From 'President Xi' to 'ICE shootings', Bill Maher reveals what went down during his dinner with Donald Trump

Aashna
Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Raleigh, North Carolina - Source: Getty
Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Raleigh, North Carolina - Source: Getty

"Yeah, I did it again, b*tches"- this is how Bill Maher opened the recent Friday night episode of his Real Time with Bill Maher, after dining with Donald Trump on October 15, 2026, for the second time.

Bill Maher and Trump's long-running back-and-forth is no secret and the two of them have often taken public jabs at each other. Their contentious relationship took a shocking turn when Bill Maher returned to dine with Donald Trump (after a first dinner in March 2025) at the White House, with musician Kid Rock and ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith.

Bill Maher's recent dinner with Trump provided fodder for the opening monologue in the latest episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. The comedian defended his decision to dine with Trump for a second time and dished out details, revealing they talked about a lot of things, including the following:

"The Supreme Court, ICE shootings, pulling SkyLink down, abandoning the Afghans who helped us during the war. Hegseth is dragging you down, sir. You know, I mean, when you say Obama's not a centrist, your racism is showing. Please don't name the ocean after yourself. Uh, what else? When President Xi says he's your friend, he doesn't really give a sh*t about that..."

Bill Maher had a lot to say about his second dinner with Donald Trump on Real Time

It looks like Bill Maher's second dinner with Donald Trump was in sharp contrast to the first. As the comedian recalled in the latest episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, the four-hour-long dinner was a pleasant experience for him, during which Trump treated him with respect and never 'yelled'. In fact, Maher blamed himself for lacking 'etiquette' at the dinner:

“I brought Stephen A. Smith. He was perfect, on point. I give myself an A+ for choosing him. But me. Trump never lost his temper. He never yelled. He never interrupted me. I did."

According to Late Nighter, Bill Maher's remarks about the dinner with Donald Trump corroborate the accounts shared by Smith and Rock. While the ESPN commentator praised Trump for not dodging questions and engaging in active communication, the musician called the night 'epic' and revealed their conversation touched on topics such as unemployment among Black women, communism and socialism, among others.

Contrary to Donald Trump's remarks about his first dinner with Maher in 2025, which he described as a waste of time, he called the October 2026 meeting 'very informative.' Trump even made a bold claim about Maher to the reporters after their second dinner:

"[Maher] likes me a lot more than people understand."

Bill Maher returned the gesture and publicly confessed his fondness for the dinners on Real Time:

"I know, I’m the bad guy because I go and say face-to-face to the man the things you write in articles that he’ll never read. You know what? F*ck you. I like these dinners.”

While Bill Maher and Trump were involved in a volatile public feud over the years, Kid Rock attempted a truce when he arranged a private two-and-a-half-hour dinner between them in 2025. Maher praised the President's private demeanor, but their truce did not last long.

Donald Trump took public jabs at Maher on Truth Social, calling the dinner a 'waste of time' and labelling the comedian as a 'highly overrated lightweight.' The comedian fired back in a March episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, saying that Trump suffers from Bill Maher Derangement Syndrome and that he did not consider their dinner a waste of time.


Real Time with Bill Maher airs weekly episodes on Friday on HBO.

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Edited by Aashna