Bill Maher calls viewers who stopped watching after Trump dinner ‘idiots’

Comedian Bill Maher called those who stopped watching his show after dining with President Donald Trump “idiots” in an interview with CNN’s Elex Michaelson on Saturday.

“First of all, people who stop watching my show because I had dinner with him are, in my opinion, idiots,” he said. during the interview “The story is with Elex Michaelson.” “They are. They’re totally emotional because they’re always like, ‘How dare you have dinner with Donald Trump?’ “They are asking the wrong question.”

Maher had dinner with the president in April 2025 and faced criticism from liberals for the meeting. Trump raged at Maher in a Truth Social post over the weekend, calling his dinner with the comedian a “total waste of time.”

“The question should always be: ‘What did I say after having dinner with Donald Trump?’ Now, if I came back to the show after having dinner with Donald Trump and I was seduced by that dinner and stopped tearing him up a new meal every week when I thought he was doing something wrong, then there would be a lawsuit. That didn’t happen,” Maher said.

DANA WHITE AND ANDREW SCHULZ SHOULD BE HONEST TO BILL MAHER ABOUT TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE VISIT

He said that when he thought the left had gone too far, he did not stop making fun of the left and continued to criticize the president.

“We met him and sat for three hours, you know, it was a long dinner – and the left got very angry at me for conveying it accurately, which is that he’s very different in person. Everyone who meets him says the same thing, by the way,” he said.

Maher told Michaelson that Trump sometimes texted her “yelling” at her.

Bill Maher spoke with Elex Michaelson for an interview about his relationship with President Donald Trump. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)

BILL MAHER SAYS STATES SHOULD TELL CELEBRITIES TO ‘SHUT UP’, HOLLYWOOD STOPS THE PARTY

“‘You’re still part of the crazy left,'” Maher said, repeating the message from the president. “He watched. He understood. Yes. I haven’t changed, but you know what? “That’s better, because then I can respond to something and it becomes a conversation, not just the same thing.”

Maher said Trump does a lot of stupid things, but he also “makes people stupid.”

I felt like, “Okay, we’ve been doing this for 10 years, we’re just yelling at each other from across the barricades. It’s better to talk to someone.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE NEWS ON MEDIA AND CULTURE

Bill Maher at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards on January 11, 2026 in Beverly Hills, California. (MEGA/GC Images))

Michaelson agreed with the idea and wondered what the alternative might be, “A civil war?” he asked.

“It’s totally emotional. It’s so disappointing that some people, like Donald Trump, who I think of as reasonable people, are doing so many stupid things. It’s also making people stupid,” Maher responded. “Again, what’s the alternative? He’s the president. You can’t talk to him without talking to him. What’s the downside?”

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION