The Press has been in a death
spiral that the president participates in. It hurts both of them. The questions
are often combative and “gotcha.” His response at times is beneath
what he should be doing. I’ve said to him any number of times that his
press briefings should be much shorter .... he should leave it to his team. I
don’t think it helps the president in the long run to be in a hand-to-hand
combat with any member of the media. Also, the media has some measure of
responsibility as well for some of the things that they do. So, unfortunately,
I think they’re both hurting the situation here. The president should be
shorter, and the media should stick to topics that are direct and that the
people want to know the answers to.
I have to agree with Christie. The press does try to catch Trump up, partly
because of his reactions. And because it’s
so easy to do because Trump just invents things.
Stephen Colbert. (Some of
this is said for laughs): It is clear
that Trump is over his head. And I am not the only one who feels that way.
Evidently so does Donald Trump because at the beginning of the spread of the coronavirus
President Trump reportedly felt shell-shocked and deflated. One reporter
described him as “subdued” and “baffled” by how the crisis had played out. And
for weeks he did nothing even though Axios counted 10 times Trump and his
administration were warned about coronavirus. Not to mention CNN's sounding the
alarm twenty-four hours a day. It’s the classic children’s story “The Boy Who
Cried Wolf.”
Right now Trump is talking about ending the stay-at-home order by May 1. He says he’s not sure what he is going to do. On Friday a reporter asked Trump how he is going to make this difficult decision. [Trump pointed to his head and said] “The metrics are right here.”
Colbert continues: Here’s the point: Reopening the country is not up to Trump. Because from the very beginning Trump has left all the hard decisions in fighting coronavirus to the individual states. Even on Friday he was boasting on his buck-passing. “I like to allow governors to make decisions without overruling them. Because from a constitutional standpoint that’s the way it should be done.”
Right now a lot of governors are coordinating when to lift quarantines. But Trump wants to be the only hero who opens things back up.
Colbert: 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 to spell words right, and you can’t do either.
The
Late Show with Stephen Colbert
04/13/2020
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