Trump criticizes Bill Maher in record-long Truth Social post

For the second time in about 18 months, a White House dinner between President Donald Trump and comedian Bill Maher has ended in a public falling-out.

On Sunday night, Trump posted a long message on Truth Social that opened by calling the "Real Time" host a "COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER," in capital letters. CNN reported that the post ran 1,323 words and, according to a CNN analysis and the Factbase database, was the longest of Trump's roughly 97,000 social media posts since 2011. The Hollywood Reporter counted 1,318 words, and the New York Post counted 1,322; the small differences come down to how each outlet counted.

Only 10 days earlier, the two men had shared a meal at the White House, and both had spoken warmly about it.

Maher had not answered Trump directly as of about 4:12 p.m. ET Monday. But by coincidence of timing, his "Club Random" podcast released an episode on Monday, recorded before the post, in which he told guest Justine Bateman that Trump is now a "lame duck" and "way less" of a threat than he once was, according to TheWrap and Mediaite.

How did we get here?

Maher, a longtime Trump critic, first had dinner with Trump at the White House in spring 2025 (March 31, according to the New York Post), a meeting that also included Kid Rock. Afterward, Maher told his HBO audience that Trump had been "gracious and measured" in private, as Fox News has recounted. That first meeting also included UFC chief Dana White, the Post reported.

The second dinner took place on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. This time the guests were Maher, ESPN host Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock. Speaking to reporters the next day, Trump called it "a very informative dinner" and said he liked his guests, according to Fox News, which cited C-SPAN footage. "Bill Maher, I tell you what, he likes me a lot more than people understand," Trump said.

Smith later said on his podcast that the group spent "over four hours" at the White House, CNN reported.

What did Maher say on his show?

On Friday's "Real Time," Maher opened by saying Trump has "the lowest approval rating of any midterm candidate ever," according to The Hollywood Reporter. He then said he was "a little hurt" that Trump had not mentioned him, given that he had been at dinner "for four hours last week," TheWrap reported.

He also defended going back to the White House, using profanity twice to tell critics that he had done it again and that he likes the dinners, according to TheWrap and LateNighter. He joked that a White House aide had announced him as the president's "7 o'clock low-ratings dummy," a line he also posted on his X account.

Maher listed topics he said he raised with Trump, including the Supreme Court, shootings involving immigration agents, Starlink, Afghan evacuees, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, former President Barack Obama and the 2020 election, according to TheWrap. He said Trump never lost his temper.

In the same monologue, Maher made a joke about Ohio's governor's race between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton that touched on a sensitive personal subject and ended with a reference to Jeffrey Epstein, according to the Real Time transcript and coverage of the episode.

Maher's main guest was Karoline Leavitt, who left her job as White House press secretary in August and is set to join Fox News on Nov. 1, according to Variety. She told him the president "sends his regards" and had asked her to pass along that Maher "loved that dinner and he knows it," Variety reported. Maher answered that he did like it. During the interview, Maher described Trump as "half sane," according to Deadline. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Steve Hilton were also on the episode, which CNN re-aired on Saturday.

What did Trump's post say?

Trump's post covered a lot of ground. Here are the main points, as reported by Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, CNN and the New York Post:

• On the show and HBO: Trump called "Real Time" a low-rated show on a network that he said had lost its appeal, and he accused it of relying on a "Laugh Machine." He also called Maher a coward, said Maher's audience was mostly made up of people who don't like working, and said his show was "nothing more than FAKE NEWS".
• On how the dinners happened: Trump said Chuck LaBella, whom he described as Maher's friend and business associate, and Kid Rock pushed repeatedly for the meetings. He described LaBella as a former "gofer" on "The Apprentice" and said he called about 10 times before the second dinner was arranged. Trump wrote that his first reaction was to tell them Maher was a "Goofball," and he claimed Maher had invited himself. Trump said he never agreed to appear on Maher's show and never will.
• On the length of the dinner: "It didn't last four hours, it lasted two hours, maybe less, and everybody was happy," Trump wrote, adding that "we have the timestamps" and that he "learned nothing."
• On Maher personally: Trump made several unflattering personal claims about Maher's behavior and appearance at both dinners, including about drinking and marijuana use. He offered no evidence for them, and Maher had not responded to them as of about 4:12 p.m. ET Monday. NewsCubby is not repeating them in detail.
• On polls: Trump rejected Maher's comments about his approval rating and said a CNN poll showed him at "98 and 99%" support among Republicans. CNN said its latest poll put his approval among Republicans at 74%, which CNN called a new low in its polling, and that Trump's figure appeared to refer to CNN analyst Harry Enten discussing another network's poll of MAGA Republicans.
• On the White House press area: Trump wrote that he is "not building a swimming pool." He praised Leavitt's appearance on the show, in a passage that also included an insult NewsCubby is not repeating. CNN said the post also confirmed that Trump has considered moving reporters out of their White House workspace. "I am thinking about moving the Press, and putting them in a different location," Trump wrote.
• Other disputes: Trump criticized Maher's view of U.S. action against Iran's nuclear program, defended his own endorsement record in the midterms, and accused Maher of lying about voting in California, repeating his own unproven claim of widespread illegal voting there.

