Maher called the experience "surreal," especially after meeting Trump in person and then seeing him on TV later that night. The Trump he met privately, Maher said, was completely different from the public persona.
"Why can't the guy I met be the one we see publicly?" Maher wondered.
He elaborated, "The strangest moment came when I got home after the dinner. I flew back, hopped into bed, and watched a recorded 60 Minutes episode. There was Trump in a story, standing at a podium in a room that looked like the one we’d just been in.
"He’s ranting, ‘Disgusting.’ ‘You’re awful.’ And I’m thinking, who is this guy? Where’s the charming person I just met? Why can’t that version be the public one?" Maher said.
"I’m not saying it’s our job to fix that—it’s not. I’m just sharing what I saw over two and a half hours. I went in expecting one thing, and that’s what I found.
"The White House isn’t home to a lunatic. It’s home to someone who plays one on TV a lot. That’s messed up, but not as bad as I thought," Maher concluded.
