Bill Maher went to Washington. He got played.

The Washington Post ^ | April 14, 2025 4:26 PM EDT | León Krauze

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Two weeks ago, the sharp-tongued comedian Bill Maher had dinner with Donald Trump. Maher emerged from the meeting thoroughly charmed. During the opening monologue on his show on Friday, he described Trump as engaged and even likable. Trump made him feel comfortable and listened to. In their conversation, which included “an amazing tour of the whole house,” Trump remained empathetic. “He didn’t get mad. He’s much more self-aware than he lets on in public,” Maher recalled. “Why can’t we get the guy I met to be the public guy?”

It’s unfortunate that Maher allowed himself to get played like this.

In private, many of history’s most brutal leaders have been described by their contemporaries in surprisingly human, even affectionate, terms. In 1957, Herbert Matthews of the New York Times traveled to the Cuban mountains to interview Fidel Castro, then a little-known guerrilla leader. The reporter came back enthralled. “The personality of the man is overpowering,” Matthews wrote. “It was easy to see that his men adored him.” In Matthews writing, Castro appears charismatic, open, almost heroic. Che Guevara was even more magnetic. He also had hundreds of people executed after the revolution.

Joseph Stalin was remembered by close comrades such as Nikita Khrushchev as a man who could be jovial in private settings, telling jokes and singing Georgian folk songs late into the night — just before ordering purges that would cost thousands of lives. Even outsiders were sometimes disarmed: U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman, who met Stalin several times during World War II, described him as a calm, polite and surprisingly soft-spoken man who gave the impression of self-control and thoughtful listening — traits that often led visitors to underestimate his ruthlessness.

Even Mao Zedong displayed a mischievous, almost grandfatherly warmth in private...

[E. Pluribus Unum]

In Matthews writing, Castro appears charismatic, open, almost heroic. Che Guevara was even more magnetic. He also had hundreds of people executed after the revolution... Joseph Stalin was remembered by close comrades such as Nikita Khrushchev as a man who could be jovial in private settings... Even Mao Zedong displayed a mischievous, almost grandfatherly warmth in private.

Not only is Trump Hitler, he is Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong too!

Would you like some cheese with that whine, Señor Krauze?

[Freeleesy]

WaPo is angry... good.

[Harpotoo]

I guess bill really went to talk to fjb!

[econjack]

They just can’t stand it even when one of their own speaks nicely of Trump. The Liberals will throw anybody under the bus if they don’t carry the Leftist Line.

[Orosius]

“And the Fuehrer, what a painter! He could do an entire apartment in an afternoon. Two coats!”

[EnderWiggin1970]

Poor leftists like the WP. They keep losing people off their mental plantations, and this is how they cope. I still find it funny that in the first weeks of this administration all the ranting and raving in the media was against Gabbard, Trump, Musk, and RFK - all former Democrats.

Maher has not gone MAGA, but he has enough sanity left that he can no longer stand what the Left is feeding him. He'll be hanging out with Sasha Stone and Bari Weiss and talking about what a nuthouse their old Democratic Party has become, soon enough.

[joshua c]

i hope they keep pounding him

cuz bill knows how to counterpunch

[Leaning Right]

Maher: Trump told me that 1+1=2.
Washington Post: Maher got played!

[T.B. Yoits]

How dare Bill Maher speak against the cult narrative “Orange Man bad”.

[rktman]

You musta forgot about ghingis kahn. (the john Kerry prununciation.).

[lastchance]

He did his best work in the Springtime.

[Ex-Con777]

It destroys their narrative.

EC

[pissant]

not only got played, but played by one of history's most evil dictators; one in the Stalin/Mao/Castro mold.
Are American leftists finally admitting that their commie heroes were P'sOS?

[reasonisfaith]

Maher has a role to play, in re the Patriots are in charge.

This Krauze character will have no effect.

[iamgalt]

Talk about insulting, so this twerp is saying Maher is weak minded and gullible. These people are pathetic.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Better than getting “played” on the floor at the Washington Post, right Leo’n?

[Texas Eagle]

Uhhhhh...yyyeahhh. Che and Fidel continue to be heroes of The Left.

[Inyo-Mono]

Talk about an over the top article!

[Mark]

Bill, what is your opinion of The Washington Post?

[FlipWilson]

Mr. Maher has a TV show and can, and usually does, fight back. WaPo, your credibility is in ashes. This is the wrong fight to pick.