Kid Rock on White House visit with Bill Maher to meet Trump: 'It could not have been better'
Kid Rock is describing a meeting between President Trump and Bill Maher at the White House as a mind-blowing success, saying his aim in coordinating the get-together between the political adversaries was to model "a little more civility in this country."
"It could not have been better," the "All Summer Long" singer said Tuesday in a "Fox & Friends" interview of the confab a day earlier.
Kid Rock, one of Trump's most prominent celebrity supporters, had arranged the dinner. The trio was also joined by Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO Dana White.
The HBO "Real Time" host has been a vocal critic of Trump over the years, dubbing him "everything wrong with a human being stuffed into one man" and saying he was afraid of him "on a very personal level."
Trump has referred in the past to Maher as "Crazy Bill," slamming his TV show as "boring" and saying the comic suffered from "Trump derangement syndrome."
But at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Kid Rock, who was born Bob Ritchie, said, "Everyone was so surprised, so pleasant."
"We talked about things we had in common: ending wokeness, securing the border. The president was asking him what he thought about policy, going on with Iran and Israel and things. It blew my mind," the 54-year-old musician said of Trump's meeting with Maher.
"Nothing happens if people don't break bread together and meet face-to-face," Kid Rock said.
Although Maher has "been one of the president's hardest critics" and is "obviously a very big liberal," the performer said, the dinner "could not have been better."
A Maher representative didn't immediately respond to ITK's request for comment. Ahead of the meeting, the comedian and "Club Random" podcast host had compared the dinner with Trump to then-President Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972.
“I don’t have some sort of complex where I think I can heal America; I can’t,” Maher told NewsNation host Chris Cuomo last week.
Trump wrote in a social media post Monday before the meal that he "didn't like the idea much" of sitting down with Maher, but "thought it would be interesting" and "might be fun."
In his summary of the White House visit, Kid Rock described Trump as "so gracious," showing the group the private residence, the Gettysburg Address and the Lincoln Bedroom.
"Everybody's mind was kind of blown, even the president's, I think, because the president called me late night last night, and everyone was a little suspect about going into this," Kid Rock told the Fox News hosts.
"Even the president kind of alerted to me a little bit like, 'What do you got me doing?' I go, 'Man, we're just trying to show people that even though we've been pretty hard on each other, that when you get face-to-face, maybe we can have a little more civility in this country and try to bring people together," Kid Rock said.
"That was my whole intention," he added.