On Monday, Fox News offered an explanation for President Donald Trump’s social media rant against Bill Maher over the weekend. According to one guest and comedy insider, the reason for the president’s outburst – which was the longest post he’s ever written – may have come down to one simple thing: he’d never seen Maher’s show before.
Trump’s weekend post followed a White House dinner he shared with Maher earlier in the month, who the president had previously told reporters was “great,” saying that it “was a very informative dinner.” But then shortly after Maher’s HBO show aired on Sunday, on which former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was a featured guest – Trump’s record-breaking post suggested he’d had an abrupt change of heart regarding the comedian.
“Let’s talk about this complete and total loser, Bill Maher,” Trump railed. “He’s got a Low Rated Show on equally Low Rated HBO, which was once, long ago, a Network of Quality and Excitement — But that’s all gone. It’s not ‘HOT’ anymore!” He added, “Also, I wanted to tell Bill that he’s a major POTHEAD. He’s got to stop, it’s very bad for his health. He looked like hell this time. Bill was drunk and had alcohol in his hand as he walked through the White House. Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock came along with him. Overall, I thought it was a good meeting. It didn’t last four hours, it lasted two hours, maybe less, and everybody was happy. We have the timestamps. I learned nothing, and felt it was a waste of time.”
Trump also insisted that Maher’s show had become “worse” since the dinner, ranting, “There were so many other falsehoods Bill spewed, but I won’t waste time in fact checking him. He isn’t worth it. Bill: Don’t call anymore. It’s useless, and tell [producer] Chuck LaBella not to call so much, and say how much you love ‘TRUMP,’ and want to get together, because you’re a hopeless guy, who is just trying to cater to your small group of ‘fans.’ You’re also a coward who is afraid to tell the truth about how well our Country is running because of your few ‘fans,’ and how badly the Dumocrats have done, almost destroying the U.S.A.” He concluded, “You’re not transformative, you’re a Loser! I never watched your show much, but I will never watch it again, because it is nothing more than FAKE NEWS that America, and the World, is unfortunately subjected to.”
In an effort to understand Trump’s sudden turn against Maher, Fox News spoke with comedian and media fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, Tim Young. He thought there was only one explanation for the 1,300-word invective. “I watched Bill Maher’s show this weekend and can’t figure out what set off Trump more than usual. Maher always regularly criticizes Trump,” noted Young. “Maybe it’s that Trump watched a full episode for once because Karoline Leavitt was on and realized just how much Maher criticizes him. That’s the only thing I can think happened. The president was friendly and didn’t realize just how much Maher takes cracks at him because he has never seen a full episode until now.”