Touching on Trump’s often blunt remarks and insults, Maher said it makes the president authentic. “The things that he says aloud, the way he just voices his interior monologue… There is something not exactly psychologically normal about someone who just vomits their interior monologue, but it gives him an authenticity with people that no one else can possibly match,” Maher said.
The HBO host brought up Trump’s recent interview with CBS News reporter Norah O’Donnell on 60 Minutes, in which the president called her a “disgrace” for reading from the alleged manifesto of Cole Allen, the suspect who stormed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“That pissed him off a lot,” Maher stated. “I could see both sides. As a reporter, it is news. Also, it’s giving access to the president from the terrorist.”
“[Trump’s] reaction to her was, ‘You’re a terrible person,’ and he didn’t just think it like any politician. That’s exactly what they’re thinking. He just says it,” he continued. “It’s at the same time horrifying and also kind of refreshing. It’s shockingly honest.”
Maher added, “As someone who loves honesty and has made my career about it as much as I could, there’s some level of it where you tip your hat, and you go, ‘Wow. Total honesty. ‘I think you’re a horrible person and I’m just going to say it.'”
Fetterman then broke into laughter as he described the ultimate example of Trump’s honesty, which came when he told a reporter, “quiet, piggy.” The incident happened aboard Air Force One in November, when Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey asked the president a question about the Epstein files.
“That’s the president of America! And he said, ‘Quiet, piggy,'” Fetterman said as he and Maher continued to laugh.
Maher, who has been on the receiving end of Trump’s insults himself, added, “That’s why I don’t get mad when he sends out these tweets anymore about me. Because the next day, I feel like it’s forgotten. I don’t know if even he remembers.”
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