Bill Maher says he didn’t “go MAGA” after dining with Trump — but he spent his HBO monologue mocking liberals and softening Trump’s image. Here’s how he got played.
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Bill Maher says he didn’t “go MAGA” after dining with Trump — but he spent his HBO monologue mocking liberals and softening Trump’s image. Here’s how he got played.
After dining with Donald Trump at the White House recently, Bill Maher went on his HBO show to deliver what he framed as a balanced, honest, no-BS report. What Maher delivered, instead, was a stunning example of how easily millionaire celebrities get seduced by the soft glow of power — and end up reinforcing dangerous narratives.
Let’s be clear: Donald Trump rolled Bill Maher.
After the dinner — arranged by MAGA musician Kid Rock — Maher found himself swooning over Trump. Maher insisted he hasn't converted to the MAGA cult, but he spent several minutes downplaying Trump’s authoritarianism while reframing Trump’s critics as the real problem.
In Maher's telling, the president known for shattering democratic norms and defying the law is simply a misunderstood guy who laughs at Maher's jokes. But it’s political theater — and Maher got played.
Note: I don’t find Maher funny and I rarely watch his show. But since his pro-Trump turn is getting lots of media attention, let’s examine how he fell into Trump’s trap.
Let’s talk frames — because Maher clearly doesn’t understand how they work. Drawing from the work of Dr. George Lakoff, we know that political beliefs are shaped by frames: deeply embedded moral worldviews that guide how we interpret reality.
Trump operates within a concrete moral frame — the “Strict Father” model. In this worldview, perceived strength and hierarchical order are paramount. Empathy, nuance, and egalitarianism are considered signs of weakness. Trump’s bombastic public persona isn’t a glitch. It’s the point. It’s how he signals dominance, loyalty, and control to his base.
When Maher meets a more charming, personable Trump over dinner, he thinks he’s seeing the “real” man behind the bluster. But what he’s actually seeing is a different performance for a different audience. Still the same actor. Still the same frame. Just a different costume.
Trump’s goal was clear: get Maher to go on HBO and tell the world how great he is. And Maher fell for it — hook, line, and sinker.
Maher seems to believe that his civil dinner with the president proves something meaningful. It doesn’t. Plenty of authoritarians are polite in private, especially when they have a strategic goal. That doesn’t change what they do in public.
By focusing on Trump’s dinner table demeanor, Maher ignores what matters: power, actions, and consequences. Trump has incited insurrections, pushed election lies, targeted judges, gutted institutions, and threatened to shred the Constitution. He’s snatched innocent immigrants off the street and shipped them to El Salvador prisons where their human rights are violated on arrival.
But hey, he laughed at Maher’s jokes — so Maher thinks he's wonderful.
Maher also seems to believe he can persuade Trump to be better — that a civil conversation might unlock a more reasonable version of him. But this is classic illusion of control. In this case, it reveals Maher’s mistaken belief that his charm and reason can overcome Trump’s deep ideological commitments and incentives. It’s hubris disguised as hope.
This is not political clarity. It’s political naïveté masquerading as iconoclasm — or something worse.
For example: Back in 2018, Maher excoriated Geraldo Rivera for saying that Trump seems like a different person in private:
Rivera, NewsNation correspondent-at-large, was criticized when he appeared on “Real Time with Bill Maher” in 2018 and told Maher the Republican president can be friendly and warm in private.
“Who gives a (expletive),” Maher, a longtime Trump critic, shot back at Rivera then. “He’s running the world now. What does that matter that he was nice to you at Thanksgiving?”
Now Maher is the one gushing over Trump's table manners.
The most damaging part of Maher’s monologue isn’t his praise of Trump — it’s his scorn for Trump’s critics.
He mocks Democratic concerns about Trump and frames himself as the only grown-up in a sea of hysterical partisans. In doing so, he reinforces one of Trump’s most powerful frames:
“I’m reasonable. It’s my opponents who have gone crazy.”
That frame has been key to Trump’s success. He casts himself as the innocent victim of irrational and intolerant partisans. And now here comes Maher doing exactly what Trump wants: validating the idea that Trump is open-minded, while his critics are the problem.
This isn’t just a lousy excuse for comedy — it’s collaboration by normalization.
Trump used white belt-level political judo. And Maher face-planted on the mat.
Maher prides himself on being a “centrist,” a truth-teller, a guy who calls out both sides. But what he misses is this: there’s no such thing as a neutral frame. When you reject one worldview, you automatically reinforce another. When you say, “Both sides are too extreme,” you’re still taking a side — just one that lacks moral clarity.
Maher wants to rise above the partisan fray, but in doing so, he erases the real moral stakes of our current moment.
Trump isn’t just a guy who posts mean things on Twitter. He is a dangerous figure who has normalized political violence, undermined democracy, and corrupted public discourse. That’s not something you fix with a good dinner and some polite conversation.
Trump didn’t need Maher’s endorsement — he just needed a supposed TV liberal to validate his performance. That’s how demagogues manipulate the frame: one well-placed compliment speaks louder than a thousand criticisms.
He didn’t need to win Maher over. He just needed Maher to go on TV and say, “He’s a great guy.” Mission accomplished. A so-called thought leader just broadcast Trump’s favorite narrative to millions — all because the authoritarian leader was nice to him at dinner.
Maher’s capitulation won’t age well. He built his brand on mocking power. Now he’s helping sell authoritarian propaganda. There’s nothing funny about that. This was the moment Maher stopped being a comedian and started becoming a collaborator.
What Can You Do? Still watching Bill Maher? Do yourself a favor — find something better to do. He’s rarely funny, well past his prime, and now he’s bowed to Trump. What’s the point?”
Clayton Davis
Jazmin Tolliver
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