‘Bernie Sanders agrees with it all’: Bill Maher says Trump is more ‘socialist’ than Democrats over the government’s stake in Intel and Nvidia deals

Bill Maher said President Donald Trump is embracing “socialism” more openly than Democrats, pointing to the federal government’s financial stakes in private companies, according to Mediaite. He made the comment on the Friday’s episode of his HBO show Real Time.

Maher argued that the right has long accused the left of pushing socialist or communist policies, but said Trump’s own actions now fit that description. He pointed to the government’s 9.9% stake in Intel, a 15% cut from Nvidia’s chip sales to China, and a “golden share” in the merged Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel company.

Maher then connected Trump’s approach to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a longtime advocate for democratic socialism. “And you know this is socialism, I think, because Bernie Sanders agrees with it all. He wants to do it with the AI companies,” Maher said.

Panel guests raised concerns about crony capitalism and government influence over private firms

Guest Tara Palmeri said in the interview that the free market is “dead,” pointing out that the government now holds stakes in about 30 companies. She noted that Intel had been struggling due to competition from Nvidia before the government took its 9.9% stake.

Palmeri also pointed out that after the Intel investment, Trump bought stock in Nvidia, which she said rose 200%. She said this meant Trump personally profited from a stock his own government had helped support, calling it “crony capitalism.” Such financial entanglements raise questions about conflicts of interest, a concern that doesn’t stop at stock trades, as fraud charges against a billionaire were recently dropped. 

The White House has denied any conflict of interest, with a spokesperson saying Trump “only acts in the best interests of the American public.”

Maher agreed with Palmeri’s crony capitalism description. Libertarian commentator Matt Welch also joined the discussion and used a stronger term, calling the administration’s conduct “thuggish.”

Welch referred to comments Trump made suggesting Intel’s CEO should be fired because he might be a “Chinese spy.” Welch said this led to an emergency meeting at the White House, which ended with the government securing a stake in the company. This pattern of government involvement in private enterprise has drawn comparisons to other controversial deals, such as when Trump was gifted a $300 million Miami waterfront property for his library. 

Welch described the sequence of events as unprecedented, saying, “We have never seen anything like this in modern times.” He argued that a president singling out a major company’s CEO and pressuring a stock deal in this way marks a break from typical government behavior toward private business.

The discussion took place on Maher’s weekly HBO program, which regularly features political commentary and panel debates from guests across the ideological spectrum. Maher has previously criticized both Democrats and Republicans on various policy issues during segments on the show.