Most breakups happen by text. This one took a 1,323-word essay.
On Sunday night, President Donald Trump posted his longest Truth Social message ever, according to CNN and a third-party tracking firm. All of it was about Bill Maher.
https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2114509320163663998
How We Got Here
On Oct. 15, Maher had his second White House dinner with Trump, joined by Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock. The next day, Trump called it a "great dinner" and said Maher "likes me a lot more than people understand, and I actually like him," according to CNN.
That glow lasted about a week. On Friday's "Real Time," Maher talked about the dinner in his monologue. "Yeah, I did it again, bitches," he said, as quoted by TheWrap. "I know, I'm the bad guy because I go and say face-to-face to the man the things you write in articles that he'll never read. You know what? F–k you. I like these dinners."
He also said the dinner "went on for four hours" and joked that Trump has "the lowest approval rating of any midterm candidate ever." Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was a guest on the same episode, according to CNN.
Then Came the Post
Trump opened by calling Maher a "COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER" with a "Low Rated Show on equally Low Rated HBO." From there it got very specific.
On the dinner invitations: Trump claimed Maher "invited himself to the White House." He wrote that Maher's longtime producer Chuck LaBella and Kid Rock "called me incessantly" to set it up. TMZ, citing its own sources, reports that it was actually Trump who invited Maher both times.
On Maher personally: "I wanted to tell Bill that he's a major POTHEAD. He's got to stop, it's very bad for his health. He looked like hell this time." Trump also claimed Maher "was drunk and had alcohol in his hand as he walked through the White House."
On the four hours: "It didn't last four hours, it lasted two hours, maybe less... We have the timestamps. I learned nothing, and felt it was a waste of time." For the record, CNN reports that Stephen A. Smith said on his podcast the next day that "we were there for over four hours."
On the laughs: Trump repeatedly suggested the "Real Time" audience isn't real, writing, "turn your Laugh Machine off." CNN notes that the studio audience can be seen and heard cheering on the show.
On polls: Trump said a CNN poll showed him at "98 and 99% support within the Republican Party." CNN says its latest poll actually puts him at 74% approval among Republicans, which it called a new low. CNN says Trump's figure likely comes from an older clip about MAGA Republicans specifically.
A Little Real News, Too
Buried in the post was an actual headline. "I am thinking about moving the Press, and putting them in a different location," Trump wrote. CNN says that confirms reports he has considered moving reporters out of their longtime White House workspace. He also wrote, "I am not building a swimming pool in the White House Briefing Room."
The Sign-Off
Trump ended with a goodbye: "Bill: Don't call anymore." He also called Maher "a coward," vowed "I will never watch it again" and closed with his usual line: "Thank you for your attention to this matter."
TMZ also counted more than 1,300 words. CNN reports the post was nearly double the length of Trump's previous longest, a 723-word post from May. Deadline reported that a Maher spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Your move, Bill.
Photo: Daniel Torok (Trump), Angela George (Maher) / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain; CC BY 3.0)
