Since Stephen Colbert taped his show before President Trump’s big primetime address on Tuesday, tonight marked his first chance to comment on it. And he had a lot to say.
“If Trump seemed a little too on script last night, don’t you worry, because today’s he released the full director’s cut at an impromptu yell-at-the-press event,” the Late Show host told viewers during his monologue on Wednesday night. “And he made it clear how he felt about his government shutdown.”
“This is not a fight I wanted,” President Donald Trump insisted earlier in the day after making his plea for a $5.7 billion border wall the night before. “I didn’t want this fight.”
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“You didn’t want this?” Colbert asked in disbelief. “Then who’s this guy?”
From there, Colbert cut to the clip of Trump telling Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer less than a month ago that he would be “proud to shut down the government for border security.” The president assured Schumer that he would not blame Democrats, adding, “I will take the mantle.”
“Mr. President, that guy is making you look terrible,” the host joked. “You’ve got to get him out of the White House right away.”
Colbert went on to mock Trump for defending his self-described “medieval solution” to stopping illegal immigration. “You really cannot go wrong with medieval technology,” he said, before playing another clip in which Trump declared he has the “absolute right to do national emergency” if he wants to.
Embodying the president, Colbert added, “Not only can I do national emergency, many say I am national emergency.”
