Comic Invoice Maher revealed what shocked him most about his much-hullabalooed dinner with President Trump — as he joked that his takeaways could trigger “liberal sphincters” to tighten.
On the outset of HBO’s “Actual Time with Invoice Maher” on Friday, the eponymous host delivered a prolonged monologue about his assembly with the commander in chief that left him unexpectedly charmed.
“All the things I’ve not preferred about him was, I swear to God, absent. At the very least on this evening, with this man,” Maher, 69, mentioned, showing considerably shocked by his personal conclusions.
“I by no means felt I needed to stroll on eggshells round him. And actually, I voted for Clinton and Obama, however I might by no means really feel snug speaking to them the way in which I used to be capable of discuss with Donald Trump,” the discuss present host mentioned, including, “Make of it what you’ll.”
Admitting that he went in with weapons blazing, Maher described how he printed out a listing of insults that Trump had hurled his means through the years, together with barbs comparable to “sleaze-bag” and “low-life dummy” — to see if the president would autograph the digs.
“I introduced this to the White Home as a result of I needed him to signal it, which he did … with good humor,” Maher mentioned, holding up the Trump-signed sheet of paper because the viewers broke out into applause.
“And I do know, that as I say that, thousands and thousands of liberal sphincters simply tightened,” Maher quipped.
The comic additionally revealed that President Trump gifted him a number of MAGA hats, that are saved in the identical room the place former President Invoice Clinton allegedly had trysts with then-White Home intern Monica Lewinsky.
Nonetheless, he mentioned he felt no strain to “go MAGA.”
The HBO host proceeded to ship staggeringly optimistic evaluations of Trump, harping on the graciousness the president confirmed behind closed doorways, even within the face of difficult and generally abrasive critiques.
“I’ve had so many conversations with outstanding people who find themselves a lot much less related. Those that don’t look you within the eye. Those that don’t actually pay attention as a result of they simply need to get to their subsequent factor. Individuals whose response to belongings you say simply doesn’t monitor. None of that with him,” Maher mentioned.
“Principally he steered the dialog to ‘what do you concentrate on this?’ I do know. Your thoughts is blown. So is mine,” Maher mentioned to widespread viewers laughter and a spherical of applause.
Maher additionally recounted that at one level throughout their dinner, the president requested him his ideas on the Iran nuclear scenario.
The liberal host confessed he directed a pointed criticism at Trump for eliminating the Obama nuclear cope with the Center Jap nation.
“He didn’t get mad or name me a left-wing lunatic. He took it in,” Maher mentioned.
In a second shocking to each Maher and the viewers, Trump used the phrase “misplaced” in relation to the 2020 presidential election.
“And I distinctly bear in mind saying, ‘Wow, I by no means thought I’d hear you say that.’ He didn’t get mad. He’s rather more self-aware than he lets on in public,” Maher mentioned.
The comic additionally raved about a number of character traits he witnessed within the “non-public Trump” which are supposedly absent from the president’s larger-than-life public persona.
“Only for starters, he laughs,” Maher acknowledged in disbelief. “I’d by no means seen him chortle in public. However he does — together with at himself — and it’s not faux. Consider me, as a comic of forty years, I do know a faux chortle after I hear it.”
In a single memorable alternate, Maher recounted that Trump, displaying off the portraits of the Oval Workplace, mentioned, “One of the best factor about [President Ronald Reagan] was his hair.”
Maher mentioned Trump chuckled when reminded that taking down the Soviet Union and Communism was one other nice Reagan accomplishment.
The host mentioned that essentially the most “surreal” a part of the entire scenario was when he returned dwelling, flipped on the tv, and noticed Trump again to taking part in the position of his bombastic public persona at a information convention.
“Who’s that man?,” Maher joked, including, “And why can’t we get the man I met to be the general public man?
“A loopy particular person doesn’t stay within the White Home. An individual who performs a loopy particular person on TV so much lives there. Which I do know is f–ed up, it’s simply not as f–ed up as I assumed it was,” Maher mentioned in summation.
Different dinner attendees had been head of the UFC Dana White and rockstar turned Trump-booster Child Rock, who organized the assembly.
