Bill Maher capped off a week of pop culture reaction to Donald Trump’s comeback election with a few zingers in his monologue on Friday’s edition of HBO’s “Real Time,” including confirming that “I didn’t vote for the winner” and a telling revelation about the West Hollywood pot shop he co-owns with actor Woody Harrelson.
Maher took a moment to marvel at Trump’s decisive victory on election night.
“Trump won all the swings, all seven – he led the table. Trump won such a big victory today that he called the secretary of state in Georgia and asked him to lose him by 11,000 votes,” Maher said, a nod to the 2020 election controversy in Georgia that led to charges against the former president. “He has a great coalition. He has kept the old people who like him. He gained many new voters. He has a lot of people saying they just want to see what he’s going to do. I call this the ‘get-the-cat-high’ voice.”
He confirmed his vote for Trump’s Democratic challenger, Vice President Kamala Harris. “According to the exit poll, he took 52% of white women. He got their votes too,” Maher joked about Trump’s strength on women.
Maher noted the right-wing tilt of the electorate, including in liberal Los Angeles, where a California ballot measure to make shoplifting a crime again was easily passed by voters tired of petty crime at their local drugstores and 7-Elevens rising.
“Even liberal LA said, ‘Here’s an idea: instead of locking up the toothpaste, how about locking up the shoplifters?’ “
Maher said the issue of rampant retail crime in major cities “resonated with me personally this week.” He revealed that the day before the Nov. 5 election, the Woods, the West Hollywood pot shop he co-owns with actor Woody Harrelson, was burglarized. He said an arrest has already been made in the case.
“They just broke the window and walked in, and the joke’s on them, you know? Why? Because they caught the man. Because our pot is so good, he forgot to leave,” Maher said.
Maher’s first guest was actor Michael Douglas, who complimented the host. The son of influential Golden Age Hollywood star Kirk Douglas, who died in 2020 at the age of 101, Maher told Maher that toward the end of his father’s life, “the only thing he would watch was Ultimate Fighting. [Championship] you too.”
Maher has been outspoken about his preference for the Democratic Party in this year’s presidential elections. Last week, he implored undecided voters that “I’m not Trump” is itself “still a very good reason” to vote for Harris. In September, Maher took issue with Trump’s comment that “the Jewish people would have a lot to do” with a possible election loss for him.
“Every time the autocrat starts blaming the Jews, I think it’s a great sign, because when has that ever turned out badly,” Maher said on “Real Time.”
Trump fired back at Maher on his social media platform Truth Social, calling the HBO host a “confused mess, sloppy and tired, and every conversation with B- and C-list guests.”
Maher’s comments about the presidential election come after virtually every late-night talk show host spoke out about Tuesday’s results. Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Taylor Tomlinson and Seth Meyers all expressed their dissatisfaction with the election results at length. John Oliver is expected to address the issue on the latest episode of “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday night.
“It was a terrible night for everyone who voted against him,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue Wednesday night. “And guess what? It was also a bad evening for everyone who voted for him. You just don’t realize it yet.”