Bill Maher focused on President Donald Trump’s response to the 2026 midterm elections during Friday’s episode of Real Time, expressing surprise at his conciliatory remarks toward Democrats. The comedian said he had anticipated a favorable election for the party, but had not expected the president to react the way he did.
Opening his monologue, Maher took credit for his election predictions while a montage showed earlier clips of him discussing the likely outcome. He said others had been cautious about forecasting the results and acknowledged that he wanted to enjoy having called them correctly. Trump’s reaction, however, was something he said he had failed to foresee.
Maher recounted Trump congratulating Democrats and praising their performance, then turned that response into a joke about their own contentious relationship. “Donnie, are you OK?” he asked. He suggested, sarcastically, that the president sounded unwell and expressed disbelief that Trump was not claiming the election had been rigged. Maher also celebrated democracy while alleging attempts to manipulate the election through mail-in voting and voter intimidation.
Trump had told The New York Times in an interview shortly before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday that he was “absolutely willing” to accept the outcome. He also expressed an interest in cooperating with Democrats, saying they would probably be able to reach an agreement on something. Those remarks provided a backdrop to Maher’s surprise at the president’s tone.
The president’s response was not entirely conciliatory. In a separate Truth Social post about the midterms, Trump argued that his presence on the ballot would have produced a landslide victory. Maher nevertheless described him during the episode as “amazingly humble” in the aftermath of the results.
Maher’s mention of their feud appeared to refer to a recent exchange that escalated when Trump published a lengthy social media attack on him. In that post, the president called the comedian a “complete and total loser” and disclosed additional details about their recent White House dinner. Maher had addressed the attack on the Oct. 30 edition of Real Time.
Returning to the election, Maher joked that he had expected Trump to be filing lawsuits against individual voters and arresting election workers by this point. He also seized on Trump’s remark that he had numerous Democratic friends, joking that the sentiment might bring Maher another White House invitation, which would make it his third visit.
