Rachel Maddow’s segment-turned-media frenzy about Donald Trump’s tax returns is over, done and gone… but certainly not forgotten, at least not by “Real Time” host Bill Maher or former Democratic congressman from Massachusetts Barney Frank.
“I’m a big fan of Rachel Maddow — I want her on the air — but you can be a fan of somebody and not like everything they do,” Maher said Friday night on his HBO show.
He went on to say that he understood why MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” tweeted, “BREAKING: We’ve got Trump tax returns. But he said it created hype like a countdown clock to “liberal New Year’s Eve.”
“And then it turned out to be a big Nothing Burger. Worse than a Nothing Burger. It was a Help Trump Burger,” the comedian said, noting that the two-page document from President Trump’s 2005 tax returns showed that he paid $38 million in taxes on earnings of $150 million, which is about 25 percent.
“Which is well within respectable! This is probably the best tax return he’s ever filed… which makes me think this came from Donald Trump!” Maher said, suggesting that “liberals have to be careful these days.”
“He’s actually good at this,” Maher said, referring to Trump. “If we want to win this, we can’t get played. This is getting played.”
“I didn’t like what she did,” Frank interjected. “Her journalistic scoop was, apparently, to say, ‘Oh, thank you.’ I don’t consider that crusading journalism.”
Maddow appeared on “The Tonight Show” Wednesday to discuss her reveal of President Trump’s tax returns, which left some viewers disappointed. “Was there a huge, damning bombshell in these tax returns? No. The bombshell here is that some of his tax returns were made public for the first time when he’s been trying so hard to keep them secret,” Maddow told host Jimmy Fallon.
Watch the “Real Time With Bill Maher” clip about Maddow below:
"Worse than a nothingburger, it was a help-Trumpburger." Watch @BillMaher @sullydish and @BarneyFrank discuss Rachel Maddow's tax scoop: pic.twitter.com/t0R50tatAr
– Real Time (@RealTimers) March 18, 2017