Bill Maher bins outrage over Trump's Pearl Harbor joke: 'If Shane Gillis said it, you’d laugh'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: On the latest episode of 'Real Time with Bill Maher' that premiered on Friday, March 20, host Bill Maher delivered a blistering monologue packed with jokes about gas prices, the economy, and Donald Trump but it was his take on Trump’s controversial Pearl Harbor remark that stood out.

While acknowledging the comment crossed a line, Maher argued the outrage surrounding it says more about who told the joke than the joke itself.

Bill Maher defends Trump's joke

After a string of rapid-fire jokes ranging from rising fuel costs to a satirical 'Trump gold coin' , Maher turned to Trump’s recent Oval Office moment with Japan’s prime minister.

Recounting the remark, Maher said “He was in the Oval Office and he said, ‘We didn’t tell anybody because we wanted it to be a surprise. Who knows better about a surprise attack than Japan?’”

Maher didn’t defend the appropriateness of the line. In fact, he admitted “Is it right to say that? No.”

But he immediately questioned the reaction to it, saying, “But if Shane Gillis said it, you’d laugh.”

Bill Maher suggested that the audiences are reacting less to the structure of the joke and more to the identity of the person delivering it.

Bill Maher takes a dig at Trump's economic claims

Maher’s commentary didn’t come from a place of support for Trump overall. He simply binned the outrage, deeming it focused on circumstances more than content of the statement Trump made.

Throughout the segment, Maher mocked the president repeatedly taking aim at everything from economic claims to novelty merchandise.

“You can now get a $1 Trump gold coin. They're minting a gold coin with Trump's face on it. Now, federal law strictly prohibits putting living presidents on currency. This is, it's not controversial, but Trump found a legal loophole. So they're doing it. And it's going to be a Trump coin. Now you can have Trump in your pocket, like Saudi Arabia”, said Bill Maher.

He also joked about inflation and gas prices climbing rapidly saying “A month ago it was $2.93, now it’s almost exactly a dollar higher.”

Even the war effort didn’t escape scrutiny, with Maher quipping: “The Pentagon said this week they need $200 billion to fight this war. What happened to the trillion we give them every year? What’s that, just couch money?”

“And now this is a bad word to me that I hear, but the Marines are going there. Hmm, Marines. I don't know. That was my red line. No boots on the ground. No tanks, unless you count the stock market”, said Maher.