SACRAMENTO, CA - AUG 19: Bill Maher performs at Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, California on August 19th, 2011. (Photo credit: Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock)
President Donald Trump’s record-breaking Truth Social post attacking comedian Bill Maher is drawing alarm from liberal commentators, with critics seizing on the Sunday night tirade as fresh evidence of what one anonymous account called the president’s “mental deterioration.”
With the midterm elections just over a week away, the 80-year-old president devoted more than 1,300 words to the late-night comedian, who had needled him on television two nights earlier.
The post was Trump’s longest on Truth Social, and its topic was “not the midterm election or the Middle East conflict” but his “complicated relationship” with Maher, CNN’s Brian Stelter and Andrew Kirell wrote. They reported that it was nearly double the length of his previous longest post, a 723-word post in May.
Critics pounced. “Ok folks—at what point does the mainstream media stop being afraid to discuss this man’s incredibly conspicuous mental deterioration,” one political commentary account wrote in a post flagged by Mediaite, calling Trump's tweet a “completely demented and unhinged” rant about “BILL MAHER of all topics.”
Journalist Jemele Hill wrote that “this is what all that glazing gets you,” calling it “embarrassing for all involved.”
“Sad reality is this is what he actually cares about rather than, you know, you,” wrote Dan Koh, the Democratic nominee in Massachusetts’ 6th Congressional District.
Trump opened the post by branding Maher a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER” and claiming, with a misspelling, that the host wanted him as a Real Time guest “DESPARATELY.” He accused Maher of being “drunk” at their Oct. 15 White House dinner and said he “learned nothing” from the evening, which he called “a waste of time.”
Buried in the post, Trump also insisted he is “not building a swimming pool in the White House Briefing Room,” while saying he is still “thinking about moving the Press.”
The post also contradicted itself. Even as Trump dismissed the dinner, he wrote, “Overall, I thought it was a good meeting.” Days earlier, he told reporters the evening “was great” and that Maher “likes me a lot more than people understand.”
Kid Rock, who attended the dinner along with ESPN host Stephen A. Smith, told Fox & Friends the evening was “epic.”
As of Monday morning, Maher had not responded to the post, Mediaite reported.