Bill Maher clashes with liberal actor over Trump, immigration policy

Bill Maher and liberal actor John Leguizamo clashed over their perceptions of President Donald Trump and the country’s immigration system on Maher’s latest “Club Random” podcast episode.

Leguizamo blasted top Trump official Stephen Miller as a racist and architect of Trump’s mass deportation policy, but Maher retorted that the last administration bore blame.

“Part of this is a backlash to how badly Biden handled the immigration situation. It can’t just be like ‘Come one, come all,’” Maher said.

“There’s plenty of room here,” Leguizamo told a skeptical Maher. “There’s plenty of room in America, come on. There’s no lack of room in America.”

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“It’s never about room. It’s about resources … Countries have to have a border,” Maher said. “I mean, they’ve done surveys and something like 200 million people around the world when asked, ‘Would you come to America if you could?’ ‘Yes, I would.’ Why wouldn’t they? Lots of countries, excuse me, are s–tholes, and they would love to be here.”

Trump was fiercely criticized by the left during his first term when he used that disparaging term for countries like Haiti and El Salvador.

“The places aren’t s–tholes,” Leguizamo replied to Maher. 

“Well, they are,” Maher said. “That’s why they want to come.” 

Leguizamo, an outspoken liberal activist, claimed that issues in Latin American countries were often because of actions taken by the United States.

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Leguizamo also recounted meeting Trump before he entered politics and claimed Trump had once called him “so articulate,” which he took as a racist slight against Latinos to suggest they generally weren’t. He added he found Trump “so meek,” which surprised him.

“I wouldn’t call it meek,” Maher said. “What I would call it is knowing how to make everybody – it’s ironic because he’s known as the greatest egomaniac, and he is quite an egomaniac – and you’re interested in what they’re saying. He’s good at that.”

Maher met with Trump at the White House earlier this year and recounted that the president was “gracious and measured,” although Maher said he wouldn’t pull his punches in criticizing Trump going forward.

Leguizamo countered that Trump was “obsequious,” and Maher conceded that Trump’s alleged remarks about the actor being articulate were “just obnoxious.”

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Maher added that Trump, who turned 79 last month, was also not a racist but rather a “product of his time,” to which Leguizamo shot back, “Some of us overcome our times.”

“That is true and fair to say,” Maher said.

Leguizamo hosts an MSNBC program, “Leguizamo Does America,” where he travels to different Latino communities across the country in an effort to spotlight their culture.