Bill Maher Says That Gretchen Whitmer Should Have Owned Her White House Visit Like He Did
Bill Maher is clearly still dealing with the fallout of his friendly meal with President Trump, which has, so far, sparked a massive fan backlash and inspired a Larry David short story set in Nazi Germany. At least Maher has been celebrated as a modern hero by… Bill Maher.On this week’s episode of Real Time, Maher was mostly quite critical of his former dinner companion. But things got a little awkward when the subject of being embarrassed to be seen visiting the White House came up. Last month, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer went viral for seemingly trying to distance herself from Trump while literally standing in the Oval Office. According to CNN, Whitmer visited the White House “with a bipartisan delegation to discuss a laundry list of issues affecting her state.” Don't Miss But she was caught off guard after being invited into the Oval Office and lauded by Trump in front of the press, despite the fact that he once called Whitmer an aspiring dictator, and admonished her for not properly thanking the federal agents who thwarted a plan to kidnap her. When a photographer tried to snap a photo of Whitmer, she put a folder up in front of her face. Which, in retrospect, is only a slightly better hiding strategy than closing your eyes and covering your ears.While discussing the controversy around Whitmer’s White House trip, Maher noted that Trump actually “punked her twice.” That’s because Trump showed up in Michigan this week and shared a controversial hug with the governor. “Now she’s history’s greatest monster for that,” Maher complained. “And I would just like to say — I was trying to help her the other week — just own it like a certain talk show host did when you meet the president. It’s okay, he’s the president.” The two situations seem to be pretty different. For one thing, Whitmer was at the White House for reasons that in no way involved Kid Rock. And it does seem as though Whitmer has “owned” the Oval Office visit to some extent, even recreating the folder snafu during a recent interview. Whitmer is already suffering significant political repercussions for the hug. But considering how Maher’s playdate with Trump was received by much of the public, the host giving Whitmer advice on how to navigate this situation is a little like the captain of the Titanic offering iceberg dodging tips.
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