Bill Maher publicly corrected himself on air after acknowledging that a claim he made about Donald Trump’s election endorsements was inaccurate — a reversal that came after what he described as a pointed fact-check sent directly by the president.
The late-night host had wrongly suggested that the majority of candidates supported by the commander-in-chief during the current election cycle had gone on to lose their contests.
“Trump used to win all of his endorsements, now he’s winning almost none of them,” Maher said during his August 21 broadcast.
The comment quickly drew pushback — and, according to Maher, the objection appeared to come from Trump himself.
“I heard from one viewer who was very upset about this, contacted me directly,” the comedian told viewers on Friday’s show, adding that he and the unnamed viewer “text” and that he is “glad” they do.
“And he sent me charts, he sent me a lot of information, and I promised, ‘If this is not true what I said, I will say it on the air,’” Maher continued.
After looking over the material, Maher said he determined that the president’s fact-check was correct.
“I did overstate it,” the host conceded, admitting that his claim from the previous week “wasn’t true.”
Bill Maher admitted he erroneously claiming that most of the candidates Donald Trump has supported this election cycle have lost their races
Trump has endorsed 260 people this election cycle, only nine of whom have lost their primaries
‘Was that so hard to not be a d**k about everything?’ Maher then asked, rhetorically.
Maher then explained that Trump has endorsed 260 people this election cycle, only nine of whom have lost their primaries, giving him a 97 percent success rate.
‘So he still has very powerful endorsements,’ Maher acknowledged.
‘But the full picture is a little more nuanced,’ he continued. ‘My point was that the trend looks like it was going downward on that, because he did lose five governorships.’
Republican primary voters have now also rejected 10 Trump-backed candidates for statewide office this season, equal to the number who lost in the 2018, 2020 and 2024 primaries combined, he noted, citing data from CNN.
‘Now, he says that’s because he backs a lot of ones who were sure losers, but he did it out of loyalty. I don’t doubt that some of that is true,’ the Real Time with Bill Maher host said.
‘I also think it’s true on the other side that he wins some because he picks some easy winners – he picks incumbents sometimes and uncontested [candidates], people with overwhelming [support].’
But that ‘doesn’t matter,’ Maher said.
Maher’s on-air mea culpa came during a roundtable discussion with Congressman Byron Donalds on his show on Friday
‘He just won in South Carolina, Lindsey Graham’s know-nothing sister,’ he said of Darline Graham, who pulled off a victory in the South Carolina Republican Senate runoff last week, defeating Congressman Ralph Norman.
‘And he won in Oklahoma. So, OK when he shows up at a place like he did for Lindsey’s sister, he’s still a star,’ Maher then admitted. ‘And they come out and they vote for him.
‘So there, that’s the truth. It’s a little more nuanced, but yes, I overstated it. Now, stop texting,’ the comedian told the president.
Maher’s remarks came during a roundtable discussion with Congressman Byron Donalds who defeated businessman James Fishback in Florida’s Republican primary for governor.
Fishback had made Donalds his central target from the moment he entered the race, attacking the congressman as a pawn of the Republican establishment and questioning whether he was conservative enough for Florida.
He also played dirty, calling Donalds a ‘slave’ and attacking his relationship with corporate interests. He even referred to his opponent as ‘By’rone,’ while accusing him of wanting to turn Florida into a ‘Section 8 ghetto.’
Donalds was backed by a long list of prominent Republicans, President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., House Speaker Mike Johnson, the late Charlie Kirk and Elon Musk
Trump-backed Mike Mazzei, a former state senator and former Oklahoma budget secretary, also emerged with the Republican nomination Tuesday night over Gentner Drummond, the state’s attorney general in the runoff race.
It was a victory by the narrowest of margins, with Mazzei edging out Drummond by less than a single point.
The president endorsed Mazzei ahead of the June primary and repeatedly returned to the race in the weeks before the runoff, attacking Drummond and urging Oklahoma Republicans to back his preferred candidate.
Our News Outlet has reached out to the White House for more information.
