Comedian Bill Maher ate a little crow during a recent episode of his “Club Random” podcast, conceding that he’d been firmly on the wrong side with a prediction he’d made earlier in President Donald Trump’s current term.
Maher, who hosted YouTuber Bryan Tyler Cohen for Monday’s episode, reminded his audience that he’d predicted that Trump’s tariff plan would result in economic disaster — probably before the Fourth of July had come and gone — but that had not happened.
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Cohen suggested that for commentators on the Left, the “onus” was on them to “filter” through what President Donald Trump said in order to stay on top of the issues that were really important.
“First of all, be honest. Don’t just be partisan,” Maher offered his advice on that front. “I will always call it as I see it, no matter what it is, and I don’t care who likes it or doesn’t. That’s my bond with the audience. It’s worked for me pretty well.”
Maher then fell on his own sword a bit, admitting to getting things wrong when he — along with many others —predicted that Trump’s threatened tariffs would tank the economy.
“I remember I, along with probably most people, were saying at the beginning, oh, you know, by the Fourth of July — somebody had a thing out about how the economy was gonna be tanked by then. And I was kinda like, ‘Well, that seems right to me,’ but that didn’t happen,” he explained. “Now, it could happen tomorrow. I’m just saying, that’s reality.”
Maher went on to argue that Democrats were missing the point if they still believed that simply declaring their opposition to Trump amounted to a political strategy.
“‘I just hate Donald Trump.’ … That’s boring and doesn’t get us anywhere and leads you to dishonesty,” Maher said. “Because the truth is, I don’t know what his strategy is. But look, the stock market is at record highs. I don’t see a country in a depression at all. I see people out there just living their lives, and I would have thought — and I gotta own it — that these tariffs were going to f***ing sink this economy by this time, and they didn’t.”
“So, you know, how do we deal with that fact? Because that’s the fact,” he went on, arguing that Democrats needed to base their strategy on reality rather than just retreating to their partisan corners.
During the same episode, Maher took a similar tone when he revealed the biggest mistake he thought Democrats were making.
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????NEW: Bill Maher *GOES OFF* on “the left” over its most idiotic mistake????
“The stupidest thing the left does — and this dinner is a perfect example of it — is having this attitude toward the right that: ‘We won’t even break bread with you. We are so far above you that we won’t… pic.twitter.com/8DZKOdSDZ0
— Jason Cohen ???????? (@JasonJournoDC) July 28, 2025
“The stupidest thing the Left does — and this dinner is a perfect example of it — is having this attitude toward the Right that: ‘We won’t even break bread with you. We are so far above you that we won’t even sit down at the same table with you!'” Maher complained. “That is their attitude — and that makes me sick too! I’m glad I break bread!”
“Good luck. See how far that gets you,” he quipped.