” — told him to never change.
“That’s the normal human being I saw the night we broke bread,” Maher said. “And as long as I think there’s even a spark of a possibility of bringing that guy out more. I will not consider the dinner ‘a waste of time,’ even as I now see we’re back to name calling and that I have some new ones like, ‘highly overrated lightweight’ to add to the list you signed.”
Maher then warned that he’d be by “with a new one,” implying he’d respond in kind amid their fallout. Though, Maher also defended that he’s made a point to callout those who’ve made hating the president “their whole reason to live.”
Nonetheless, Maher challenged the president to stop making “people crazy,” accusing the president of doing “things that are racist, misogynistic, anti-democratic and corrupt.”
Maher then provided evidence proving he doesn’t have the “dreaded TDS,” noting he never threw Trump “under the bus.”
“I consider myself lucky I got in to talk to you without giving you a 747 or buying your cryptocurrency or giving you my Nobel Prize,” he said before sharing footage of the times he voice support for Trump’s policies regarding Israel, NATO, marijuana and more.
“See, that’s the difference between you and me, Don, I can admit when I’m wrong and I can be honest,” Maher sounded off. “In fact, I may be the last person from the lunatic left that is still an honest broker when it comes to you.”
He added: “It’s a shame you can’t take criticism, because in an alternative universe where we could have further honest conversations, I could say things to you that might be quite helpful, like, ‘Don, I’m going to level with you. I’m going to give it to you straight. Some people don’t like you.’”
Maher didn’t stop there, as he also called out ICE under Trump, Elon Musk’s DOGE and for the president’s obsession with hating “Canada and wind.”
“It’s not derangement for me to be always calling out the election-denying obsession you have or the pardons-for-my-friends-and-punishment-for-my-enemies mode of governing or the side deals for your family that always seem to be part of everything,” he stated. “We see how rich you’ve all become, but the people of West Virginia don’t seem to be feeling the winning. A Democratic senator recently said of your administration, ‘They are the elites they pretend to hate.’ Free advice, if the Democrats ever learn to weaponize that message, your MAGA movement is in big trouble.” Watch Maher’s full statement below.
Maher’s commentary came three weeks after Trump laid into the late night host, in which he said their prior dinner was a “total waste of time.”
“Sometimes in life you waste time! T.V. Host Bill Maher asked to have dinner with me through one of his friends, also a friend of mine, and I agreed. He came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be,” the president wrote at the time. “He was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself and, to soothe his nerves, immediately, within seconds, asked for a “Vodka Tonic.” He said to me, “I’ve never felt like this before, I’m actually scared.” In one respect, it was somewhat endearing!”
Trump then accused Maher of touting “very boring,” “anti-Trump” messaging on his show, adding, “Bill continues to suffer from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS!), and there is nothing that will ever be done to cure him of this very serious disease.”
