Late-night hosts discussed relations between the US and Russia following the fallout over Donald Trump’s much-criticized press conference with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Stephen Colbert
On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert referred to the US-Russia summit as “Helsinki Helsucking” before joking that “Putin was playing chess while Trump was eating his own checkers”.
News emerged yesterday that the president wanted to invite Putin to the White House in the fall, an idea that’s been widely condemned. In character as Trump, Colbert joked: “I want Putin for a sushi dinner, I want Cosby for the slumber party, Harvey Weinstein for movie night and security will be handled by MS-13.”
He continued: “We know Trump is in Putin’s pocket but the reason remains, why? There are two possible answers: either Putin has something on him or he’s an idiot, and there’s plenty of proof on both sides. He does everything Putin asks for, but on the other hand, he can’t spell, he confused HIV with HPV and he doesn’t understand why we fought the civil war.”
Trevor Noah
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah took time to dissect the story of Maria Butina, the alleged Russian agent who is being charged with spying for the Kremlin.
“It’s no surprise that Russians send spies to the US,” Noah said. “I mean, a spying Russian is as normal as a white person calling the cops on their shadow.”
TONIGHT: Russian spies used to respect us enough to keep their cover, but Maria Butina wasn’t even trying. pic.twitter.com/7adS9Gt8gk
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) July 20, 2018
Noah also invited correspondent Michael Kosta to discuss the story and he expressed frustration over how she used social media and appeared in a GQ photoshoot rather than remaining as covert as old-fashioned movie spies.
“Maria Butina put less effort into her mission than I put into my first marriage,” he said. “These Russians aren’t even trying any more.”
Seth Meyers
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host stated: “Russia isn’t just an adversary, it’s a repressive state that interferes in our elections, kills journalists and dissidents, uses nerve gas on foreign soil and invades its neighbors.”
Meyers played footage from Trump’s interview on Fox News with Tucker Carlson as the two discussed Montenegro. “There’s a zero chance Trump heard of Montenegro before his meeting with Putin,” Meyers said.
He also expressed frustration with Republicans refusing to do anything about Trump’s increasingly dangerous behavior.
“This is one of the keys to understanding what’s happening right now,” he said. “The GOP establishment and donor class are fine with Trump’s attacks on democracy as long as they can enrich themselves. They’re hostile to democracy because democracy is hostile to their agenda.”
Jimmy Fallon
On The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon also spoke about the president’s proposed second meeting with Putin. “Trump said there are some things he didn’t get around to screwing up in the first one,” he joked.
He continued:“Some lawmakers want the translator from Trump and Putin’s meeting to tell Congress what was said behind closed doors, though it turns out the translator was just Don Jr with a copy of Rosetta Stone.”
