Bill Maher grills DeSantis on path to defeat Trump: If things were going well, 'you wouldn't be on this show'

HBO's Bill Maher and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had a combative exchange in the first "Real Time" installment since its lengthy hiatus due to the writers strike.

"Yeah," DeSantis said. Joseph A. Wulfsohn is a media reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to joseph.wulfsohn@fox.com and on Twitter: @JosephWulfsohn.

"You could run for the next 20 years. If you were Biden, the next 40," Maher quipped. "Why run against Trump? You're trying to thread this needle that will never happen. You can't disavow him because that's the base, and yet you're running against him. And that's why, I mean, let's face it Ron, if the campaign was going well, you wouldn't be on this show."

"Oh that's not true," DeSantis reacted. "One: I don't think he can win the election. I could win the election. Two: I don't think he could actually get the job done that we need to do, For example, COVID. I think we need accountability for what this government did to this country with the COVID restrictions mandates and lockdowns. Donald Trump is not gonna do that… He's not going to clean house at CDC, NIH, FDA. I will do that. I will get the job done."