'Deplorable!' Bill Maher smacks down Trump over Oval Office outburst

On his Friday evening HBO broadcast. comedian Bill Maher strongly criticized President Donald Trump for his extraordinary outburst at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their Oval Office meeting, describing Trump's behavior as 'deplorable.'

The encounter between Trump and Zelensky took place on Friday, following weeks of escalating tensions and public disagreements between the two leaders. What was intended to be a diplomatic meeting quickly deteriorated into a heated confrontation, with Trump berating Zelensky in an unprecedented display of hostility towards a key ally.

On Friday's broadcast of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, the host discussed this incident with a distinguished panel. The guests included the Honorable Chrystia Freeland, former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Prime Ministerial candidate; Rahm Emanuel, former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, former Mayor of Chicago, and former Chief of Staff to President Obama; and Fareed Zakaria, acclaimed author, Washington Post columnist, and host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS.

Maher began the segment by playing clips from the contentious meeting, declaring, 'We're all agreed this is deplorable!' He went on to criticize Trump's aggressive behavior towards Zelensky, particularly noting the language barrier: 'My first thought is he's having this big browbeating with a guy who speaks English as a second language.'

The host then posed a crucial question to his guests about the potential impact of this incident on Trump's support base: 'Does this move the needle on the people who are that part of the coalition he needs to stay popular?'

Fareed Zakaria responded with a sobering analysis of the situation's implications for America's global standing and moral leadership. He expressed hope that this incident might indeed influence public opinion, stating, 'I hope it does, because I think what we're seeing... it's funny, but it's really tragic.'

Zakaria highlighted the alarming shift in U.S. foreign policy stance, contrasting it with America's historical role: 'Over the last 100 years, the United States... was always clear morally, politically whose side we were on. We were on the side of the victim of aggression. We were on the side of the democracies. We were against the dictators. We were against the aggressors.'

He concluded by pointing out the disturbing reversal in Trump's sympathies: 'To see this bizarre moral reversion... it was absolutely clear in that listening to Trump. He's much more comfortable and sympathetic with Vladimir Putin. And he doesn't like Zelensky.'

Watch the exchange below or at this link.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com