Bill Maher reacted to the 2026 midterm results during the Friday episode of Real Time, moreso reacting to President Donald Trump‘s response to the election.
During the host’s monologue, he said he predicted the midterms would be positive for Democrats. “Well, look, I hate to gloat, but sorry, I have to do a little bit because everybody was hedging about this election,” he said, as a montage of clips of him predicting the results was played.
One thing Maher said he couldn’t have anticipated? Trump’s response to the results, he said.
“Here’s something I could not have predicted, which was Trump’s reaction to the election. He said, ‘Congratulations to the Democrats, they did a good job,’” Maher said wide-eyed, looking around at his Real Time audience. “Donnie, are you OK? I know we’ve been feuding. You sound unwell. You’re not even going to fake it was rigged?”
He continued, “And let me tell you something, even with the attempted rigging — and they did try to rig it in every different kind of way; mail-in balloting, intimidating the voters, all that shit — democracy, man. Kind of fucking awesome.”
During an interview with The New York Times shortly before 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the president said he was “absolutely willing” to accept the results. Trump added, “We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them. We’ll probably work something out.”
However, he also ranted about the midterms, writing on Truth Social that if he was on the ballot, “we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
Maher’s comment about “feuding” with the president was likely a reference to their recent back-and-forth that was heightened after Trump penned a lengthy social media post where he slammed the comedian as a “complete and total loser,” and shared more details about their recent dinner at the White House.
Maher responded to the rant during last week’s Oct. 30 episode of Real Time, joking that the president “went off on me like Kelly Clarkson in a toy store.”
Elsewhere in the episode, the comedian said he thinks the president has been “amazingly humble” amid the results. “I thought by this time, he’d be suing the voters by name, individually, and arresting the poll workers. Instead, even he was like, ‘You know, even I’m sick of me a little bit.’”
He joked that Trump saying he has “a lot of friends in the Democratic party” might open the door for him to visit the White House for a third time. “Wow, I might get to go again. Look at that,” he joked.