Following Bill Maher‘s heated discussion on last Friday’s edition of HBO’s “Real Time” about President Donald Trump‘s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Megyn Kelly remarked Monday that there is a “good Bill Maher” and a “bad Bill Maher.”
Kelly spoke Monday with County Highway Editor-at-Large Walter Kirn, who was a guest on Maher’s Friday episode of “Real Time” and who pushed back against Maher’s insistence on the veracity of the Russiagate scandal that has loomed over both of Trump’s presidential terms. Kelly kicked off the discussion by complimenting Maher for calling out the “bullshit” uproar about Trump’s red-carpet etiquette during his meeting with Putin last week.
“That was a good Bill Maher, but then there was a bad Bill Maher,” Kelly said, referring to Kirn’s Russiagate debate with Maher. “There was a moment of bad Bill Maher where he got [on] your grill, Walter, and he was so wrong about this.”
“It was because of good Bill Maher that I felt I could speak to him reasonably, but he didn’t like it the second time,” Kirn replied.
Kelly went on to call Maher’s initial comments in defense of Trump a “red herring” and slammed him for his continued belief that Russia worked with Trump to help him win the 2016 election.
“Bringing up the Trump comments about, ‘Oh, Putin, if you’re listening … ,’ that’s his evidence that Trump colluded with [Putin]?” Kelly observed. “In a way, I appreciate it him saying it because that’s what a lot of leftists think.”
“Maher has been on the wrong side of the Russiagate story from the beginning, and he’s been a main pusher of the nonsense,” Kelly continued. “With all due respect to Bill, he’s been #PartOfTheProblem on Russiagate, and therefore, not shockingly, cannot see its complete dismantling.”
Maher has, notably, been a constant target of right-wing and left-wing scorn in recent years for his various comments made in both opposition to and in support of Trump. It is, therefore, not surprising that Kelly thinks there is simultaneously a good form and a bad form of Maher.
Both Kelly and Maher have, notably, been guests on each other’s shows. “I was surprised. I like her,” Maher told Sam Harris in 2024 about his experience going on Kelly’s show. “I think we’re friends, and I hope we stay friends.”
