Stephen Colbert slams Trump's 'propaganda' coronavirus press briefing, says he 'used it to brag about himself'
Stephen Colbert slammed President Donald Trump on his late-night talk show, 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert', on Tuesday night (April 14). He began saying, "I like the give and take. I like the energy,” referring to him hosting his show from the safe confines of his house while in quarantine. “But you know who really, really misses having an audience?” he asked further. “Donald Trump.”
Talking about Donald Trump's press briefing from Monday, April 13 that clocked hours, he said, "Trump has turned the coronavirus press briefings at the White House every day into little rallies, where he rambles incoherently and attacks the press. And yesterday, he outdid himself with a hissy-fit meltdown that clocked in at a generalissimo-mas-grande of two hours and 24 minutes,”
President Trump had played a video of his coronavirus success to the assembled press during the briefing, footage of which was part of the episode. "OK, first of all, it’s ridiculous that the president of the United States used a press briefing on a global pandemic to subject a worried nation to a propaganda video. And second, your propaganda sucks. All-caps black letters on a white background? Helvetica? Are you boasting about your accomplishments or offering to teach us guitar?” said Colbert.
"The only purpose of the press briefing is to give valuable information to a confused public in the middle of a national crisis. So, of course, Trump used it to brag about himself," he added.
He also called Trump out for yelling at CBS correspondent Paula Reid who grilled him for omitting the month of February from his response timeline of the coronavirus crisis. In response, Trump had mentioned "A Lot. A lot and in fact, we will give you a list. What we did, a part of it was up there (referring to the video) we did a lot. Look, you know you are a fake. Your whole network, the way you cover it"
Colbert then mentioned that staying true to his word, "Trump did have a list of what he did to fight the coronavirus in February and in a Late Show exclusive I've got it right here."
"Anyway, I’m sorry, you were yelling at a woman? I know that’s kind of your thing, but it doesn’t mean she’s wrong. You see, Mr. President, you can lie all you want, but what you’re lying about happened less than two months ago. We were all here, and we have something called cameras and they recorded you saying this.” mentioned Colbert regarding his response to Paula Reid.
Colbert then cut to a montage of Trump repeatedly quashing the severity of the crisis at hand throughout the month of February before saying, “We remember that! We’re not goldfish. You know how I know? Goldfish can still go to schools.”
Audiences tuned in to the show mighty impressed with the goldfish joke. "@StephenAtHome the goldfish/school joke was a solid one. I had to pause the show due to laughter. Thanks for that," wrote a viewer on Twitter.
While viewers may have been divided over Colbert's views on Donald Trump, there is one fact that most of them agree to and that is he is looking very "hot" in his 'at home' episodes.
"Gasp... @StephenAtHome in a black button up TWO night's in a row??? I don't know if my heart can handle this. (Yes... I know I have a problem. I'm so not ashamed of it. #ManCrushMonday #IKnowItsNotMonday" wrote a very evidently floored, fan.
"stephen colbert is on and i yelled out that he’s hot and my said “WHAT” and now i’m in trouble," wrote another viewer.
"I’m seriously finding that @StephenAtHome is SUPER-hotttt doing his show from home. Sexy AF without a tie," wrote another viewer.
'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' airs weeknights on CBS.