Bill Maher presented a theory about the president’s obsession with renovations, saying that it’s a part of Donald Trump’s hidden “genius.”
Maher, 70, took part in a long interview with NPR’s Newsmakers in his Los Angeles home, in which he discussed the infamous White House dinner with Trump, his hot-and-cold relationship with the president, and what he thinks are both Trump’s genius and his flaws.
“Have you thought differently about him at all, as he has spent so much more time on decorating and on monuments to himself?” journalist Steve Inskeep asked the controversial HBO host.
Maher, in turn, choked as he was taking a sip of water.
“These are the things I don’t care about,” he responded after a pause. “This is his genius, getting you to care about—”
“I shouldn’t care about that arch or whatever?” asked Inskeep, 58.
“F--- no!” Maher said.
Since he assumed his second term, the 80-year-old president has announced several eyebrow-raising renovations and construction endeavors. This list includes a 250-foot gilded arch; ill-fated paint changes to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool; and a $500 million ballroom in the East Wing of the White House.
The president is allegedly heavily involved in these plans and can’t help but discuss each of them at length in interviews, oftentimes without being prompted.
But, according to Maher, this is his “genius.” The Real Time host went on to explain that Trump’s various makeover projects are nothing but distractions.
“This is all meaningless stuff,” he said, noting the arch, pool, and ballroom.
“Steve Bannon famously said, ‘The way we win is we flood the zone with s--t,’ and you’re eating the s--t,” he continued. “You don’t have to care about what’s unimportant.”
“The fact that people can just still get their jollies endlessly reading and writing the same story,” he said incredulously. “I get it. He’s an a--hole, I’m with you. I just don’t know how this advances anything.”
Maher said there are far deeper issues that the American public could focus on. “I could name the politicization of the Justice Department, DOGE, ICE, the corruption—you know, lots of things.”
“And even stuff where it was not a bad idea but they screwed up the execution, like the Iran war... DOGE, ICE—all these things that they could have done better, and they just can’t help themselves,” Maher posited.
“This is a country where people get drunk with power when they get in. It happens to the Democrats to a degree, too. They always go too far, then the other side gets elected, and we just live in this world where everybody’s always undoing what the other side has just done,” he concluded.
Maher and the president have a notoriously complicated relationship, which has soured more publicly as of late. Once an outright MAGA-leaning fan of the president, Maher has increasingly criticized Trump, panning his war on Iran in particular.
The comedian, who just received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor from the Kennedy Center, made several jabs at Trump during his conversation with NPR.
In one instance, Maher said Trump “definitely has a form of Tourette’s syndrome.”
“He just blurts out whatever is on his mind often. It’s funny. He’s, both at the same time, the most full of person and also the most honest,” said Maher, adding, “that is a certain type of mental disorder.”
Take, for instance, when Maher spent a moment slamming his own critics, those who scrutinize his obscure relationship with the president. “You know, the people who attack me have no argument. They just have a feeling,” he told Inskeep. “Their feeling is, I never want to come in second in an ‘I Hate Donald Trump the Most’ contest. Boring!”
“Nobody,” he said, referring to himself, “has been harder on Donald Trump,” a bit incredulously.
After his conversation with Maher, NPR’s Inskeep pointed out, “It can be hard to pinpoint Maher’s exact beliefs.”
