Well, it finally happened. Larry David had a full-on Curb Your Enthusiasm moment — not on HBO, but in the pages of The New York Times. His target? Not Donald Trump himself, but Bill Maher, for the unpardonable sin of… eating dinner with him.
Sadly, Mr. David has lost his fastball as a comedian. He fell back on the laughable and hackneyed ‘Hitler’ trope that really has no audience in American political culture except among the most unhinged Boomer liberals (why are the biggest left wing lunatics all so old these days?).
That’s right. The guy who once made millions lampooning the neurotic extremes of elite liberal culture has now decided to embody them. His op-ed was less a political argument than a dramatic public excommunication. Why? Because Bill Maher dared to sit at a table with a former president — a Republican one — and didn’t immediately flip it over.
Maher, on the other hand, is still delivering funny content on a weekly basis—some of the best social commentary out there, in fact. I don’t agree with a lot of his political views, but I don’t have to agree to recognize their important place in American culture.
Mr. David’s night wheezes were, more than anything, a warning. A message to any other public figure on the Left who might dare to deviate from the approved script: Break bread with Trump, and we’ll break ties with you.
Mr. David didn’t write that op-ed because Maher’s actions hurt him personally. He wrote it because the Left operates like a mafia — and these days unhinged Boomers like Mr. David feel empowered to play the role of enforcer.
This isn’t about policy. It’s not even about Trump, really. It’s about control.
We’ve seen this game before. In today’s liberal circles, social punishment isn’t meted out for committing crimes. It’s dished out for breaking narrative discipline. You’re allowed to vandalize a Tesla in Minnesota and get a soft-on-crime D.A. to shrug it off. But have a glass of wine with Trump at a nice restaurant? You’ll be hunted like a war criminal by a relatively famous person on the pages of the nation’s supposed paper of record.
Sadly, Larry David has lost his fastball as a comedian. He fell back on the laughable and hackneyed ‘Hitler’ trope that really has no audience in American political culture except among the most unhinged Boomer liberals.
Bill Maher, on the other hand, is still delivering funny content on a weekly basis, some of the best social commentary out there, in fact. I don’t agree with a lot of his political views, but I don’t have to agree to recognize their important place in American culture.
This is how the modern Left maintains orthodoxy. Not through argument. Not through persuasion. But through intimidation and professional threats. Larry David isn’t mad at Bill Maher because he disagrees with him. He’s mad because Maher might give other liberals the courage to think for themselves.
And that’s dangerous.
Think about it: Maher is no conservative. He’s not joining CPAC. He didn’t emerge from dinner in a MAGA hat. He’s just a guy who’s been willing — increasingly, and courageously — to call out the absurdities of woke culture, the failures of the Biden presidency, and the hypocrisy of his own tribe (even as he maintains a healthy dose of anti-Trump commentary as well).
He’s exactly the kind of person today’s left-wing gatekeepers fear most: an interesting, authentic dissenter with a platform. And so Larry David decided to make an example of him.
You’d think a man who built a career writing about social awkwardness might understand the concept of disagreeing without disowning. But today’s Left has little room for that nuance. You’re either all in or you are all out. There’s no room to deviate from the daily missal.
Let’s be honest: Trump Derangement Syndrome long ago mutated into a broader pathology — the belief that mere civility toward Republicans is an act of treason. The dinner table has become the new front line of the culture war. And the Left is obsessed with policing who sits where.
Of course, the irony here is rich. For years, we were told that Trump was the authoritarian. The strongman. The threat to democratic norms. But who’s really running the loyalty tests now? Who’s publishing angry, unhinged manifestos in The New York Times because someone shared a meal with the duly elected president of the United States?
It isn’t conservatives trying to cancel friendships. It isn’t Republicans demanding total conformity. It’s elite liberals, panicked that their carefully curated worldview is losing its grip on reality.
And they have reason to be afraid.
The more ordinary Americans tune out the media hysteria and tune into their lived experiences when it comes to dealing with liberal culture, the more they realize Trump might not have been the monster he was painted to be.
Bill Maher dared to sit at a table with a former president – a Republican one – and didn’t immediately flip it over. (Pictured: Bill Maher has dinner in the White House with President Donald Trump, Kid Rock and Dana White on March 31, 2025.)
So when someone like Bill Maher dares to say, ‘Maybe we should actually talk to this guy,’ the control freaks on the Left don’t just clutch their pearls. They circle the wagons. Because if one public figure gets away with it, others might too. And then what? Open debate? Social tolerance? Bipartisanship?
Curb your Enthusiasm has become Shut the F— Up…or Else!
In the end, Larry David’s op-ed wasn’t a sign of moral clarity. It was a flashing neon sign of cultural insecurity. The gatekeepers are losing control, and their tantrums are getting louder. But here’s the good news: Outside the Acela corridor and the coastal cocktail parties, normal people saw Bill Maher have dinner with Trump and thought… so what?
That’s the future the Left fears most: a country where grown adults can eat dinner together, disagree respectfully, and go home without issuing a press release.
Sorry, Larry. That’s not treason. That’s just being American.
