Bill Maher insists he’s in the political "middle." He won’t "pre-hate" everything Trump does just because MSNBC expects him to.
On his "Club Random" podcast, Maher spoke with comedian Tom Green. He argued that both the left and right have big issues. He refuses to hate Trump’s ideas just because they come from Trump.
"That’s just my thing with Trump. I’m not going to pre-hate everything," Maher told Green.
The "Real Time" host admitted he has a "long list" of Trump’s ideas he dislikes. But he won’t dismiss everything.
Unlike MSNBC’s coverage, Maher said he keeps an open mind. "There's also a list of things I don't hate that a lot of – I mean, everybody on the MSNBC world automatically hates the whole list."
"I'm not that guy, and I don't want to be that guy," he added.
Trump came up again when Green shared a story. He was fired from "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2009. The reason? Trump saw him hungover after partying with Dennis Rodman.
Maher found it hilarious. He joked it was one of Trump’s better decisions. Then, he brought up Trump’s policy ideas.
"No, you can’t trust anything he says, because the next day he changes his mind," Maher said. "But I think he said last week he wanted to cut the defense budget by 50 percent. I’ve been saying that for years."
"Am I gonna hate it now because he says it?" he asked.
Trump’s defense cuts are moving forward. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an 8% reduction each year for five years. The goal? Peace through strength.
Maher also agreed with Trump’s stance on eliminating the penny.
Later, Maher reaffirmed his centrist stance. He called himself an "old-school liberal" who rejects radicalism. He’s been vocal about the left’s "woke excesses."
In a Wall Street Journal interview, Maher criticized liberals for avoiding opposing views. "This is one of the issues I have with the left. They can’t stand to have to endure a moment of hearing something they don’t already agree with," he said.
"Not that the right doesn’t do it, too, but the left does it worse."
He called out the media for twisting his words. Clips of him criticizing one side get used to claim he supports the other.
"Watch the whole show!" he urged.
"And people just want to hear what they already believe fed back to them," Maher added. "If you already believe on the left that I'm some sort of red-pilled person who's now become a conservative, you can be fed things where all you see me doing is saying, ‘Yeah, I don't hate this, let's get rid of the penny or whatever it is.’"
"It’s a lonely place in the middle," Maher concluded.