Bill Maher mocks Trump for being played by China’s Xi Jinping
Over the past few weeks of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” we’ve seen the bitingly comically erratic presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Gavin Newsom sue Fox News, compare the California governor’s litigious stance to Trump, and joke that the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged suicide note sounds an awful lot like his good friend Trump.
During Friday night’s edition of his HBO show, Maher focused his monologue on President Trump’s state visit to China, where he met the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing (and Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner, who has faced a number of sexual misconduct allegations, appeared in photos in the Epstein files and directed the documentary “Melania,” was along). Trump and Xi “discussed ways to enhance economic cooperation between our two countries, including expanding market access for U.S. companies to China and increasing Chinese investment in our industries,” according to the administration.
But above all, it was an old-fashioned love fest between the two strong men, with Trump in particular showering Xi with one strange platitude after another.
“Trump: He hates China, but he loves Xi,” Maher said. “To say this was a love fest between these two boys was an understatement. When he left, [Trump] thanked Xi profusely for his hospitality. And Xi thanked Trump for making China much more popular around the world.”
After all, Trump loves pageantry, and since Xi rolled out the red carpet for him, Maher believes that’s why Trump has been so gentle and loving toward the leader of a country with which he has been embroiled in a bitter trade war for the past year and a half.
“You know what? China knows what Trump likes,” Maher offered. “What does he like? He likes the pageantry and the parades, and he likes the red carpet, and there were thousands of kids waving American flags. And Xi, he’s smart, you know? He know. He negotiated like someone who knows he now holds the cards since Trump withdrew from their great trade war.”
Then the punchline: “In fact, as a subtle dig, they served orange chicken.”
Maher wasn’t done yet.
“Trump is telling Xi: there are no games with him. It’s getting a little weird, you know?” cracked Maher. “At one point, Xi said to his translator, ‘Tell Trump not to catch feelings.’”
