Bill Maher had a fiery exchange with Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin after the latter accused him of having “fallen into the trap” by recently meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House.
The pair’s spat came after Maher, a vocal Trump critic who has occasionally scolded the left-wing, told his “Real Time” audience during Friday’s episode that he had a “gracious and measured” dinner with Trump, Kid Rock, and UFC Head Dana White earlier this month.
“You can hate me for it, but I’m not a liar,” Maher told the crowd. “Trump was gracious and measured. And why isn’t that in other settings? I don’t know, and I can’t answer, and it’s not my place to answer. I’m just telling you what I saw, and I wasn’t high.”
A “mind-blown” Maher admitted that Trump’s residency in the White House isn’t as “fucked up” as he thought and applauded the president for his “willingness to listen and accept me as a possible friend even though I’m not MAGA.”
After Maher said that he reported on his dining experience with Trump “as honest as I can be” during a panel discussion later in the show, Rogin challenged him about the meeting, telling the “Real Time” host that while he believed he was in attendance in “good faith,” Trump might’ve had ill motives.
“I think you’ve fallen into the trap, and I think I represent 99% of the internet when I say this: you’ve played the game of proximity is principle,” Rogin said. “I’m not questioning your motivation; I’m questioning Trump’s, OK?”
Rogin then tried to ease the blow of his words by gushing over Maher’s talents, which apparently set the political commentator off.
“You don’t have to patronize me, dude. I don’t know you. I’ve never met you,” Maher fired back at Rogin. “Not everybody has to like it. That’s what we said. There are people who didn’t want it to happen at all. You sound like one of them, it’s OK.”
After Rogin tried to talk over the comedian in response, Maher firmly replied, “Did you hear what I said? What is the alternative to not talking? Just sit at your lunch table and don’t talk to anybody?”
But Rogin didn’t let up, telling Maher, “I agree with the principle of engagement. I’m just saying from [Trump’s] perspective…all Americans know that for him this was a PR stunt, and in his view you were a prop in that PR stunt.”
Piers Morgan, another guest on the panel, cut into the conversation to side with Maher.
“I don’t agree with that…If you go on social media for five minutes now, you just have this tribal fury raging all day long. Everyone’s got to be implacably there, implacably here, and actually, most Americans and most Brits; they’re not like that,” Morgan explained. “And then, the idea that Bill Maher is now going to stop criticizing Donald Trump… is preposterous!”
Elsewhere in the episode, Maher shut down Rogin’s take on his meeting with Trump.
“The fact that you began your little rant with ‘the internet,’ that tells me everything. You take your cues from the internet. Good luck,” he told Rogin.
Watch a clip from Maher’s “Real Time” below.
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