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“Real Time” host Bill Maher wasn’t bothered by President Donald Trump’s controversial joke to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, saying while it was not entirely appropriate, it was funny.
“[Trump] was in the Oval Office yesterday with the prime minister of Japan, Takaichi. And he was talking about our strike in Iran, and he said, ‘We didn’t tell anybody because we wanted it to be a surprise. Who knows better about a surprise attack than Japan?’” Maher said during Friday’s episode of his HBO show.
“Is it right to say that? No, but if Shane Gillis said it, you’d laugh.”
While meeting with Japan’s PM Takaichi at the White House on Thursday, a reporter asked Trump why the U.S. did not inform its allies of planned strikes on Iran.
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Bill Maher attends the 2026 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on March 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Lionel Hahn/Getty Images)
In response, the president used Japan’s 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor to help justify the administration’s decision-making while sitting beside the leader of the nation responsible for the historic assault.
“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan?” the president said with Takaichi sitting beside him. “Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor? Right?”
Over 2,000 U.S. military personnel were killed in the Japanese bombing on a U.S. Naval station in Pearl Harbor in 1941, which prompted the U.S. to enter World War II.
Maher went on to criticize Trump’s handling of conflict in Iran, pointing to falling stock markets, rising gas prices and increased federal spending demands tied to the war.
President Donald Trump confirmed the U.S. launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. Trump is reportedly considering backing militias in Iran to topple the regime. (The White House via X Account/Anadolu via Getty Images/Contributor/Getty Images)
“The Pentagon said this week they need $200 billion to fight this war. What happened to the trillion we give them every year?” Maher asked. “What’s that, just couch money?”
“A month ago, gas prices, the average in America was $2.93. Here it is a month later, and it’s almost exactly a dollar higher, almost $3.93. Trump said today that would never happen if I was president… He said to an aide today ‘Check the lawn, see if Elon left any of those Teslas.’”
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Maher also joked about Trump’s foreign interests while discussing Trump’s plan to put his face on a commemorative dollar coin, a plan currently in the works at the Treasury Department.
A Semiquincentennial commemorative gold coin design featuring U.S. President Donald Trump, in this undated handout image. (U.S. Mint/Handout via REUTERS )
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“They’re minting a gold coin with Trump’s face on it,” Maher said. “Now, federal law strictly prohibits putting living presidents on currency — it’s not controversial. But Trump found a legal loophole called ‘f— you.'”