Bill Maher suggested on his podcast that the ex-conservatives who host shows on MSNBC have been swayed to a form of Trump-hating liberalism thanks to their large paychecks.

Maher had former Representative Matt Gaetz on his ‘Club Random’ podcast this past Sunday, and the two eventually talked about ex-GOP congressman Joe Scarborough, one of the most high-profile former conservatives on the liberal network.

‘I like Joe,’ Maher began. ‘My problem with people who take media jobs is that…they start out as the “conservative.” Of course, on MSNBC, you can only be so conservative.’

Then motioning at Gaetz, who was a staunch ally of Donald Trump while he was in Congress, Maher said, ‘They don’t really have your type.’

Other MSNBC hosts who fit this unique mold according to Maher are Nicolle Wallace, once the White House Communications Director for George W. Bush, and Michael Steele, who was the Chair of the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011.

‘These people…they hate Trump,’ Maher said. ‘It’s the “anybody but Trump” conservatives.’

‘I’m an “anybody but Trump” guy, too, but, like, it doesn’t represent the country or the party, so it’s bulls***,’ he continued. ‘The longer they’re there, and the more time they see ‘MSNBC’ on the paycheck, the more they become not just anti-Trump, but now they’re just totally in league with [Democrats].’

‘I don’t want people to become more conservative generally, but when it looks to me like the paycheck is dictating your politics, I do have a problem with it,’ Maher said.

Bill Maher suggested that Trump-hating former conservatives on MSNBC have their political loyalties defined by their paycheck

Former Representative Matt Gaetz, who appeared on Maher’s podcast Club Random, added that MSNBC hosts are ‘enslaved by their audience’

Gaetz, who’s now become an anchor at One America News Network after his bid to be Attorney General failed, said MSNBC hosts are ‘enslaved by their audience.’

When Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, his wife and cohost on ‘Morning Joe’, went against their viewers by going to visit Trump at Mar-a-Lago after he won the election, they paid a big price.

For months, MSNBC’s ratings have suffered after the stunt by Scarborough and Brzezinski, who said they met with Trump to ‘restart communications.’

Maher, like many other liberal commentators, once again took the opportunity to slam the on-air couple, arguing the optics of the meeting were bad given how close it was to Trump’s victory.

Gaetz later claimed there has been a political ‘realignment,’ implying that Democrats are the ‘pro-war party,’ and the ‘pro-free trade party,’ while Republicans have taken the mantle of being pro-free speech.

‘Who’s the “stick-up-their-a**” party? That’s the biggest one in my world,’ Maher said.

‘The stuff that used to get laughs was because it was the moral majority doing it, stick-up-their-a** stuff,’ Maher added, mentioning Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, both ultra-conservative televangelists who were deeply involved in Republican politics throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

‘And then who became the stick-up-their-a– people? The left,’ Maher said.

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Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, the married cohosts of ‘Morning Joe’, suffered severe blowback after they met with Donald Trump following his election victory in November

Maher said Nicolle Wallace and Michael Steele are examples of ex-conservatives who made the transition to MSNBC. Wallace was President George W. Bush’s communications director, while Steele chaired the Republican National Committee from 2009 to 2011

Watch Matt Gaetz’s awkward ‘customer appreciation’ explanation

Gaetz later expanded on this so-called realignment, telling Maher he had some strange bedfellows while he was in Congress.

‘Right now, there are times I see the political landscape where I have more in common with the populist leftists than I do the centrists in my own party,’ Gaetz said. ‘

On the matter of government surveillance, I team up with Ilhan Omar more than I team up with the Republicans on the Intelligence Committee.’

During the hour-long podcast, Maher also grilled Gaetz on the sexual misconduct allegations that ultimately derailed his opportunity to lead the Department of Justice, a role that has Trump has since bestowed on former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The part that drew most attention involved a text message that reportedly referred to Gaetz and his ‘wingman’ during what was described as a ‘customer appreciation week.’

The text, allegedly from a woman associated with Gaetz, claimed that ‘the guys are a little short this week’ and implied some sort of payment was expected.

Maher, never one to shy away from uncomfortable questions, pressed Gaetz for an explanation.

‘Were there coupons involved?’ Maher asked.

Gaetz’s response was a firm denial of being directly involved, claiming, ‘This is a text message I neither sent nor received. Another person is sending this message, presumably about me, to tell other women that they shouldn’t ask for money.’

Gaetz went on to argue that the text was taken out of context and framed to make him look guilty.