Every word of Donald Trump’s longest social media tirade so far came out of his mouth, not his keyboard, while he flew on Air Force One.
Trump, 80, unloaded on comedian Bill Maher, 70, in a Truth Social post of more than 1,300 words that went live on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. He dictated it to his executive assistant, Natalie Harp, 35, who typed it out aboard Air Force One before the post went up shortly after the president got back to the White House — an account of the flight that surfaced Oct. 28.
The in-flight dictation settled a question that had been kicking around since the post landed. Hosts of the podcast “Pod Save America” had floated the theory that Harp wound up taking the president’s words down as he read them out loud. They were right.
The Monologue That Set Him Off
The trouble started on Friday, Oct. 23, when Maher hosted former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, 29, on his HBO show “Real Time.” Part of Maher’s monologue that night dealt with the president’s standing inside his own party.
Maher joked that the signs outside Trump’s rallies now just advertise “Lee Greenwood and Friends.” He also needled the president over his habit of complimenting men’s looks, jawlines and physiques, pointing out that four hours of dinner at the White House had earned him not a single compliment.
Ten Calls Before the Second Dinner
Trump opened the post by branding Maher a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER,” the capital letters his own. He called “Real Time” a low-rated show on a network that, in his telling, had long ago stopped being hot.
Then he turned on Chuck LaBella, a longtime producer who works with Maher on the podcast “Club Random.” Trump wrote that LaBella had been a “gofer” on NBC’s “The Apprentice,” that he phoned 10 times before the second dinner was arranged, and that his own first reaction to the pitch was “Fellas, this guy’s a Goofball.” He told Maher to stop calling, and to tell LaBella to ease up too.
He Says He Has Timestamps
Trump also disputed Maher’s four-hour math. The dinner, he insisted, ran two hours or less, and “everybody was happy.” He claimed the White House had timestamps to prove it and said he had learned nothing from an evening he called “a waste of time.” He called the comedian a “major POTHEAD,” said Maher had a drink in hand while touring the White House and was drunk, and said he “looked like hell this time.”
From there the post sprawled. Trump rejected Maher’s read on his approval numbers, citing CNN polling that he said put his support within the Republican Party at 98 percent to 99 percent, contrasting it with the 86 percent he said Ronald Reagan drew. He also stood by his endorsements, argued with Maher over Iran, said the comedian had lied about illegal voting in California and insisted he never planned a pool for the press briefing room — though he is weighing moving reporters out and putting the room to other use.
Leavitt came out of it well. Trump praised her “Real Time” appearance while describing the man asking her questions as a “biased, dumb SLEAZEBAG.” He told Maher to switch off his “Laugh Machine” and said he would ask Republicans to stop covering him.
Kid Rock Brokered the First Dinner
The two men go back further than the feud. Their first White House meal came in late March 2025, set up by Kid Rock. Maher spoke warmly about the president on his show afterward. Trump later attacked him anyway and said the evening had not been worth his time. In June 2026, the Kennedy Center Board honored Maher with the Mark Twain Prize.
Round two came on Oct. 15, when Maher returned to the White House for dinner alongside Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock. He bragged about the invitation. Trump seemed just as happy about it, telling reporters Maher “likes me a lot more than people understand” and that the feeling was mutual.
That goodwill did not survive the monologue. Trump closed by vowing never to watch the show again, dismissing it as “FAKE NEWS.”
