Following a standing ovation, John Kerry sat down with host Bill Maher for the latest edition of Real Time.
The former secretary of state and 2004 presidential candidate joined the comedian to plug his memoir, Every Day Is Extra, and take several shots at President Trump.
In case you (blessedly) missed it, on Thursday night the president took it upon himself to fire off an angry tweet at Kerry—a move that will undoubtedly boost his book sales: “John Kerry had illegal meetings with the very hostile Iranian Regime, which can only serve to undercut our great work to the detriment of the American people. He told them to wait out the Trump Administration! Was he registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act? BAD!”
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When Maher asked Kerry about the tweet, he brushed it off. “He’s the first president that I know of who spends more time reading his Twitter ‘likes’ than his briefing books or the Constitution of the United States,” cracked Kerry.
The secretary of state under Obama defended his meeting with the Iranian president by, oddly enough, pointing to the actions of Henry Kissinger—a war criminal—and his diplomatic meetings. “Henry Kissinger, for forty years, has been traveling to Russia, traveling to China, talks with the leaders. There’s absolutely nothing unusual about it,” he argued, rather unconvincingly.
“The conversation I think he really oughta be worrying about is Paul Manafort with Mueller,” Kerry continued. “It really is giant, and soon you will be hearing him say that’s the worst deal that’s ever been made. When you stop and think about it, it’s gone from the ‘art of the deal’ to the ‘art of the squeal.’ I’ve honestly never seen anything quite like it. The anonymous [New York Times] op-ed, the Woodward book, the chronology of everything that’s been happening. It’s tough, you know…Unfortunately, we have a president, literally, for whom the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth are three different things, and you don’t even know what they are.”
And, to add insult to injury, Kerry said of Trump: “He’s got the maturity of an eight-year-old boy with the insecurity of a teenage girl. That’s just who he is.”
More angry nighttime tweets will surely follow.
