Whatever else you may say about Bill Maher, I never figured him for a hopeless romantic. But he is. After visiting the White House last week, he said he had to report that the crazy man on television, President Donald Trump, is not who he saw at the White House during a two-hour dinner that included Steve Bannon.
Seriously?
Maher spoke reverentially about Trump after the president gave him a private guided tour. In certain circles, the White House is known as the greatest home-field advantage in the modern world — well, it was before Trump showed up. His renovations didn’t help either. But it still has enough magic to win over Maher — who clearly loved rubbing elbows with the president. Trump even showed him his favorite tourist attraction: the exact location where a White House intern performed fellatio on an American president. Apparently, to Trump, that’s of more interest than any of the other major events that occurred in that historical office since John Adams first occupied the White House.
Actually, I am not sure which is worse: Trump is apparently enjoying showing off a prurient moment in history, or Maher is referring to it on stage. Maybe it’s me mentioning it?
Maher saw Trump smile and seem normal for two hours. Or to be more accurate, Maher saw Trump not go bat-guano-nuts for two hours. That was enough to give Maher a glimmer of hope that somehow things would be all right.
Still, at best, you’re a hopeless romantic to think that Donald Trump isn’t all that bad just because he was able to keep it together for two hours. At worst, you’re as delusional as Donald if you think he could offer us any hope of supporting the democratic principles outlined in our Constitution. To that point, not more than 15 minutes after Maher’s segment aired, a longtime friend and Trump supporter emailed me. “See, I told you he was reasonable.” Just the effect Trump hoped for. Donald Trump used Maher to preach to his choir through someone they see as Trump’s enemy. I guess Maher used Trump for ratings, or a tutorial guide to the best places you can have sex in the White House. Another transaction concluded.
Bill Maher was right about a few things, though. Notably that we have to find common ground to move forward. I just don’t think Trump is the guy to do it. Maher was also right about some of the policy reasons people are attracted to Trump, particularly those surrounding DEI, “woke culture” (whatever definition you tend to favor), making Europe pay more for their defense and whether or not biological men should be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Trump addresses those issues in a manner consistent with the concerns of millions of people who, in turn, support him and otherwise would not. It is merely, like Maher’s visit, transactional, and if there is one thing Donald Trump excels at, it is the transactional relationship. “Let’s Make a Deal” with TV’s big trader, “Don the Con” Trump. But while many say it is all just a show, they really miss the point.
Does it matter if he is a crazy person in the White House trying to convince you he is not, or is a sane person trying to convince you he is crazy? What matters are the results. Look around. Donald Trump has thumbed his nose at the judiciary, owns Congress, rules by Executive Order, employs DOGE and Elon Musk as hatchet men to destroy the government while ignoring due process and openly, bald-faced lying about what he is doing. Bill Maher said he wouldn’t back off from future criticism of the president, but to those in Trump’s inner circle, it doesn’t matter.
This week, he denied the Associated Press (AP) entry into the in-house protective pool after a court ruled it had to reinstate the AP, even though for some odd reason that venerable news gathering organization continues to call the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, against Trump’s wishes. Not only did Trump thumb his nose at that court ruling, he also took the extra step of removing all of the wire services from the pool, thus depriving millions, if not billions, of people access to direct reporting from the White House. Jeff Mason and Steve Holland of Reuters, two of only a handful of reporters who have extended experience covering presidential politics, are two of the victims of Trump's latest attempt to limit coverage. There is a method to Trump’s madness.
In this case, it’s all about limiting access to the president and getting rid of critical voices who speak truth to power. And while his fans call him a “strong leader,” it is actually the mark of a coward, bully and weakling to silence those voices critical of his actions.
That’s also why Trump froze billions of dollars in federal aid to Harvard and threatened to pull that university’s tax-exempt status because it stood up to Trump’s bullying tactics on educational aid.
Trump, already on the wrong side of history, also welcomed El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to the White House this week. Bukele didn’t wear a suit to the White House, but Trump didn’t seem to mind – though it caused quite a stir in the White House when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently showed up similarly attired.
Bukele is known – according to his many adoring fans – as the “coolest dictator” on the planet. For the rest of the world, Bukele is a disaster. El Salvador has experienced democratic backsliding under Bukele, as he has dismantled democratic institutions, curtailed political and civil liberties, and attacked independent media and the political opposition. Those capable of critical thinking have called Bukele an authoritarian and autocrat, who apparently likes makeup as much as Trump does.
