Bill Maher made a grim prediction about President Donald Trump‘s White House ballroom after the POTUS demolished the East Wing.
On the Friday, October 24 episode of Real Time With Bill Maher, the late-night lhost, 69, spoke with former RNC chairman Michael Steele about the major renovations happening in Washington, D.C.
Maher pointed out the “symbolism” of Trump’s White House decision, revealing what “bothers” him about the demolition of the East Wing and the construction of a 90,000-square-foot, $300 million ballroom.
“The symbolism is he’s not leaving,” he forecasted of Trump potentially seeking a third term as president, going against the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “Who puts in a giant ballroom if you’re leaving?”
Meanwhile, Steele weighed in on the White House situation, declaring, “We watched this week the destruction of a symbol of this government. Of our democracy, of our pluralistic society.”
However, Maher didn’t necessarily agree with that sentiment, replying, “You’re talking about the White House? Oh, it’s a building, Mike.”
To that, Steele pointed out, “OK, Bill, it’s a building maybe to you, but to a lot of Americans it’s not.”
The MSNBC political analyst explained, “I’m going to tell you as a young kid growing up in D.C., when my daddy took me by ‘that building,’ it meant something to me as a 10-year-old. It meant something to me to grow up in a town where everybody in this country came and protested, and cried, and screamed, and laughed. And I was a part of that. So that building, to me, was my childhood.”
Maher agreed with Steele that Trump tore down the East Wing “without accountability” and that he “should have gotten the permits.” He also pointed out, of Trump, “That’s how he does things.” To wrap up the topic, Maher then reiterated, “It is just a building.”
Real Time With Bill Maher, Fridays, 10/9c, HBO