Bill Maher recently targeted Molly McNearney, wife of Jimmy Kimmel, following her admission of cutting ties with family members who continued to support Donald Trump during the last election.
Maher criticized the couple’s stance, attributing it to a growing ‘purity test culture’ among liberals, and ridiculed the notion of making political ultimatums within families.
Having consistently spoken out against division on both sides of the political spectrum, the Real Time host responded to McNearney’s public comments about urging her family to reject Trump at the polls last year.
“Ultimatums don’t make people reconsider their political views,” Maher remarked. “They make them reconsider their view of you.”
McNearney, who holds the position of co-head writer and executive producer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!, shared her experience on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast. She expressed her frustration and the resulting estrangement from relatives who remain Trump supporters.
She mentioned her belief that these family members are ‘intentionally being misled every day’ and noted that her husband’s frequent confrontations with the former president add to the complexity of their family dynamics.
‘To me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,’ McNearney said on the podcast, acknowledging how relationships had broken down as a result.
She explained that she tried persuading her relatives not to vote for Trump, sending them an email laying out ‘ten reasons’ they shouldn’t support him and ended relationships with those who voted for him.
Bill Maher Jimmy Kimmel’s wife after she disclosed that she severed ties with family members who kept backing Donald Trump in last November’s election
Maher criticized Molly McNearney’s position as emblematic of a rising ‘purity test culture’ among liberals, scoffing at the idea of cutting off relatives over their views on Trump
‘I’ve sent many emails to family saying, ‘I’m begging you. Here’s the 10 reasons not to vote for this guy. Please don’t,’ McNearney recalled.
‘And I either got ignored by 90 percent of them or got truly insane responses from a few,’ she added. ‘It’s definitely caused a strain.’
Maher seized on the detail as he slammed McNearney.
‘She says she’s lost relationships with relatives because she wrote them an email before the election with ten reasons why they shouldn’t vote for Trump, and some still didn’t obey,’ Maher said.
‘Ten reasons? I can think of 100,’ Maher quipped. ‘But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum.
‘Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you.’
McNearney told the podcast how in the aftermath of the family rupture, she has become closer to relatives ‘aligned’ with her values.
‘I’ve definitely pulled in closer with the family that I feel more aligned with,’ she said.
During an episode of the We Can Do Hard Things podcast (pictured), McNearney said she is ‘angry all the time’ at relatives she said played a part in putting Trump back in power
Trump succeeded in pressuring Disney to yank Kimmel’s show off the air for several days in September after the host made incendiary remarks following Charlie Kirk’s assassination
‘Part of me goes, “Don’t let politics get in the way”. But to me, this isn’t politics. It’s truly values. And we’re not aligned anymore.’
Maher suggested McNearney’s attitude illustrates a broader and damaging impulse among liberals who project moral superiority at the expense of being persuasive.
The HBO host then widened his critique tying McNearney’s stance to what he sees as the left’s habit of alienating wavering voters and ultimately handing power back to the right.
He blamed this for Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat in 2024 and the return of a ‘second helping of MAGA’ to the White House.
‘Write a top ten list to yourself where you try to imagine ten reasons why 77 million Americans didn’t want to trust you with taking power,’ Maher said, noting he himself votes Democratic.
‘As I like to remind my very pure friends, we voted for the same person. You’re just why she lost.’
Earlier this year Trump managed to have Disney pull Kimmel’s show off-air for several days in September after the host made controversial comments at MAGA in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Before the suspension was announced, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to revoke ABC’s broadcast license if Kimmel was not held accountable.
In the weeks leading up to the 2024 election, McNearney, pictured, admitted she tried desperately to communicate with her relatives to sway their voting choices
But after swift backlash, ABC brought the much-loved host back.
In the weeks since Kimmel’s return to the air, he has continued to target Trump.
The president has continued to call for him to be taken off the air and has been hurling insults at the comedian.
The president has also called for NBC’s Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon’s shows to be axed.
