Bill Maher Says Donald Trump Is 'Flirting With' Ruining What Makes America Successful

Comedian Bill Maher almost brought himself to criticize Donald Trump's immigration crackdown but stopped short of actually doing so.

On the Monday, September 21, episode of his "Club Random" podcast, Maher asked psychiatrist and author Dr. Daniel Amen if the president's plans to erect barriers for immigrants and separate illegal immigrants from their families is spoiling America's "secret sauce."

Maher spoke about his admiration for Amen's father, a Lebanese immigrant who came to America and found work as a grocer.

“This is what is awesome about America, that we are flirting with ruining. We attract the best, smartest, most ambitious people, from everywhere. This is always our secret sauce,” Maher said. “And you-know-who is messing with this.”

But before Maher got too far criticizing Trump's immigration crackdown, he did add the caveat that he agreed with Trump about "closing the border."

Amen, apparently anti-open border himself, said, “You don’t think he’s messing with it in a reaction to the insanity of open borders?”

“Totally! Closing the border was something we needed to do,” Maher said. “I totally give him credit for that.”

Before he got too far in commenting on Trump's immigration crackdown, he moved on, telling Dr. Amen, "We don't need to get into that."

He did say that he "loves America" because of immigrants like Amen's father.

Maher has maintained a middle-of-the-road stance on Trump's immigration policies, saying he agrees with the administration's idea, but not the execution.

Maher, 70, complained to Vice President J.D. Vance in June that the violent ICE raids were "too far." The vice president reminded the comedian that enacting policies required enforcement, and the violence was a byproduct of the administration's goal.

“Here is the basic problem with that, Bill, is you cannot do any deportations without law enforcement,” Vance said. “And you can’t do a law enforcement operation like that without having some situations that don’t look good when they’re recorded like that.”

Maher has grown increasingly conservative in recent years, as the comedian has expressed more friendliness toward the Trump administration than he has progressive Democrats.

In July, he said without hesitation that he would vote for Vance over a progressive Democrat. He has also excused Trump's rude behavior toward journalists, defended Charlie Kirk, supported reality television villain Spencer Pratt in the Los Angeles mayoral election and bashed Democrats for calling Israel's actions in Gaza a "genocide," as many international organizations have.