Trump ended the post by addressing Maher directly, telling him, "Bill: Don't call anymore," according to Deadline. He also wrote that he would have Republicans stop covering Maher and told him he was not "transformative." He added that he would never watch the show again. He signed off with his usual line: "Thank you for your attention to this matter."

How has Maher responded?

As of about 4:12 p.m. ET Monday, NewsCubby had not found a direct public response from Maher. His own X account had posted nothing new since Friday's show, based on a check at about 4:12 p.m. ET. Deadline and Fox News Digital both reported that Maher did not immediately respond to their requests for comment, and The Hollywood Reporter said it had contacted his representatives. The Independent also reported Monday afternoon that he had yet to respond.

What Maher did put out on Monday was a new "Club Random" episode with filmmaker and actor Justine Bateman. TheWrap, Mediaite and The Independent all reported that it was recorded before Trump's post, so it is not a reply to it. In the episode, Maher said wealthy Hollywood liberals often ask him what can be done about Trump, and he described, with profanity, telling them their lives have not really been affected. He said Trump is still "a threat in the many ways he has always been," but "way less so now," calling him "a lame duck," according to TheWrap. Maher added that he was more alarmed about Trump 10 years ago and still objects that Trump does not accept losing elections, The Independent and Mediaite reported.

Fox News Digital reported that when it asked the White House for comment, the White House pointed it back to Trump's Truth Social post. NewsCubby found no further Trump posts or remarks about Maher as of about 4:12 p.m. ET.

HBO had not commented publicly on the post as of about 4:12 p.m. ET, based on NewsCubby's review of coverage.

What are others saying?

Coverage of the post split along familiar lines. CNN's media team focused on its length, said it contained inaccuracies about CNN's own polling, and highlighted the line about moving the press corps. CNN also said the post was nearly twice as long as Trump's previous longest, a 723-word post in May. The New York Post led with Trump's insults; it also reported the post was a record but identified a different runner-up, a Sept. 30 post about South Korea. Deadline framed the post against Trump's praise of the "great dinner" nine days earlier. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter focused on the insults and the "Don't call anymore" line. Fox News, in a Monday story, said the post left many online "baffled" by Trump's change in tone. It quoted Tim Young, a comedian and media fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, who said he could not tell what had set Trump off, since Maher regularly criticizes him. Young guessed that Trump may have watched a full episode because Leavitt was on it.

Neither Stephen A. Smith nor Kid Rock had commented publicly on the post as of about 4:12 p.m. ET, based on NewsCubby's review of coverage and their X accounts. Smith posted about sports on Monday afternoon but not about Trump or Maher. Trump's account disputes Smith's earlier description of the dinner as lasting more than four hours, a figure Smith also gave CNN's Laura Coates, according to The Hill.

Why does it matter?

The exchange lands eight days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, a period in which Trump is holding near-daily rallies for Republican candidates. Maher's show regularly books Republican guests, as it did Friday with Leavitt and Hilton, and Trump's line about having Republicans stop covering Maher raises the question of whether that will continue.

It also adds a new detail to an ongoing story about the White House press corps: Trump's own written confirmation that he is considering relocating reporters.

What we know

• Trump posted a message of about 1,300 words about Maher on Truth Social on Sunday night, Oct. 25.
• The post followed Maher's Oct. 23 "Real Time" episode, his first since an Oct. 15 White House dinner with Trump, Smith and Kid Rock.
• Trump disputes the length of the dinner and Maher's comments about his poll numbers.
• Maher's Monday "Club Random" episode, recorded before the post, called Trump a "lame duck."

What we don't know yet

• Whether Maher will respond directly, and where; his Monday podcast was recorded before the post.
• Whether Trump's personal claims about Maher have any basis; he offered no evidence.
• Whether the post will affect Republican guests' willingness to appear on "Real Time."

What happens next

HBO's listing says new episodes of "Real Time with Bill Maher" air Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max, which would put the next one on Oct. 30, four days before the midterms. HBO had not posted that episode's guests as of about 4:12 p.m. ET. Maher also hosts the "Club Random" podcast, where he often discusses the week's news.

*Credits: reporting from Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, CNN, the New York Post, Fox News, TheWrap, Mediaite, The Independent, The Hill and LateNighter. Photo: Angela George / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. NewsCubby articles are produced with AI assistance and reviewed by humans.*

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