“Real Time” host Bill Maher voiced hope on Friday that President Donald Trump would “cut and run” from the Iran war, five weeks after the host and comedian supported the initial U.S. strikes and slammed those who criticized them.
“Now you and I, I think, were on the same page when this started six weeks ago,” Maher told guest Douglas Murray, a New York Post contributor and advocate for Israel’s war on Gaza and Iran. “I mean, we thought it was the right thing to do to take this shot now to deal with Iran once and for all, not just because of the nukes, but they did say in their own negotiations that they were weeks away from having 11 bombs.”
Maher was echoing a claim from billionaire Trump ally Steve Witkoff, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East, who has been accused of profiting from his family’s cryptocurrency company while negotiating with some of its biggest foreign investors on behalf of the U.S.
“I thought it was worth taking the shot,” Maher told Murray. “Six weeks later, I think we’re at a different place because I read your column today. You think we gotta finish this no matter what it takes. I was never on that page. I was on the page, ‘This is a great opportunity.’”
The comedian said Friday that he believed the U.S. could “wipe out the whole leadership at once” and liberate Iran because it looked like “they’re ready for an uprising,” only for Iran to reveal its defensive capabilities and close the Strait of Hormuz — a development Maher expressed some confusion about last month.
“We did it, and it didn’t work,” he said on Friday. “Now what, do we cut and run or do we stay the course? I hope Donald Trump is the abandoner he’s always been. I hope he is the guy who has never not abandoned anything in his life except his love for tariffs.”
Maher sang a different tune after Trump launched initial U.S. strikes on Iran in February, admitting, “I don’t hate it” — before mocking former Vice President Kamala Harris for speaking out against those strikes. He has also pushed back against Iran war critics such as Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes, stating, “I’ll be with Trump on this one.”
Evan Agostini/Invision/Associated Press
On Friday, however, Maher admitted, “I hope that he does what America has always done.”
“These people who say, ‘You know, we’ll get a reputation for cutting,’” he said. “We always cut and run. We did it in Vietnam, we did it in Iraq, we did it to the Kurds, we do it in Afghanistan, we did it in Beirut. That’s us … If you get in with us, we are going to fuck you, OK?”
Maher concluded, “And that’s Donald Trump. He’s an asshole, but he’s our asshole.”