Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s interview with the New York Times and the various issues it has raised.
On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert kicked off by talking about OJ Simpson getting parole and showing a picture of the disgraced NFL player posing with Trump.
“That was back in 1993, when it was still a coin toss over which one would be president and which one would end up in jail,” he said.
Colbert discussed Trump’s recent New York Times interview, which coincided with Trump’s six-month anniversary as president. “I’m not sure what you give after six months, but I know that I’m taking Xanax,” Colbert said.
One of the stories Trump tells in the piece involves sitting next to Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s wife, Akie, at a dinner. He claimed she didn’t speak any English but footage has since surfaced of her giving a speech in English. “Sir, I think she was faking it,” he said.
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah started by joking: “Donald Trump’s presidency hasn’t been going great lately, and by lately, I mean ever.”
He spoke about the New York Times interview, which was aimed at shedding more light on how Trump thinks. “Who needs more light shed on Trump’s mindset?” he said. “His Twitter is basically a 1,000-watt lightbulb on his mindset, and someone is like: ‘I just need a little more light to get a picture.’”
Trump also spoke about how the French president, Emmanuel Macron, enjoyed holding his hand. “Macron wasn’t holding your hands because he liked it, he was just trying to keep them off his wife,” Noah said.
While discussing the president’s latest problematic behaviour, he said: “Trump puts the fun in fundamentally unfit to be a president.”
Trump spoke of his disappointment at Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation, which the president described as unfair to him. “Donald Trump sees the presidency the same way he sees one of his companies. Its whole purpose is to serve him and only him,” he said.
The statements made in the article led Noah to herald him as “the most honest and most dishonest president of all time”.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host spoke about Trump’s obsession with loyalty. “He talks about loyalty so much, I’m frankly surprised he didn’t fill his cabinet with golden retrievers,” he said.
Trump’s decision to throw Sessions under the bus led Meyers to question how loyal Trump is himself. “This whole thing should be a cautionary tale for Republicans deciding whether to stand with Trump on issues like healthcare or Russia, because while Trump may demand loyalty for himself, he very rarely returns it,” he said.
He also spoke about Trump’s claim that Macron loves holding his hand so much. “There’s probably nothing softer on earth than Trump’s hand,” he said. “He’s never done a day of hard work in his life. It must feel like a little mink bag full of Jell-O.”
Meyers also played footage of Chris Christie getting booed after catching a foul ball at a Mets game. “Usually the only way to get booed at a Mets game is to be the Mets,” he said.
Describing Trump talking about the Russia investigation, Meyers joked: “Dude, you sound so guilty. If you were on Law & Order, that episode would last 30 seconds.”
