Donald Trump spent more than four hours trading political jabs with Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith at the White House, with Kid Rock enjoying the show over a few beers.
The president welcomed the comedian, ESPN personality and musician for a dinner that included some heated exchanges, a tour of the White House and a few laughs at former President Joe Biden’s expense.
“It was epic,” Kid Rock recalled Friday on “Fox & Friends.” “Two Democrats, two Republicans sit down, break bread, have laughs, talk about, have tough conversations on a lot of the issues.”
The rocker placed himself and Trump on the Republican side of the table, with Maher and Smith representing the Democrats. Smith, however, describes himself as an independent.
JUST IN: A photo has been released of Kid Rock, Bill Maher, and Stephen A. Smith waiting outside the Oval Office of the White House before having dinner with President Trump.
Kid Rock: “So Bill's like, I got cocktails. Yes, there was drinking involved. First of all, I had to… pic.twitter.com/qU4gcf03Eh
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The evening started with drinks before the guests even reached the president.
“We were there about 6:30, 7:00, and waiting to go in the Oval Office and greet the president,” Kid Rock explained. “I’m like can I get a cold beer?…Bill’s like can I get a cocktail? So there was drinking involved.”
Smith offered his own account during a 36-minute episode of his YouTube show, “Straight Shooter with Stephen A,” on October 16.
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“We were there for over four hours in the White House, and Donald Trump did not run from any questions; he answered every single question,” Smith recounted. “He was very, very defiant with any criticism that came in his direction.”
Maher did much of the questioning, challenging Trump on policies he opposed while making clear that their political differences didn’t prevent them from having dinner together.
“Bill Maher made it a point: damn right I’m a liberal and I’m proud of it, and I don’t like a lot of your policies,” Smith recalled, describing how the comedian pressed Trump.
Maher also argued that disagreeing with someone politically didn’t require either person to hate the other.
Trump apparently wasn’t eager to end the debate. “When I say that we were there for four hours, it was because of him,” Smith explained. “He wouldn’t let us leave. And we were bringing up stuff, trying to pummel him with it, and he wouldn’t bend.”
Kid Rock eventually called it a night around 11 p.m. “I’m on like beer seven and I’m having a blast,” the “American Bad A**” singer recalled. Trust me, this is probably, this is the first time I’ve ever left a party early.”
The dinner wasn’t all political sparring. Smith brought up unemployment among Black women and concerns about funding for historically Black colleges and universities.
He praised Trump for signing the FUTURE Act in 2019, which provided $255 million annually for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions.
But Smith also warned that Trump’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion programs had made some corporations hesitant to donate to the schools.
“He took heed to that and said that was something he was going to think about strongly,” Smith told Sean Hannity, adding that Trump planned to speak with his team about the issue the following week.
Kid Rock encouraged corporations to “continue funding HBCUs and donating to them.”
Maher, meanwhile, pushed the president to help Afghan interpreters who had assisted American troops.
The four also found common ground in their opposition to socialism and communism, according to Kid Rock.
“One thing we all wholeheartedly agreed on is that socialism and communism has no place to have a foothold in our government,” the musician recounted.
Kid Rock later singled out Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, accusing him of promoting socialism.
El-Sayed, who faces Republican Mike Rogers in November, rejects that label and calls himself a capitalist.
The guests also got a look around the White House, including Trump’s new ballroom, which remains under construction.
“We went inside the ballroom with beams that are being put up over our head,” Trump told reporters Friday.
Another stop provided an awkward moment for Smith. Along the colonnade near the Rose Garden, Trump had replaced Biden’s presidential portrait with a framed image of an autopen.
“I said that’s pretty damn cruel man,” Smith recalled telling Trump. “He says ‘it’s funny isn’t it?’”
Maher’s attendance followed another White House dinner with Trump in March 2025, which Kid Rock helped arrange. UFC CEO Dana White also attended that earlier gathering.
Despite their public clashes, Maher later described Trump as “gracious and measured” during that first meeting. He continued criticizing and mocking the president on his HBO show.
The latest invitation came roughly six weeks before the dinner, when Trump called Maher and told him to bring a guest.
Smith accepted because he wanted to challenge Trump “face to face, man to man.” Their relationship hasn’t always been friendly.
Trump called Smith “an arrogant fool” and “a low IQ individual” in June. The previous month, Smith had described the president’s conduct as “really really disgusting.”
Maher and Smith weren’t strangers to political arguments with Trump, but the president sounded pleased with how the latest dinner went.
“I think they had a good time,” Trump told reporters Friday.
“Even though they have to put on a certain little facade for their people, they like Trump and I actually like them. We had a great time.”
Smith also revealed that Trump had invited him and Maher to return.
“Oh by the way,” he added. “He actually invited me back, along with Bill Maher.”
After the White House visit, Maher and Smith were spotted at Washington, D.C., jazz bar Madam’s Organ, celebrating Smith’s birthday.