Inside Trump’s four-hour dinner with Bill Maher, Stephen A Smith and Kid Rock: ‘I’m on like beer seven’

Inside Trump’s four-hour dinner with Bill Maher, Stephen A Smith and Kid Rock: ‘I’m on like beer seven’ ‘They were going at it for hours,’ Smith said of Trump and Maher, who also dined together at the White House last year - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in President Donald Trump hosted comedian Bill Maher, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith and MAGA musician Kid Rock Thursday night for an exclusive White House dinner party. By multiple accounts, the evening was both convivial and combative, with heated exchanges over the economy and foreign policy stretching late into the night, according to the guests. The dinner comes just several weeks before the November midterm elections, which polls indicate could result in severe Republican losses, as many Americans express concerns about the cost of living and the ongoing war in Iran. The unlikely group of guests revealed how the beer flowed, the debate ran long, and they were treated to a tour of the ballroom. “I had to leave early at 11 p.m.,” Kid Rock said. “I’m on like beer seven and I’m having a blast.” “They were going at it for hours,” Smith said of Trump and Maher’s debate, longtime antagonists who had already dined together at the White House last year. Still, there seemed to be agreement on one point: being political opponents does not require being personal enemies. The Independent has contacted the White House for comment. On the menu: cocktails and disagreement Kid Rock, a longtime Trump ally, said the evening got off to an early start — with a request for drinks, which the president, a teetotaler, did not partake. “We were there about 6:30, 7:00, and waiting to go in the Oval Office and greet the president,” the “American Bad A**” singer told Fox News on Friday morning. “I’m like can I get a cold beer?...Bill’s like can I get a cocktail? So there was drinking involved.” The visit included a tour of the White House grounds and the colonnade along the Rose Garden, where Trump has displayed photos of past presidents. Joe Biden’s portrait had been replaced by a framed photo of an autopen. “I said that’s pretty damn cruel man,” Smith, a frequent Trump critic, recounted later on his show. “He says ‘it’s funny isn’t it?’” The 80-year-old president also took the men through the massive, $330 million White House ballroom, which remains under construction where the East Wing once stood. “We went inside the ballroom with beams that are being put up over our head,” Trump said Friday. Maher did most of the talking during dinner, according to Smith. The host of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher raised issues including “translators in Afghanistan that needed to be rescued” and “Trump’s relatively dismissive attitude about the economic times we’re living in.” “Essentially it amounted to what I consider to be a very substantive evening,” said Smith, who describes himself as an independent. “We were there for over four hours in the White House, and Donald Trump did not run from any questions; he answered every single question. He was very, very defiant with any criticism that came in his direction.” Despite their disagreements, the men found some common ground. Smith, an ESPN commentator, credited Trump for signing the First Step Act, a criminal justice reform law, during his first term. “We all agreed socialism and communism has no place to have a foothold in our government,” Kid Rock told Fox News. For Smith, the willingness to reach across the aisle was itself worth recognizing. “But the biggest thing that [Trump] deserves credit for and that Bill Maher deserves credit for is that they were going at it for hours,” Smith said. “Bill Maher made it a point: damn right I’m a liberal and I’m proud of it, and I don’t like a lot of your policies, and was going down the list with a few of them, he said but it doesn’t mean I have to hate you because of it. Nor do you have to hate me.” The unlikely get-together continued long after sunset, even after Kid Rock departed to catch a flight to New Jersey. When asked about the dinner party by reporters the following day, Trump said: “We talked about everything; it lasted a long time.” He added: “Even though they have to sort of put on a certain little facade for their people, they like Trump and I actually like them.” How the unlikely dinner came together Trump has long had a combative relationship with both Maher and Smith, repeatedly trading insults with the two television personalities. The president called Smith “an arrogant fool” and “a low IQ individual” in June. A month earlier, Smith had said of Trump: “The divisiveness, the way that this man acts, the things that he says, it’s really really disgusting.” Maher, meanwhile, has spent more than a decade skewering Trump on his Friday night show, frequently calling him a “whiny little b****” and portraying him as a dangerous figure who refuses to accept electoral defeat. Trump has returned fire, calling the comedian “highly overrated” and accusing him of suffering from “a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Their feud briefly appeared to thaw in March of last year, when Kid Rock arranged a dinner between the two at the White House. Maher later described Trump as gracious in private — a stark contrast to the combative figure he saw on television. But the insults soon resumed, continuing even after Maher received the Mark Twain Prize at the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center in June. Then, about six weeks ago, Trump called Maher with another White House invitation, telling him he could bring any guest he wanted, according to Smith. Smith, who has repeatedly teased a presidential bid, said Maher asked him to join. He accepted, he said, because he wanted to criticize Trump “face to face, man to man,” and because he had known the president for years before Trump entered politics. “Oh by the way,” Smith added. “He actually invited me back, along with Bill Maher.” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments [Image text:] KID ROCKISINGER&MUSICIAN FOX KID ROCK JOINS TRUMP FOR DINNER AT WHITE HOUSE NEWS 25CT COUNTDOWN MIDTERMS 18DAYS