Political strategist James Carville has branded Bill Maher “supremely naive” after the comedian dined with President Donald Trump and praised him as an “effective politician.”
Carville, who helped get Bill Clinton elected to the presidency, hit out at Maher and accused him of giving Trump “legitimacy.”
The criticism comes after Maher, a longtime critic of the president, had a private dinner at the White House with Trump at the end of March. He made the surprise admission that, actually, he found Trump “gracious and measured” despite railing against him regularly on TV.
“So it’s no secret he’s a friend of mine, I’ve been on his show many times,” Carville reacted to Maher’s comments in the latest episode of his Politics War Room podcast, aired Saturday. “I would defend Bill Maher to this extent: I think he’s a supremely naive man,” he said.
Carville told listeners that Trump is “somebody who s***s on the Constitution,” is a convicted felon, and is someone who he claims engages in “every grift that you can imagine.” The Democratic strategist accused Maher of lending “legitimacy and credence” to Trump’s behavior.
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“Bill Maher, you were had,” Carville’s co-host Al Hunt added.
Real Time host Maher, who previously called for Trump to be impeached, was invited to the dinner by their mutual friend, the musician and Republican Kid Rock.
Maher accepted the invitation in an attempt to soften hostilities between the pair as “there’s gotta be something better than hurling insults from 3,000 miles away”.
But the comedian was surprised to find that he enjoyed Trump’s company, and said he was far different to the “crazy” man he watches on TV.
“Why he isn’t that in other settings, I don’t know and I can’t answer and it’s not my place to answer,” Maher said on Real Time, adding: “I’m just telling you what I saw and I wasn’t high.”
The host continued: “Honestly, I voted for Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk to Donald Trump. That’s just how it went down. Make of it what you will.”
“A crazy person doesn’t live in the White House,” Maher added. “A person who plays a crazy person on TV a lot lives there, which I know is f***ed up. It’s just not as f***ed up as I thought it was.”
