All of late night is laughing at Trump and his iPhones
By Matt Moore
![WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 27: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone via speakerphone with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in the Oval Office of the White House on August 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump announced that the United States and Mexico have reached a preliminary agreement on trade. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 27: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks on the telephone via speakerphone with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto in the Oval Office of the White House on August 27, 2018 in Washington, DC. Trump announced that the United States and Mexico have reached a preliminary agreement on trade. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/9efb1d61d94eeb923e6459f2d2bbfc6822a14b565fdc664548aff71b91570546.jpg)
Late night hosts across the board couldn’t resist poking fun at President Donald Trump following a report that his personal cell phone may be compromised by spies.
There may be no easier target in comedy than incompetence. When incompetence shows itself in the form of elected officials then comedians really take notice. It’s why Donald Trump has such a contentious relationship with late night: they call him out constantly.
Yesterday’s report from The New York Times indicated that President Trump frequently uses his personal iPhone to call friends and associates. Sources indicate that these phone calls are being monitored by Chinese and Russian spies. The Chinese have used the information from Trump’s calls to inform their approach to trade policy.
The president responded in typical fashion by tweeting that the report was fabricated. This was an expected response by a president who refuses to ignore anything that portrays him in a negative light. Which may be why he almost certainly keeps up with how he is discussed on late night shows like The Late Show With Stephen Colbert:
Colbert hammers the incompetency angle on Trump here. He highlights that Trump doesn’t quite grasp what is going on around him. But even if you don’t believe that aspect of the report, it is indefensible that the president continues to use his own phone after being told it is not secure. Colbert points out that Trump needs his iPhone because how else could he tweet??
A story like this has to be covered by everyone both in the news and in comedy. There was no shortage of material apparently. Here’s the jokes from Late Night With Seth Meyers:
First, we have to applaud Meyers for starting off with a Mike Pence joke. The vice president seems to skate by a little too easily under the spotlight on his boss. Then we have yet another shot at Trump’s intelligence and ability to the job as Meyers suggests the president’s calls are made by fruit.
Over on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the favorite topic of Trump’s hypocrisy was used to kick of Kimmel’s take on the story. It’s no secret that you can find a quote from Donald Trump contradicting something else Donald Trump has said or done. Kimmel reminded us all of that last night:
Just like Colbert, Kimmel points out the “Twitter for iPhone” at the bottom of Trump’s tweet. Did nobody at the White House think that maybe a press release would have been the best response to this story? But perhaps the most creative take on the story came from the Late Late Show with James Corden:
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Donald Trump has a lot on his plate right now with everything going on in the country. Hopefully every late night host making fun of him doesn’t prove to be a distraction. But if it is, we can be sure that Russia and China will hear all about it.