Trump Says White House Dinner With Bill Maher, Stephen A. Smith and Kid Rock ‘Was Great’; Kid Rock Calls It ‘Epic’

President Donald Trump hosted comedian Bill Maher, ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith and musician Kid Rock for dinner at the White House on Thursday night, and he told reporters the next day that the dinner “was great.”

Trump described the evening as he left the White House on Friday, according to Fox News Digital, which cited C-SPAN.

WHAT TRUMP SAID ABOUT THE WHITE HOUSE DINNER

“The dinner last night with Kid Rock and Stephen A. [Smith] and Bill Maher was great,” Trump told reporters. “I think they had a good time.”

President Trump, speaking to reporters Friday, as reported by Fox News Digital. Background: official White House photo of a rainbow over the North Portico, May 11, 2024 (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).

The president did not say exactly what the four men discussed, but he said, “We talked about everything. It lasted a long time,” according to Fox News Digital.

He also said the guests got a look at a project still under construction. “And I actually liked them,” Trump said. “We had a great time. We even took a little tour of the ballroom. We took a — we went inside the ballroom with beams that are being put up over our heads. But it was a great dinner. It was a very informative dinner. Smart people. Stephen A. is great.”

Trump saved a line for Maher, one of his frequent critics. “Bill Maher, I tell you what, he likes me a lot more than people understand,” he said. “And I absolutely like him. It was a good dinner.”

KID ROCK: ‘IT WAS EPIC’

Kid Rock gave his own account Friday morning on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

“Last night, I’m having dinner at the White House with the president, Bill Maher and Stephen A. Smith. We all agreed socialism and communism has no place to have a foothold in our government,” he said.

Asked how the dinner went, he answered: “It was epic.” He added, “And the thing that was the greatest, there’s so many points, I could do an hour on it, is that, you know, two Democrats, two Republicans sit down, break bread, have laughs, talk about, have tough conversations on a lot of the issues.”

According to Kid Rock, the topics ran from “socialism and communism to the war in Iran,” and Maher talked about “getting our interpreters and things from Afghanistan that helped us out.” He said Smith “was very much engaged in talking about unemployment with Black women and the funding of HBCUs,” the historically Black colleges and universities.

Smith had not given his own account of the dinner in the reports TDFP reviewed. OutKick reported that Smith said he would talk about the dinner on his podcast Friday night.

A SECOND HELPING FOR MAHER

It was not Maher’s first dinner with the president. Maher and Kid Rock had dinner with Trump at the White House in April 2025, along with UFC CEO Dana White, Fox News Digital reported.

Before this week’s dinner, Maher told agent Ari Emanuel on his “Club Random” podcast, “I’m having dinner with him again next week.” He said Trump had reached out “out of the blue” with “Let’s have dinner again,” and added, “And I was like, ‘Great.’ And he was really nice.”

After the 2025 dinner, Maher told his audience, “You can hate me for it, but I’m not a liar. Trump was gracious and measured,” according to Fox News Digital.

That has not stopped Maher from criticizing the president. In June, he mocked Trump’s Iran agreement on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” saying, “We got everything we wanted except for everything we asked for,” Fox reported.

Sources: Fox News Digital (Oct. 16 and Oct. 17, 2026), including Trump’s remarks to reporters as carried by C-SPAN and Kid Rock’s remarks on “Fox & Friends”; OutKick (Oct. 16, 2026). Cover: White House north facade (public domain). In-post background: official White House photo (public domain).