Bill Maher and Sen. John Fetterman applauded Donald Trump’s habit of making aggressive comments toward journalists who challenge him — including his infamous “quiet, piggy” remark — describing it as “horrifying” yet refreshingly honest.
The Pennsylvania senator appeared on Monday’s episode of the “Club Random” podcast, where the pair discussed Trump’s often blunt remarks, which Maher described as those of a president who “vomits their interior monologue.”
“The things that he says aloud, the way he just voices his interior monologue,” Maher said. “There is something not exactly psychologically normal about someone who just vomits their interior monologue, but it gives him an authenticity with people that no one else can possibly match.”
Maher then pointed to Trump’s contentious interview with CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell on “60 Minutes” following the The White House Correspondents’ Dinner assassination attempt against the president. During the interview, O’Donnell referenced comments made by the alleged gunman, who had reportedly described Trump as a “pedophile” and “Hitler.”
The HBO host said he understood why Trump reacted angrily: “That pissed him off a lot. I could see both sides. As a reporter, it is news. Also, it’s giving access to the president from the terrorist.”
According to Maher, Trump’s response to O’Donnell following the interview — where he called her “ terrible” — exemplified the bluntness that both fascinates and alarms the nation.
“He didn’t just think it like any politician. That’s exactly what they’re thinking. He just says it,” Maher said. “It’s at the same time horrifying and also kind of refreshing. It’s shockingly honest.”
He continued: “As someone who loves honesty and has made my career about it as much as I could, there’s some level of it where you tip your hat and you go, ‘Wow. Total honesty. I think you’re a horrible person and I’m just going to say it.’”
That’s when Fetterman, in agreement, chimed in through a fit of laughter and said the ultimate example of the president’s brutal honesty came with the “quiet, piggy” remark.
“That’s the president of America,” the senator said, unable to control his laughter. “Quiet, piggy!”
Maher echoed the sentiment, adding that he no longer gets mad when the president tweets about him “because the next day I feel like it’s forgotten.”
Trump’s most visually demeaning attack against female journalists came aboard Air Force One on Nov. 14, 2025, after Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey tried to press him on why he didn’t unilaterally release the Epstein files. After saying he knew “nothing about that” in relation to Epstein’s emailed claims that Trump “knew about the girls,” Trump had had enough when Lucey’s questions reached his ears.
“Quiet. Quiet, piggy!” he snapped at her before moving on to a different question.
The remark, which went viral days later, stunned a chorus of journalists. CNN anchor Jake Tapper called the president’s behavior “disgusting and completely unacceptable,” and former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran added on X, “When they go low, he goes lower.”
“President Trump has never been politically correct, never holds back, and in large part, the American people re-elected him for his transparency,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement at the time. “This has nothing to do with gender – it has everything to do with the fact that the president’s and the public’s trust in the media is at all time lows.”
