Bill Maher, the host of HBO “Real Time,” says that he would be concerned for his well-being should Donald Trump be reelected as president.
“I am afraid of Trump on a very personal level because I don’t think he likes me. I understand why,” Maher told Jake Tapper on CNN. “And I don’t know what he would do in a second term.”
Maher, known for his caustic sense of humor and liberal worldview, said that after Trump won the 2016 election, Maher “thought I could wind up in Guantanamo Bay. I think I still could.”
“[Trump is] obsessed sometimes. I don’t know. He went on a tear for about eight months when he was president. Every time he’d have a rally, I have a list three pages long of the things he’s called me,” Maher said.
Maher and Trump have gone back and forth in the past. In June 2022, Maher said on Fox News that Ron DeSantis would be a better presidential option than Trump because DeSantis is not “certifiably insane.” Trump responded, calling Maher a “radical left maniac.”
Maher dabbling in hyperbole on Donald Trump
I don’t think Maher has too much to worry about.
Trump’s list of enemies – or, list of people he mocks, ridicules, or castigates, rather – is quite long.
Even if Trump’s “list” were narrowed down just to media personalities he didn’t like, Maher is still just one of many, mixed in with basically the entire rosters of CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, and Mother Jones. Maher isn’t Trump’s priority.
And Maher’s explicit concern, that he’s going to end up in Guantanamo Bay – that’s a stretch.
A more reasonable concern would be for Trump’s criticism to inspire a zealous follower to inflict personal harm. Anything is possible, although I don’t think Maher needs to be actively concerned – at least no more concerned than any other political commentator who actively mocks his political figures.
Maher has a habit of attributing great fears to Trump and his actions.
Throughout the Trump administration, Maher was raising alarm bells about the threat Donald Trump posed to democracy, et cetera.
Maher always gave Trump a little too much credit for his capacity to bring the world to an end.
Now, Maher is just doing it with a more personal angle.
Maher benefits from interactions with Trump
What Maher knows, however, is that any exchange with either a sitting or former president of the United States is going to be good for ratings.
And for a liberal guy like Maher, having Trump openly insult you is a good thing. It boosts credibility amongst the left.
And it probably inspires some curiosity on the right; it probably inspires some right-wingers to watch Bill Maher in the same way that curious left-wingers watch Tucker Carlson.
That’s, in part, why Maher is going on CNN and talking about the friction between himself and Donald Trump. It’s good for the brand.
Speaking of the brand, it’s funny because Maher and Trump likely see eye to eye on certain issues.
Maher has been highly – and hilariously – critical of “woke” culture. Maher has criticized the use of “Latinx”; Maher has criticized the censoring of Chinese caricatures in Dr. Seuss, arguing that while Americans are worried about how Chinese are depicted in one-hundred-year-old children’s books, the Chinese are expanding their infrastructure and military capacity; Maher has criticized the recent “body positivity” trend in which Americans accept and even celebrate obesity.
Maher and Trump do have some overlap with respect to cultural interpretation – and their tendency to employ humor to criticize.
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Harrison Kass is the Senior Editor at 19FortyFive. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.
