As President Donald Trump hits the 100-day milestone in his second term, comedian Bill Maher is doing what he does best—clutching his monologue index cards and rolling his eyes through another episode of “Real Time,” while reminding America that he, unlike most of us, saw it all coming.
“We hit the 100-day mark of the Trump administration, as you know, this week, and ooh, the numbers are kind of in the toilet,” Maher said during his Friday night show, before promptly launching into one of his signature sighs of disappointment masked as moral superiority.
Maher pointed to several metrics: dipping markets, growing recession fears, and Trump’s latest approval rating, now hovering around 39 percent, which he noted is “the lowest 100-day mark for a president in 80 years.” Then came the punchline.
“It’s like America remarried their ex and remembered why they got divorced in the first place,” Maher quipped, delivering the kind of line that’s tailor-made for a social media clip and a thousand clapping-seal emojis in the YouTube comments.
But Maher’s disdain wasn’t reserved solely for the president. It was also aimed at an American public he seems to believe should’ve known better. After all, this is the same Maher who spent the past several years insisting that Trump would never leave the political scene quietly, warning that voters who shrugged him off in 2020 were being naive.
“Kind of a high price for getting back plastic straws,” Maher added, jabbing at Trump’s executive order earlier this year that eliminated mandates for paper straws—his latest culture war victory, this one achieved at the cost of consumer confidence and supply chain stability.
As for Trump, the president is doubling down on the same economic strategy that got him here: tariffs, tariffs, and more tariffs. Last month, he slapped a new 10 percent baseline tax on nearly all foreign imports and introduced “reciprocal” taxes against dozens of trading partners.
Predictably, markets reacted like a caffeine-deprived intern facing a deadline — panicked and irrational. The GDP report that followed showed a 0.3 percent contraction in the first quarter of 2025, and consumer confidence hit a five-year low.
The administration’s answer? A brief pause on the new retaliatory tariffs, giving “room for negotiation” — except, of course, with China, which remains squarely in the trade war crosshairs.
Dubbed “Liberation Day” by Trump in one of his more triumphalist speeches earlier this year, the rollout of the tariffs has mostly succeeded in liberating the economy from stability. As the cost of imported goods rises and corporate leaders quietly begin trimming their forecasts, Wall Street’s whispers of “recession” are getting louder.
But Trump, naturally, isn’t worried.
When asked by NBC’s “Meet the Press” whether Americans should brace for a downturn, the president responded with his trademark optimism-meets-denial: “Anything can happen.”
It’s the sort of answer that only a man who just made Christmas more expensive could deliver with a straight face. When pressed on whether his policies would cause shortages in toy imports—especially since 80 percent of U.S. toys come from China—Trump reportedly shrugged off the concern, saying American kids would “be okay with fewer toys.”
Maher, not missing a beat, turned the moment into another setup for his Friday night jabs. “I mean, this guy, I got to say, the balls on him,” Maher said. “They asked him about what’s going to happen at Christmas… and he’s like, ‘Eh, the kids’ll be fine.’”
To Maher, this isn’t just bad economics. It’s bad faith, bad leadership, and above all, bad television.
“The thing is that people in this country now, we don’t understand why we’re doing this,” Maher said. “Why are we f---ing putting ourselves through this? To bring manufacturing back from China to make the things here that they make in China? That’s the American dream?”
The rhetoric may be colorful, but the frustration is real. What Maher sees—and what many economists echo—is that the logic behind Trump’s tariffs remains unclear, especially as their effects begin to ripple through multiple sectors.
While the administration insists it’s all part of a long-term play to restore domestic manufacturing, critics say the only thing being restored is the recession-era mood.
Despite the criticism, Trump has stuck to his favorite playbook: cast blame elsewhere. In a recent Truth Social post, the president tried to deflect attention from market instability by blaming the previous administration.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” he wrote, conveniently ignoring that he’s been in office for more than three months. “Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’”
The “Biden Overhang” is a term Trump has coined to explain away any lingering economic woes. According to his team, the real issues aren’t coming from the steep new taxes on imports, but from residual effects of past Democratic leadership — effects that have mysteriously lingered through three months of Trump’s own policies.
Back on Maher’s set, the atmosphere was less forgiving. As Maher continued roasting Trump’s economic performance, his audience responded with the usual mix of laughter and applause, many clearly grateful to be reminded that, yes, someone else sees what they see.
But Maher, as always, couldn’t resist reminding them that none of this is new. He’s been saying it for years.
What’s different now, he argued, is how rapidly the effects of policy are being felt. Unlike in Trump’s first term, when the economy remained relatively stable despite the chaos, this time the market reaction has been more immediate.
Businesses are hesitant. Investors are jittery. And ordinary Americans are beginning to notice that the shelves are looking a little emptier, and the prices a little higher.
But the White House insists all is going according to plan. Tariffs are working, they say. Jobs are coming back. Manufacturing is ramping up. The temporary pain, according to Trump’s economic advisers, will lead to long-term gain — assuming, of course, people are still around to afford what’s being made.
Maher doesn’t buy it. And for all his flaws—his smugness, his predictability, his tendency to act like the smartest man in the room—his point stands: the American public is increasingly unsure why they’re paying more and getting less.
Still, Maher can’t help but revel in the absurdity. A shrinking economy. A president who thinks children are fine with fewer toys. An executive order about plastic straws. If it weren’t real, it might be his best monologue yet.
The tragedy, of course, is that it is real. The economy is slowing. Prices are rising. And while Trump prepares for another rally filled with chants and cheers, millions of Americans are starting to wonder whether this time, the “winning” is coming at too high a cost.
For now, Maher will keep cracking jokes and Trump will keep writing posts. But the country may be entering a period where fewer people are laughing — and even fewer are willing to foot the bill.
