President Donald Trump has thanked Bill Maher after the comedian admitted to being wrong about the president’s tariff plan potentially tanking the U.S. economy.
Maher, who had dinner with Trump in April after an invite from mutual friend Kid Rock, revealed on Monday’s episode of his Club Random podcast that he thought the president would “f—ing sink the economy” by July 4 with his plan to charge countries steep tariffs to export goods to America.
Bill Maher talks Trump with guest Brian Tyler Cohen on the Club Random podcast. screengrab
“I was kind of like, well, that seems right to me, but that didn’t happen,” Maher told his guest, progressive political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen. “Now it could happen tomorrow. I’m just saying that’s reality.”
He continued, “Because the truth is, I don’t know what his strategy is, but look, the stock market is at record highs. I know not everybody lives by the stock market, but I also drive around. I don’t see a country in a depression at all. I see people out there just living their lives.”
Maher admitted, “I would have thought, and I’ve got to own it, that these tariffs were going to f—ing sink this economy by this time, and they didn’t. So you know, how do we deal with that fact ‘cause that’s the fact.”
Bill Maher, Donald Trump and then- fiancee Melania Knauss at the Emmy Awards in 2004. Dan MacMedan/WireImage
Stiff tariffs on international imports were first meant to kick in after April, but parts of them were delayed, reduced, or stopped in a series of reversals that helped cement the TACO Trump (Trump Always Chickens Out) nickname.
Trump reposted a clip of Maher’s comment on Truth Social Monday along with the caption, “Thanks Bill!”
That sent some major MAGA players into a spin. Right-wing broadcaster Charlie Kirk posted the clip on X, stating, “Kudos for the intellectual honesty.” Fox News contributor Nick Sortor posted, “WOW! Bill Maher admitted he was WRONG about Trump’s tariffs.”
Other MAGA influencers also chimed in with a flurry of similar posts repeating almost verbatim that Maher “ADMITS he was WRONG” about the tariffs.
“Never thought I would see the day that Bill Maher would admit he was WRONG about something Trump does,” wrote MAGA commentator David J. Freeman, who has 1.5 million followers on X. “Has hell frozen over?”
During the podcast, Maher said he had a “hate list” and a “don’t hate list” when it came to Trump’s actions. “I do not want military parades,” Maher stated. “I do not want the army playing cops.”
President Donald Trump made a positive social media post about Bill Maher. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
He also dismissed blanket hatred of Trump as being “dishonest.”
The comedian said, “I’m just so not interested in this ‘I hate Trump more than you do’ contest. It’s not productive. It’s not helping. It’s not getting anywhere. It’s not doing anything for the country. I’m for, you know, actually making this country work better.”
While Maher has often aligned himself with liberal viewpoints, including criticism of Trump, the commentator took heat after he dined with the president and described him as “gracious and measured.”