Many believe that Trump is one of his biggest fans, and while Trump fancies himself “cool,” not even his closest supporters say that of him. The best I’ve heard regarding Trump is “he says what he thinks”. The worst I’ve heard about him comes from former Republicans and Trump supporters, including a former member of Congress who describes Trump as “a monster. I was literally sick to my stomach when he said ‘we’ may put homegrown Americans in El Salvadoran jails. Because that statement on top of his refusal to bring back Kilmer Abrego Garcia has me truly scared of what he and his toadies will do.”
Originally, the Trump administration admitted it erred when it sent Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. But in the Oval Office in front of Bukele, Trump tried to convince the world that Abrego Garcia is a terrorist and a threat to our country. There was no apology — only the hardening of Trump’s heart.
Trump also said Bukele should build more prisons as he mused out loud about plans to send American citizens to prison in El Salvador.
But wait. There’s more. By Wednesday afternoon, the stock market had plummeted close to 700 points.
The White House also found itself facing criminal contempt of court charges when a federal judge said the administration defied his order to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants that were bound for El Salvador.
“At this point there is no redemption,” Mary Trump told me. “ The best we can hope for, and I hate to say it, is that enough people become fed up with this and say we won’t put up with it anymore.”
Trump has vowed to do something, anything, about the so-called (and non-existent) migrant invasion by April 20. This has some people fearful he will declare a national emergency and martial law that day, or shortly thereafter, to snuff out any resistance to his authoritarian regime. Some protesters are calling for a general strike, while Senator Chris Van Hollen from Maryland headed to El Salvador on Wednesday to try and arrange for Abrego Garcia’s release from prison.
The El Salvadoran government refused, prompting calls for “proof of life,” while Donald Trump’s administration held a hastily assembled press briefing with press secretary Karoline Leavitt. She then introduced a crime victim to the press room, who graphically described the murder of her daughter at the hands of a criminal and undocumented immigrant in Maryland. It was touching. It was horrifying. Everyone felt that woman’s fear and anguish. But it had nothing to do with Abrego Garcia.
“This poor mother is being used,” one reporter in the briefing room told me. She was, and Donald Trump doesn’t care. He wants to use Abrego Garcia to make a point. Trump doesn’t see him as a person or care that he has a family. And he has racist, lying cowards like Stephen Miller whispering in his ear, telling him everything he does is right.
Trump doesn’t even care about the crime victim pouring her heart out in the briefing room. He merely used her to paint a picture of the press and the Democrats as enemies of the state who would prefer to have gangs of ruthless rapists and murders ravaging the countryside in a display of wanton destruction that would make the Manson murders look like a PTA carnival.
To the credit of most of the reporters in the briefing room during this display, no one seated in the Brady Briefing room took the bait, so they had no questions for Leavitt after she and the crime victim spoke. A couple of reporters standing on the side of the room wanted to ask a question, but Leavitt walked out purposely without acknowledging them.
What’s the point?
There is no truth in anything Trump does, says or envisions. “He is suffering from a worsening dementia and delusion,” his niece Mary said. “And he has no one telling him otherwise. Stephen Miller is in the Oval Office telling Donald he won a Supreme Court ruling 9-0 when they lost – and no one is pushing back. I guarantee you he hasn’t read the report. None of his minions want to tell him the truth.”
But as delusional as Trump is, no one can be evil all of the time. That takes too much energy. Sometimes you need a refreshment. A hamburger. A coke while walking Bill Maher through the White House, smiling and laughing and taking the comedian’s sartorial jabs with a light-hearted guffaw.
At one point, Maher said he’d never seen Trump smile publicly. I have. So has every other reporter covering him. He laughs too. Usually he laughs at the expense of others, but he did a rare thing and laughed at himself last week as he was talking about water pressure in showers, flushing toilets and washing his hair. Bathroom, scatological and sexual humor is apparently as deep as the Donald gets. At least that’s what I’ve seen in covering this guy for eight years.
After 12 weeks, the second Donald Trump administration is showing us on a daily basis what Mary Trump has said for years. “There is no ‘worst’, there is only worse. Each day is worse.”
And there is no telling how low he will go.
“I mean, what’s next? Is he going to start staking people to the walls?” His niece asked. “After all, it is possible.”
Watching Trump defy the courts, openly lie about it, while White House staffers offer up and back up easily disproved lies only goes to show that Trump’s insanity is nearly complete – and his employees aren’t too far behind him.
And he hasn’t even been here 100 days. Of course, Maher should be invited back to celebrate that mark and he can once again waste our time telling us how cordial Trump is as he takes a sledgehammer to the pillars of democracy.
