Bill Maher said he would “love” to interview ex-President George W. Bush on one of his programs, and admitted that — although he is still critical of many of Bush’s decisions while in office — he has more “perspective” on his presidency, now that Donald Trump is commander-in-chief.
Maher shared his thoughts on the matter while interviewing Bush’s cousin, former Access Hollywood and Extra host Billy Bush, on his Club Random podcast on Monday.
“I was hard [on Bush]— I’m not taking it back. I wasn’t for the invasion of Iraq, or just the basic Republican policies that he championed were not exactly my cup of tea,” Maher said. “But I also have things more in perspective. He should know that, yes, I probably, looking back, could have been more reasonable.”
The Real Time host then pointed to one Bush idea he liked in particular: privatizing social security.
“It wasn’t like the worst idea,” Maher said.
He also said he admired when Bush told Barack Obama, after winning the 2008 election, “we want you to succeed.” Maher said that is something “you can’t imagine Donald Trump saying.”
A moment later, Maher said it was “just a different era” when Bush was in office, where Republicans and Democrats did not agree, but it was not as toxic as it is in 2025.
The liberal comic’s magnanimous comments are a bit surprising, although not completely unprecedented. Maher, back in 2013, said the U.S. was “doing better” than he would have initially thought a decade earlier, when the Iraq War started.
“I’ve got to admit, it’s a country that’s standing. I thought it wouldn’t be,” Maher said on Real Time. “It’s actually doing better than I thought it would be.”
Later, towards the end of Monday’s episode, Billy Bush told Maher about a time he took four “capsules” of psilocybin — aka magic mushrooms. Bush said it took him on a “journey” where he saw family members, both alive and dead, who he wanted to speak with.
That opened the door for Maher to jump in and joke, “Can you tell W. not to go to Iraq?”
Bush laughed and quipped “he’s not going to do your show. He just texted me that. He said ‘Bill was doing great until that.”
You can watch the full Club Random podcast above. The segment about George W. Bush starts around the 12:00 minute mark.
