The Trump-Maher honeymoon is over, again

Well, it looks like the warm afterglow of whatever fast food Trump ordered in for Maher and fellow guest Stephen A. Smith and jailbait enthusiast Kid Rock has faded, as the polls-plummeting president took to his personal social media platform on Sunday night to deliver an even longer-than-usual rant trashing his former dinner companion. In a record-breaking rant on Truth Social (outlets count it as between 1,318 to 1,323 words, perhaps owing to Trump’s erratic style), Trump, with the grace and syntax of a scorned middle schooler, went off on Maher. Calling the host everything from “a major POTHEAD” to “a complete and total loser,” Trump also insulted Maher’s ratings, because that’s the worst thing a former reality show host can think of. 

Now as to what could have precipitated such a fall from collegiality after Trump told the press that “He likes me a lot more than people understand, and I actually like him. It was a good dinner” immediately following the meal, Maher’s Sunday night episode may hold some clues. While hosting still-fawning fired Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Maher made reference to Trump being “half sane” at one point, and repeatedly brought up Trump’s underwater polling numbers. 

Whatever the cause, Maher should know by now that even the most servile bowing to a would-be dictator and self-obsessed narcissist can be undone by the slightest, begrudging criticism. After their first guy-hang back in 2025, Trump similarly basked in Maher’s company for a day or so before turning on the host, branding Maher as an all-caps “MORON” and “LIGHTWEIGHT.” Neither Maher nor his team have commented on whether these two infamously Islamophobic besties can make up in time for a third White House chow-down, but if Trump spends his time beating up on Maher rather than concentrating on destroying American democracy and kidnapping brown people, it’s probably for the best.