President Donald Trump and comedian Bill Maher reheated their on-again, off-again beef.
Trump, 80, and Maher, 70, built a frenemy association over the last decade.
The billionaire politician and the stand-up comic have dined together but have also traded insults.
Maher once again slammed Trump on his “Real Time” show. His open monologue included several one-liners directed at the GOP leader.
In particular, the late-night host zeroed in on Trump’s recent White House state dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington, D.C.
“Trump thinks that Xi could give a f**k about being his friend. So, it’s all personal,” Maher told the studio audience.
The 2026 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor recipient went on to tell the viewers about Trump showing Xi the new White House renovations during Trump 2.0.
Maher also said, “Does he know that China builds entire cities in a week? And he’s showing him the new driveway. It’s like showing Gordon Ramsay how to reheat pizza.”
Over the last two years, Trump has not only tried to give the White House complex a makeover. He has also been on a mission to reshape the D.C. landscape with various vanity construction projects.
His “beautification” initiative included painting the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, covering bronze statues with 23.75-karat gold leaf, and plans to build a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch:
“The latest redecoration obsession is Trump is like, ‘We need an arch! Yesterday!” Maher joked before imitating the president by saying, “Luckily, my good friend President Xi is an understanding man, and he accepts that we don’t have an arch. Because to not have one is criminal.”
Maher then delivered a scathing punchline aimed at the 34-time convicted felon presently occupying the Oval Office. He said, “If anybody knows about an arch-criminal, it’s Donald Trump.”
Trump clearly got wind of what Maher had to say about him on “Real Time” over the weekend. A new Truth Social post shared around 8 a.m. Eastern on Sept. 28 targeted his rival.
The president fell back on one of his usual clapbacks at a television personality, claiming that the show’s popularity had taken a hit.
“Bill Maher’s ratings are so low that it is hard to believe his show can continue. In many ways it’s SAD because, in actuality, I like him,” Trump posted.
Plus, he had a message for his own party, writing, “Republicans should stop using him as a sounding board, however. It makes them look sooo weak and foolish!”
Maher’s comedic commentary also sparked reactions online. For instance, one X user admitted, “All right, Bill, I’ll give you some kudos in that one, that’s pretty funny.”
A like-minded poster simply tweeted, “Brilliant.” Another account on the app declared, “I love Bill Maher.
However, Trump’s MAGA force weighed in as well.
“We thought you were making progress on your TDS… shame,” wrote one Trump supporter who accused Maher of suffering from so-called Trump Derangement Syndrome.
A fellow MAGA member demanded, “Fire your writers, Bill, they keep recycling the same tired jokes.”
The most recent edition of “Real Time” was not just filled with takedowns of Trump. Maher also had tepid praise for the real estate mogul-turned-political figure.
He called the commander-in-chief a “badass” for his role in possibly affecting the drop in crime rates in America as part of his closing “New Rule” segment.
“That really caught me off guard coming from him,” read a response on X to Maher lauding Trump as a “FAFO” and “no more Mr. Nice Guy” president.
Maher and Trump’s adversarial relationship dates back to the era of birtherism in the 2010s. What began as on-air wisecracks evolved into a legal fight.
At the time when Trump hosted “The Apprentice” reality television show, he spearheaded the conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
Maher jokingly offered to donate $5 million to a charity if Trump provided a birth certificate to prove he was not “the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan.”
Trump retaliated by filing a $5 million lawsuit against the comedian. The bad blood was eventually put to the side when Maher dined with the then-newly inaugurated president at the White House in March 2025.
“I voted for [Hillary] Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk with Donald Trump,” Maher later admitted following his intimate evening with the current POTUS.
Maher also referred to Trump as “gracious and measured,” which sparked significant backlash from left-leaning sections of his fanbase.
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