Bill Maher Pushes Panic Button Over Trump’s ‘Giant Ballroom’ — Means ‘He’s Not Leaving!’
— Tommy moderna-vaX-Topher (@tommyxtopher) October 25, 2025
Comedian and pundit Bill Maher came up with a new reason to complain about President Donald Trump’s “giant ballroom,” telling his guest it indicates “He’s not leaving!”
On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was Democratic governor of Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear.
The panel guests were Michael Steele, former RNC Chairman and Lt. Governor of Maryland, MSNBC political analyst, and co-host of “The Weeknight”; and Kate Bedingfield, CNN political commentator and former White House communications director under President Biden.
During the panel discussion, Maher asked the rhetorical question “Who puts in a giant ballroom if they’re leaving?”:
BILL MAHER: He should have gotten the permits, but that’s how he does things. I agree, but it is just a building, first of all.
That part of the building wasn’t always there.
Presidents do change the buildings. Nixon put in a bowling alley. Obama made the tennis court a basketball court.
I can’t get this mad about everything, Mike. I just can’t.
MICHAEL STEELE: I’m not mad. It’s not a question of being mad, it’s a question of understanding what the symbolism is and what it means in Trump–
BILL MAHER: He’s not leaving! That’s what bothers me about it!
(CROSSTALK).
BILL MAHER: Is that who puts in a giant ballroom if you’re leaving?
(CROSSTALK).
BILL MAHER: Okay, but that’s the issue, not the building
KATE BEDINGFIELD: But I’m saying, if this was the only impulsive, reckless, driven by his own desire for self-aggrandizement, if this is the only thing he had done on that front, then I would give you it’s just a building.
But it’s not. It’s part of a manner of governing that is tearing at some of the foundations, the institutional foundations in this country, and that’s scary.
BILL MAHER: Well, that’s what I’m much more concerned about, those kind of things, the institutional foundations. There’s enough outreach to go around. I agree with you.
MICHAEL STEELE: No, the institutional foundation does matter. I agree with you, but again, I’m just talking about, for me, it meant something a little bit different than it does probably for a lot of other people.
Watch above via HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher.
