Bill Maher blasted Molly McNearney for severing family ties over political differences regarding Trump, calling it part of a ‘purity test culture’ on the left.

Bill Maher attacked Molly McNearney, the wife of Jimmy Kimmel, after she disclosed that she severed ties with family members who declined to support US President Donald Trump before the 2024 November election.
Bill Maher criticized Molly McNearney for severing family ties over political differences regarding Trump. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Maher ridiculed the notion of putting family demands ahead of politics and denounced the late-night power couple’s strategy as part of a developing “purity test culture” on the left.

The Real Time host, who has long condemned tribalism on all sides of the political spectrum, took offense after McNearney publicly discussed convincing her own family members to turn against Trump before they cast their ballots last year.

“Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics,” Maher stated. “They make them rethink you.”

McNearney opens up about disengagement from family members

Earlier this month, McNearney, co-head writer and executive producer of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, spoke on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast about her dissatisfaction and ultimate disengagement from family members who continue to support Trump.

She stated that she thinks those family members are “deliberately being misinformed every day” and clarified that the situation is made even harder by her husband’s frequent disagreements with Trump.

On the podcast, McNearney stated, “To me, them voting for Trump is them not voting for my husband and me and our family,” admitting that this has caused relationships to fall apart.

She clarified that she made efforts to convince her family members against voting for Trump, dispatching an email that outlined “ten reasons” for them not to support him, and severed ties with those who chose to vote for him.

Bill Maher slams Molly McNearney

Maher capitalized on the detail as he criticised McNearney.

She claims to have lost connections with family members because she sent them an email prior to the election outlining ten reasons why they should not support Trump, yet some still chose to ignore her, Maher remarked.

“Ten reasons? I can think of 100,” Maher joked. “But I would never present it to someone as an ultimatum. Ultimatums don’t make people rethink their politics. They make them rethink you.”

“Write a top ten list to yourself where you try to imagine ten reasons why 77 million Americans didn’t want to trust you with taking power,” Maher stated, adding that he himself votes Democratic.