Donald Trump hosted a politically diverse, high-profile dinner at the White House on Thursday, joined by conservative rock star Kid Rock, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and liberal comedian Bill Maher.
Maher drew attention after a largely cordial conversation with Trump in March 2025. The two had previously clashed, including over Trump’s lawsuit against the HBO comedian after Maher joked that Trump’s father was an orangutan.
Although Trump and Maher resumed trading insults in the months that followed, Maher attended Thursday’s gathering with his longtime friend Kid Rock and Smith, a regular guest and ESPN personality.
Appearing on Fox News on Friday, Rock described the dinner as “epic” and explained what the four men, despite their sharply different backgrounds, found common ground on.
“One thing we all wholeheartedly agreed on is that socialism and communism has no place to have a foothold in our government,” he said while criticizing Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Michigan.
Rock, whose real name is Bob Ritchie, said the evening brought together “two Democrats, two Republicans” who were able to share a meal, exchange jokes and have difficult conversations about a range of issues.
According to Rock, Maher raised the war in Iran as well as the possibility of bringing back interpreters from Afghanistan who assisted Americans during the conflict.
Smith told Sean Hannity on Friday that he used the dinner to discuss federal support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Donald Trump hosted a high-profile White House roundtable on Thursday, dining with conservative rock star Kid Rock, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and liberal comedian Bill Maher. Maher, Rock and Trump are pictured with Dana White at their first dinner together in March 2025
Rock, pictured, told Fox News on Friday what the four men from very different political and professional worlds agreed on during what he called an “epic” dinner
Smith praised Trump for signing the Futures Act, which provided more than $250 million annually for HBCUs. However, he said the administration’s campaign against “DEI” had made corporations more reluctant to donate because they feared being targeted over such contributions.
“He took heed to that and said that was something he was going to think about strongly,” Smith said, adding that Trump had promised to meet with his advisers the following week to discuss the matter.
Maher has not publicly commented on the dinner. His HBO program was on hiatus this week.
Later that night, Smith and Maher were seen at Madam’s Organ, the well-known Washington, DC jazz bar, where they celebrated the sports commentator’s birthday.
Trump, meanwhile, praised the evening when reporters asked him about it on Friday, calling it a “great” gathering.
“I think they had a good time,” he said, suggesting that Smith and Maher were particularly fond of him despite their political views.
“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.”
Trump also said that he, Smith, Maher and Rock took a tour of the new White House ballroom.
Maher, pictured, reportedly raised the war in Iran and the prospect of bringing back Afghan interpreters who assisted Americans during the conflict, Rock said
Smith told Sean Hannity on Friday that he discussed funding concerns affecting Historically Black Colleges and Universities
‘Bill Maher, I tell you what, he likes me a lot more than people understand, and I actually like him.
Maher said Trump was ‘gracious and measured’ in what he described as a positive meeting with the president back in March of 2025.
Maher has always attacked Trump on his HBO show dating back over a decade, when the two were involved in a lawsuit over Maher claiming the president’s father was an orangutan.
On his show following the summit, he took time out exclusively to ‘give you my book report on my visit to the White House.’
The lefty comedian confirmed the meeting had been arranged by musician and Trump fan Rock, who also attended: ‘Because we share a belief that there’s gotta be something better than hurling insults at each other from 3,000 miles away.’
He slammed those who saw the event as some kind of important diplomacy meeting.
‘For all the people who treated this like it was some sort of summit meeting, you’re ridiculous. Like I was gonna sign a treaty or something? I’m a f***ing comedian, I have no power! He’s the most powerful leader in the world, I’m not the leader of anything,’ Maher said.
The comic did say that he wanted to represent ‘a contingent of centrist-minded people who believe there’s got to be a better way of running this country than hating each other every minute.’
Trump motions to the press as he walks to board Air Force One on Friday
Smith and Maher were spotted later that not at the famous Washington DC jazz bar Madam’s Organ, celebrating the sports commentator’s birthday
Longtime critic Bill Maher said Donald Trump was ‘gracious and measured’ in what he described as a positive meeting with the president , to the point that he walked away with a cheeky gift
He confirmed that Trump was a ‘different’ person than he’d seen in the public eye over the last decade and even the night before, when the president publicly wondered if the meeting was even a good idea.
‘The guy I met is not the person who, the night before, s***-tweeted a bunch of nasty crap about how he thought this dinner was a bad idea, and what a deranged asshole I was.’
‘He’s much more self-aware than he lets on in public,’ Maher added.
Perhaps most striking to Maher was that Trump ‘laughed’ and has a sense of humor about himself.
‘First good sign, before I left for the capital, I had my staff collect and print out this list of almost 60 different insulting epithets that the president said about me,’ Maher said.
‘I brought this to the White House because I wanted him to sign it, which he did with good humor,’ he added.
He joked about how the hoards of MAGA haters must be hating this: ‘I know as I say that, millions of liberal sphincters just tightened.’
‘I’m gonna report what happened and you decide. If that’s not enough pure Trump hate for you, I don’t give a f***,’ Maher said unapologetically.
Maher has dinner in the White House with President Donald Trump, Kid Rock and Dana White
Trump signed a list of insults the president had directed at Maher over the years ‘with good humor’
He said that the president did not ask him for his support and when he gifted Maher several Trump hats, he didn’t ask him to take a photograph wearing them.
‘I’m just taking it as a positive this person exists because everything I’ve ever not like about him was, I swear to God, absent, at least on this night with this guy,’ he said.
The discussion largely was one of Trump asking for Maher’s thoughts on various hot political topics, which he said he was heard out on, if not agreed with.
He confronted Trump mostly that he agreed with him on several issues, like immigration, improving police morale, keeping transgender people out of women’s sports and several other ideas.
‘I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him,’ he said.
Maher said that while he voted for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, ‘I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was comfortable talking to Donald Trump.’
‘I feel it’s emblematic of why the Democrats are so unpopular these days,’ he said, taking shots at liberals for their ineffective means of protest against the president.
The ‘Picture’ crooner has said he wanted to broker the meeting to send a message of ‘unity’ to Americans.
Rock and Maher in 1999 during the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence Dinner at Pickford Estate in Beverly Hills
Trump, UFC president Dana White, and Kid Rock pose fora photo during the UFC 295 event at Madison Square Garden on November 11, 2023
However, it appeared the spirit of unity had not lasted long, as the pair went back to insulting one another after the show aired.
Trump at one point joked about how quickly Maher had asked for a vodka tonic upon entering the White House, calling him ‘absolutely pathetic.’
The President has also called him an ‘absolute lightweight’ and made fun of his low TV ratings.
Maher has slammed Trump on his tariff policies, while defending his show’s ratings.