Late-night hosts on Wednesday addressed the Republican party’s continued infighting, Trump’s press conference on the White House lawn, and climate change, the effects of which have been felt widely after a summer of hurricanes and wildfires.
“You never see the crazy old guy yelling on his front lawn until a crowd of people gather together and start taking pictures and yelling questions at him,” Stephen Colbert began. “Well, today, that lawn was 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, because this afternoon grandpa baggy-suit held an impromptu press-yelling next to what sounds like an industrial grain combine.”
“A lot of people have been talking about the fact that three Republican senators – Flake, McCain and Corker – have called Donald Trump unfit for office,” Colbert continued. “Until now, scientists, psychiatrists, human rights activists, world and religious leaders have also said it. But eventually, Republicans did as well. They just found out about Gangnam Style.”
Colbert then addressed Trump’s lunch on Wednesday with Republican senators, after which he sent out three tweets boasting that he was greeted with a standing ovation.
“Don’t you get it? You’re the president,” Colbert responded. “They have to stand up when you walk in the room. That’s like saying my proctologist loves me so much he stuck his finger right up my butt, no co-pay.”
The host then showed footage of Trump’s post-lunch press conference outside the White House, where he “assured everyone that Senator Jeff Flake’s recent comments will not hurt him in Arizona”.
“Trump also addressed the recent reports that he couldn’t remember a fallen soldier’s name,” Colbert said, showing clips of the president insisting that, in his phone call with the widow of La David Johnson, he said the soldier’s name, as he had a sheet in front of him with his name on it. “Trump explained why he was able to remember the name that was written on the chart in front of him.”
On Full Frontal, Samantha Bee used her monologue to discuss the country’s recent string of weather disasters, including Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the wildfires in northern California.
“This week we are taking a break from talking about the president attacking Gold Star families and instead talk about something else: our planet constantly attacking us in every way imaginable,” Bee began, showing news coverage of recent natural disasters.
“Despite all these disasters, climate change is never the top story,” she explained. “I get it, who has time to read a thoughtful Times explainer about hurricanes when you yourself are on fire? But we can’t avoid the subject any longer. 2017 is the first year in recorded history when the US was hit by three category-4 hurricanes. Even a complete idiot can see there’s something unprecedented going on here.”
“So what makes strong hurricanes more and more frequent?” Bee asked. “According to our government the answer is none-of-your-fucking-business-stop-asking-so-many-damn-questions.”
The host then showed a statement from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) secretary, Scott Pruitt, in which he claimed it was “insensitive” to discuss the causes of these disasters, like climate change, while its victims are still suffering.
“Well, if we can’t talk about climate change I guess it’s finally time to have that gun control conversation we’ve been putting off, right?” Bee replied. “Scientists aren’t saying climate changed caused these disasters, but they do think it made them considerably worse. Warmer temperatures raise sea levels, warmer oceans strengthen hurricanes, and warmer air holds more moisture, so when it rains it rains hard. Which is great news for sexy movie posters but bad news for everything else.
“I get it, it’s hard to remember that climate change is slowly destroying the world maybe because it doesn’t have a Twitter account to remind us of our mortality every five minutes,” Bee concluded. “Climate change isn’t some far-off threat in the distant future like Beyoncé ageing. It is upon us.”
Trevor Noah of Comedy Central discussed the several Republican senators who have openly defied Trump.
“A senator in open revolt against a president from his own party,” Noah said. “And not just disagreeing with him: Bob Corker is saying that the president of the United States is incompetent and cannot be trusted in the Oval Office.”
“Corker wasn’t the only GOP senator to speak up yesterday,” Noah continued, showing clips of Jeff Flake’s Tuesday speech on the Senate floor. “What he said in 140 characters, Arizona senator Jeff Flake expanded on old-school style.”
“Right now, the Republican party is not having a good time,” Noah said, adding that senators McCain, Murkowski and Collins, too, have criticized Trump openly. The host then went on to detail Steve Bannon’s response to Flake and Corker’s comments. Bannon reportedly said “another day, another scalp”, regarding their retirements as an opportunity to elect politicians more in line with Trump.
“Bannon wants all Republicans who go against Trump to quit so that he can replace them with Trump loyalists,” Noah said. “In fact, Bannon even said he plans to challenge every single Republican politician except for Ted Cruz. Which is so sad for Ted Cruz. He even gets left out of threats.”