Sponsored

HBO Star Blasts Larry David For Comparing Trump To Hitler

By No Comments
Bill Maher & Rihanna
Photo Credit: "134293_3791" by Walt Disney Television is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/?ref=openverse.

Bill Maher clapped back at actor Larry David over his controversial essay that mocked the HBO star’s recent dinner with President Donald Trump.

David’s piece, published by The New York Times, sarcastically compared Maher’s account of the meeting to breaking bread with Adolf Hitler.

Maher, who has long criticized Trump, joined the president, musician Kid Rock, and others for dinner on March 31.

Speaking about the encounter during the April 11 episode of Real Time, Maher described Trump as “gracious” and “much more self-aware than he lets on.”


“Everything I’ve ever not liked about him was – I swear to God – absent, at least on this night with this guy,” he noted.

The Curb Your Enthusiasm star’s high-profile satirical hit piece against Maher came soon after.

Writing in the fictional first person, David recalled being “a vocal critic of [Hitler] on the radio from the beginning” and predicting the dictator’s steps toward tyranny.

“Eventually I concluded that hate gets us nowhere,” he wrote, suggesting he met with Hitler in a spirit of dialogue, despite the dictator’s “unspeakable crimes against humanity.”

Appearing Thursday on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Maher made his frustration with David clear.

“First of all, it’s kind of insulting to 6 million dead Jews,” Maher said. “It’s an argument you kind of lost just to start it.”

“Look, maybe it’s not completely logically fair, but Hitler has really kind of got to stay in his own place. He is the GOAT of evil,” he added.

Maher acknowledged that he considers David a friend but admitted he was blindsided by the essay, finding out only after his publicist flagged it.

“This wasn’t my favorite moment of our friendship,” Maher said.

Still, he rejected the idea that his honest reporting on his dinner with Trump required any apology.

“Nobody has been harder, and more prescient, I must say, about Donald Trump than me. I don’t need to be lectured on who Donald Trump is,” Maher asserted. “Just the fact that I met him in person didn’t change that.”

Maher, who has called for more civil dialogue across political lines, seemed reluctant to escalate the spat with David, suggesting reconciliation was possible.

“I can take a shot and I can also take it when people disagree with me,” he said. “That’s not exactly the way I would’ve done it.”

“Again, the irony: let’s go back to what my original thing was,” Maher continued. “There’s got to be a better way than hurling insults and not talking to people. If I can talk to Trump, I can talk to Larry David too.”

The HBO host also took issue with former Vice President Al Gore earlier in the week over similar comparisons between Trump and Nazi Germany.

Speaking during Friday’s episode of Real Time, Maher challenged Gore’s warning that the Trump administration aimed to “create their own preferred version of reality,” a method Gore likened to tactics used during the Nazi rise to power.

“I just think, you know, Nazi is a hard word to use with nuance,” Maher said to Gore. “When you bring that word out, I feel like they’re the GOAT of evil.”

Gore defended himself, claiming he hadn’t made a direct comparison. He cited postwar German philosophers who noted that “the first step on the descent into hell…was ‘the conversion of all questions of truth into questions of power.'”

According to Gore, Trump’s statements on issues like Ukraine and climate change echoed these tactics.

“When I see and hear over and over again…the assertion of complete inaccuracies,” Gore said, citing examples like the claim that Ukraine started its conflict with Russia and that climate change was a “hoax invented by the Chinese,” he saw troubling parallels.

Despite Maher’s defense of Trump’s character during their dinner, he made clear on Friday that he believes many Trump voters might feel disappointed by the president’s early performance, even if they won’t admit it publicly.

“For liberals, it’s worse than they even thought when they projected out,” Maher said.

Turning to Trump’s base, he added, “I think they’re disappointed, even though they may not say it out loud.”

Maher suggested that many Trump supporters voted out of desperation, wanting drastic change after decades of economic decline.

“Just break everything,” he said, describing their mindset. But now, he added, they realize, “actually, they got plenty to lose.”

In a surprising moment, Maher saw some potential good news for the country.

He pointed to reports that Trump was reconsidering his aggressive tariff policies after pressure from major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot.

“I think [it’s] good news that he can actually do that, that he can actually change his mind on things,” Maher said.

Comparing Trump’s supporters to geese, he joked, “One turns, then the others turn.”

Maher noted warnings from retail executives that American consumers could soon face “higher prices and empty shelves” because of the tariffs.

According to Maher, meetings with executives seemed to “move the needle.”

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens cracked that Trump’s “billionaire friends” might be the true checks and balances on his administration.

Maher, however, appeared content that at least somebody had gotten through.

He also referenced Ken Griffin’s claim that the U.S. economy was “20% poorer than it was a month ago” and warned it could “be a lifetime to repair the damage.”

Later, Maher cited pollster Frank Luntz, who predicted Trump might have “three months before voters turn on him,” mentioning it in conversation with Sen. Adam Schiff.

Schiff argued that the real danger lay in Trump’s impulsiveness: “The problem is that Trump will listen to whoever last talks to him,” Schiff said, adding that even if Trump reversed course, “the harm is done” because of the instability created.

Leave A Reply