Bill Maher open to voting Republican but says party would have to be 'very different'

Comedian Bill Maher said he could see himself voting Republican during an interview on Sunday — but said the party would have to be very different.

During an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria, Maher — a longtime critic of President Donald Trump and supporter of Democrats — said he could "of course" see himself voting Republican but added, "they would have to certainly lose the idea of 'we don’t concede elections.'"

"And my biggest worry is that they feel that the excesses of the left are so great, that they are so anti-common sense. And again, they're not completely wrong about that — that they are so — never met something that was counterintuitive that they didn't embrace. That they just can’t let these people take power and, therefore, even if there has to — if democracy has to be sacrificed for hanging on to power," Maher said. "That's what I worry about."

BILL MAHER SAYS HE CAN'T DENY PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SUCCESS DESPITE ACKNOWLEDGING HE WASN'T 'HIS CHOICE'

Bill Maher at the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted By Radhika Jones held at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 02, 2025, in Beverly Hills, California.  (Christopher Polk/Variety via Getty Images)

Maher wondered after Trump serves out his second term, if the GOP would still embrace the idea of not letting the other side take power.

"Will they still keep that idea that we cannot let these people take power? These people who just do not have any idea of common sense, they want to reinvent everything. They are revolutionaries in a country that is not asking for revolution — they’re just asking for politicians to fix things. That is my biggest concern," the comedian said.

Maher said he hoped for a "return to normalcy" after Trump.

"My hope is that Trump, who will not concede an election, when he is no longer on the ballot — but again, we’re not even sure because he has talked about running for a third term, which is completely impossible constitutionally, not that that seems to bother him — maybe we will return to a sense of normalcy. Maybe JD Vance and Marco Rubio will go back to what we used to have, but I’m not sure of it," he said.

BILL MAHER CLASHES WITH LIBERAL ACTOR OVER TRUMP, IMMIGRATION POLICY

President Donald Trump speaks alongside the FIFA World Cup Winners Trophy in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Washington.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Maher took aim at both sides of the political aisle during the interview and asked, "Why can't either one be normal?"

The comedian said Trump should stop doing the "excesses," telling CNN that the president was right about the border, DEI and getting NATO to pay more.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE

"Real Time" host Bill Maher. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

"He showed that you can close the border," Maher said. "It wasn't something you needed congressional help for. You could just do it, and he did it. He just did it too far. And people don't like to see people tackled at Home Depot and people they know who have been in this country for a long time."