Bill Maher, known for his sharp political commentary, is publicly walking back his earlier criticism of Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policies. On a recent episode of his Club Random podcast, the comedian admitted he had predicted economic catastrophe under Trump’s trade strategy—only to see the opposite unfold.
“Tariffs. Now, I remember, I, along with probably most people, were saying at the beginning, ‘Oh, you know, by the 4th of July the economy was going to be tanked by then,’” Maher said in a clip posted July 28. “And I was kind of, like, ‘Well, that seems right to me.’ But that didn’t happen.”
Maher acknowledged that while he doesn’t fully understand Trump’s economic playbook, the results speak for themselves. “The stock market is at record highs. I know not everybody lives by the stock market, but I also drive around, I don’t see a country in a depression at all — I see people out there just living their lives,” he said. “I would have thought… these tariffs were going to sink this economy by this time. And they didn’t. I’ve got to own it.”
Trump’s tariffs, aimed at reshaping global trade and bringing manufacturing back to American soil, were widely predicted by critics to spark a recession. Instead, the U.S. economy has defied expectations, with strong consumer spending and surging markets.
Maher’s candid admission underscores a growing recognition—even among skeptics—that Trump’s trade policies may be rewriting the conventional wisdom on tariffs and economic growth. For a comedian who rarely spares Trump from criticism, this acknowledgment marks a surprising moment of agreement on one of the most controversial economic experiments in modern U.S. history.
