“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert called out President Donald Trump for his attempt to grab power amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump on Monday tweeted that he gets to decide when it’s time to reopen states that have shuttered nonessential businesses to stop the spread of the virus. And, in a press briefing later in the day, Trump falsely declared his “authority is total.”
“It’s total,” he said. “And the governors know that.”
Governors from both parties quickly refuted that.
And Colbert pointed out a hole in the president’s logic: Trump can’t reopen the states because he’s not the one who shut them down in the first place. Governors did.
Trump has repeatedly put the burden of the response onto governors, insisted the federal government “is merely a back-up for state governments” and at one point even called himself a cheerleader.
And Colbert reminded him of all of that in a “Late Show” rant on Monday night:
Sorry, Chester. Reopening the country is not up to you, because you did not have the balls to shut the country down in the first place. You were the one who said you were just a cheerleader. You put yourself on the sidelines. Cheerleaders don’t get a Super Bowl trophy. In fact, they barely get paid. They’re just supposed to look good and spell words right, and you can’t do either!
Check out his full monologue below: