Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Bill Maher, Cheryl Hines Rail Against Democrats Over ‘How Mean’ They Are

Screenshot/YouTube/ Club Random Podcast

Actress Cheryl Hines and comedian Bill Maher criticized the Democratic Party for becoming increasingly “mean” on “Club Random” Monday.

Hines is married to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and emotionally told Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson on “The Tucker Carlson Show” in October that his 2024 presidential campaign caused division with her coworkers. The actress said on Maher’s podcast that Republicans were friendly to her throughout Kennedy’s campaign, but Democrats were not.

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“The Republicans have been very kind to me from the beginning. Even from the beginning, when Bobby was running as a Democrat, they weren’t mean,” Hines said. “And they never have been. And I can’t say that for the Democrats.”

“I agree. And it’s sad because it’s not the Democrats we grew up with. And that’s the difference that people don’t, I think, see. They’re like, ‘Why did you turn on the Democrats?’ Well, first of all, I didn’t. Like I said, we voted for the same person,” Maher replied. “But I’m not going to pretend I don’t notice how different they are. How mean they’ve become.”

Hines added that she believes Democrats have become “very mean.”

Maher attacked the left on “Real Time with Bill Maher” in September 2024 for treating Hines like an enemy for not denouncing her husband — despite making clear her disagreements with Kennedy.

Kennedy launched his Democratic presidential bid in April 2023, but he announced in October of that year that he would run as an independent. Hines told Carlson that his campaign slightly overlapped with her work on the final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

“It was hard ’cause it made me sad. Because I had been working on this show for a long time, and it was always pure joy,” she said. “And I mean, even when the vaccines of it all were introduced, there started to be an element that made its way into conversations at work that, up until that moment, had … only been pure joy.”

Moreover, Maher condemned the left-wing criticism he received for attending a March dinner at the White House with President Donald Trump on a July episode of his podcast.

“The stupidest thing the left does — and this dinner is a perfect example of it — is having this attitude toward the right that: ‘We won’t even break bread with you. We are so far above you that we won’t even sit down at the same table with you!’ That is their attitude — and that makes me sick too!” he said.

In contrast, Maher praised people on the political right for their willingness to speak with those who do not share their views during a “Club Random” episode shortly after the Sept. 10 assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

“The right-wingers, say what you want about them, but they talk to you … Charlie Kirk and I certainly don’t agree on much politically. But he sat here, he’s a human being, he’s not a monster … I liked him. I like them all,” he said. “They’re all nice people when you meet them in person. And nobody’s as crazy as they make them out to be.”