Bill Maher ripped into a Trump supporter guest on his show as he pressed her to admit the first seven weeks of his second term have ‘gone really badly.’
The talk show host got into the fiery argument with journalist and author Batya Ungar-Sargon on his Friday night show, saying her fervent support for Trump ‘makes no sense.’
‘We don’t have time to f*** around, I’ve got to go right at you,’ Maher said to Ungar-Sargon as he began the panel segment of his show.
‘When I first read you, you were a conservative Republican, but not crazy,’ he said.
‘Like I read you in Newsweek, Time magazine, and I’m not saying you’re crazy now, but you went from just a conservative leaning right to a Trump supporter, someplace I would never go.’
Ungar-Sargon responded, ‘the night is young, Bill’, to which he said: ‘It is not ever going to be that young.
‘And I’m just wondering what you think now,’ Maher continued. ‘We’re approaching two months in.
‘I mean, you must have a feeling in your gut, look me in the eye and tell me you don’t (think) that this is really going badly, and I shouldn’t have thrown my lot in with this team.’
Bill Maher ripped into a Trump supporter guest on his show as he pressed her to admit the first seven weeks of his second term have ‘gone really badly’
The talk show host got into the fiery argument with journalist and author Batya Ungar-Sargon on his Friday night show. Maher said her remark that she is a ‘leftist Trump supporter’ ‘makes no sense’
Unyar-Sargon, the deputy opinion editor of Newsweek, responded to Maher’s taunt that she felt ‘the opposite.’
‘I feel proud,’ she said. ‘I was never a Republican or a conservative. I was a leftist and I am still a leftist. I’m just a MAGA leftist now.’
‘That makes no sense,’ Maher countered.
The tense exchange came after Maher welcomed Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to his show, where the comedian tried in vain to get the lawmaker to say he was running for president in 2028.
Shapiro sidestepped Maher’s pressing about his presidential aspirations, saying he’s ‘not an expert in the DC stuff.’
‘I live in the real world in Pennsylvania, where we have to balance budgets,’ he said.
Shapiro was a rumored candidate to be Kamala Harris’ running mate against Donald Trump, with Maher remarking: ‘A lot of people said ‘The only reason he didn’t get it, is because he’s Jewish.”
‘There’s a wing of this party that’s very anti-Israel. The Democrats used to be a very pro-Israel, then that got switched around,’ Maher said.
The governor responded that Harris’ decision not to pick him was a ‘deeply personal decision.’
‘I love being the governor of Pennsylvania. I’m damn proud of my faith. I’m damn proud of the good people of Pennsylvania and how they received that,’ he added.
The tense exchange came after Maher welcomed Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro to his show, where the comedian tried in vain to get the lawmaker to say he was running for president in 2028
While not committing to a run for president in three years’ time, Shapiro did criticize Democratic leadership and said he was frustrated with figures such as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in their efforts to avert a government shutdown.
‘I would have liked to see Schumer use his leverage to demand more from Republicans,’ Shapiro said.
‘Force them to meet us halfway on key issues.’
Shapiro’s rumored White House ambitions come as the Democratic Party searches for a new approach following their election drubbing in November.
The Pennsylvania governor was shortlisted in a Puck News/ Echelon Insights survey after the election as a potential candidate, although Harris overwhelmingly led the field with 41 percent of the vote.
Shapiro picked up seven percent support, one point ahead of the man who Harris picked for her ticket over him, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
California Governor Gavin Newsom came in second with eight percent, with many seeing the governor as an inevitable candidate as he is term-limited and has recently launched a high-profile podcast.
