Commentary: Agitating for attention, Trump and Bill Maher get into it, again

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Set us as preferred Soaring gas prices and a war with Iran.Historically low approval ratings.

A potential blue tsunami.A new rape allegation.President Trump has a lot on his plate, and so too does the nation.

Sunday, he took to Truth Social to address the people.“Let’s talk about this COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER, Bill Maher,” the president wrote at the top of his longest post ever.A fireside chat it was not.The 1,300-word-plus screed was triggered by Friday’s episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher,” a mainstay on HBO since 2003.The comedian referred to Trump as a “lame duck” president with low approval ratings during a segment with his guest, former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.Trump, 80, likely expected praise from his fellow curmudgeon Maher, 70, since the men had recently dined together at the White House.

It was their second such date following a controversial get-together in March 2025, which Maher juiced for all it was worth in an effort to stand out from his fellow late-night hosts.When Colbert was named the new host of ‘The Late Show’ in 2015, he was considered an unusual choice, but he turned out to be the right fit for these times.Maher’s chummy relationship with Trump has made him an outlier among his peers, many of whom have been in the president’s crosshairs.CBS canceled Stephen Colbert’s show after decades on the air following pressure from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chair.

Trump has bitterly complained about being treated unfairly by Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers.They, too, now have targets on their backs.Maher has avoided the same fate by railing on Trump only half as much as his late-night peers, leaning into various MAGA grievances about the “woke” left and forging a fair-weather friendship with the second-term president.If the Maher of 2003 could...