Comedian Bill Maher shared his disappointment with the White House on Friday, marking 100 days since President Trump assumed office. He highlighted the economic instability that Trump’s recent tariffs have sparked.
“This week, it’s the Trump administration’s 100-day mark, and it feels like, I don’t know, being stuck in the bathroom,” Maher remarked.
“It’s the lowest score for a president in their first 100 days in about 80 years. It feels like a reminder of why America went through its last marriage and divorce,” he added during “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
Maher pointed out that the US GDP declined by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2025, leading to consumer confidence hitting its lowest level in five years.
“All this just to get back plastic straws,” he quipped. A MediaIte clip earlier highlighted his jokes about Trump’s executive order on paper straws since the start of the year.
This critique followed Trump’s decision to set a 10% baseline tax on almost all foreign imports last month and to announce higher tariffs for several countries. After facing significant backlash, he temporarily suspended most retaliatory tariffs for up to 90 days to allow for negotiations. However, China, a significant trading partner, has been excluded from these discussions.
The aftermath of what some referred to as the “Day of Liberation” has caught many on Wall Street off guard, with experts indicating that the US might be on the brink of, or already in, a recession. The president, on the other hand, has largely played down these fears. Just this week, his children insisted that it’s okay to have fewer toys around.
“But look, Trump, he’s just ramping things up,” Maher commented on Friday. “I mean, this guy… when asked about Christmas, he didn’t seem to grasp that around 80% of the toys are produced in China.”
“The real issue is that people in this country are puzzled about why this is happening now,” he elaborated. “Why are we going through this? Is the goal to bring back manufacturing from China to make the same things they produce there? That seems to be the American dream.”
Trump has often defended his aggressive tariff strategy, arguing it would revive jobs and domestic production in the US. Nevertheless, after the GDP report released Wednesday, he conceded that the sudden taxes could lead to some economic pain and called for patience as a solution.
When questioned in a Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” about whether Americans should brace for a recession, he acknowledged that “anything can happen.”
