Political commentator Bill Maher expressed astonishment during his recent podcast when Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, refused to acknowledge his verbal attack on a female journalist aboard Air Force One.
Heated Exchange Over Trump's Insult
The controversy stems from an incident that occurred on November 14 when Donald Trump was speaking with reporters aboard Air Force One. Bloomberg White House correspondent Catherine Lucey questioned the former president about the Epstein files connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump responded by pointing his finger at Lucey and stating: "Quiet, quiet, piggy." The remark sparked immediate backlash and became the focal point of Maher's discussion with Lara Trump during Monday's episode of his "Club Random" podcast.
Maher argued that Trump's inflammatory remarks like the "piggy" insult make it more challenging to bridge political divides, particularly as he was writing an editorial about how liberals and conservatives can come together during holiday family gatherings despite opposing political beliefs.
Denial and Deflection
When Maher referenced the incident, Lara Trump immediately questioned its validity. "Do we know that happened?" she fired back. Maher responded with exasperation: "I saw it on tape! A thousand [times]."
Lara Trump then attempted to suggest Trump might have said "McGee" instead of "piggy," laughing off Maher's concerns despite widespread documentation of the incident. As co-chair of the Republican National Committee, she then tried to underplay Trump's pattern of attacking the press by claiming he is "an equal opportunity offender."
Maher emphasized the difficulty such comments create for his mission of political reconciliation. "Here I am working on this editorial for Friday all about how it's mostly liberals who have to get over yourselves, eat with your families, even the ones who are Trump voters," he explained. "It just makes my job more difficult ... when he says to a woman 'piggy.'"
White House Defense and Aftermath
The White House has defended Trump's verbal abuse aimed at Lucey while simultaneously criticizing the reporter. An official statement claimed: "This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way toward her colleagues on the plane. If you're going to give it, you have to be able to take."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered a surprising justification, arguing that journalists should be thankful to have a "frank" and "honest" president like Trump who hurls insults directly to their faces. She contrasted this approach with what she characterized as deception from the Biden administration.
Leavitt further blamed "fake news" reporters for provoking the president's frustration, stating: "He calls out fake news when he sees it. He gets frustrated with reporters when you lie about him, when you spread fake news about him and his administration."
Despite the controversy, Lara Trump maintained that while "Donald Trump is not perfect," he "does a lot of things that I think are great." She concluded that "overall you got to take some of the good with the bad," effectively dismissing concerns about the insulting remark toward the female journalist.
