It’s Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride, and we’re all trying to hang on.
In the first of three interviews released today, Donald Trump said he invented a common expression, and was immediately shut down by the dictionary; in the second, he told NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt that he was going to fire former-FBI Director James Comey “regardless of recommendation”; and in the third, the president called Stephen Colbert a “filthy… no-talent guy.”
Colbert is many things — a devoted Christian, for one — but “filthy” is rarely one of them. Trump made his remarks to Time on Monday evening, a few days after The Late Show host joked that the only thing the president’s mouth is good for is “being Vladimir Putin’s c*ck holster.” That led to the #FireColbert movement, and Trump saying there’s “nothing funny” about Colbert.
You see a no-talent guy like Colbert. There’s nothing funny about what he says. And what he says is filthy. And you have kids watching. And it only builds up my base. It only helps me, people like him. The guy was dying. By the way they were going to take him off television, then he started attacking me and he started doing better. But his show was dying. I’ve done his show… But when I did his show, which by the way was very highly rated. It was high — highest rating. The highest rating he’s ever had. (Via)
That’s not exactly true. The Late Show‘s series premiere had a better rating than Trump’s episode, which aired in September 2015, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, “Colbert’s Daily Show reunion episode on Tuesday is pacing to be The Late Show‘s highest rated episode in 19 months.” Trump didn’t just attack Colbert, either. He also went after “chained lunatic” Chris Cuomo, who’s a “boiler ready to explode,” and CNN’s Don Lemon, “perhaps the dumbest person is broadcasting.” If anything, Colbert got off easy.
I guess that means he’ll have to try harder.
(Via Time)
