Stephen Colbert calls Trump pathetic for COVID vaccine statment
By Matt Moore
Stephen Colbert is doing everything he can to move forward but former President Donald Trump keeps pulling the Late Show into the past. The latest example came as Colbert responded to President Trump’s attempt to take credit for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Last night on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert’s monologue marked the one-year anniversary since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. The reminder was followed by the good news from President Joe Biden’s address promising that all adults should be eligible to receive the vaccine by May 1.
The path to developing the vaccine was started under President Trump’s administration and the first doses were rolled out prior to President Biden taking office. However, President Biden’s team would later report that its predecessor left behind no plan on how to distribute the vaccine to Americans.
That detail was overlooked in a tweet masked as a statement released by Donald Trump. The former president took credit for the vaccine in a move Colbert called “pathetic” during his monologue.
Stephen Colbert is happy to see Donald Trump excluded from the Presidents Club
Stephen Colbert started the segment by applauding former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama for participating in a public service announcement about the vaccine. If anything, it gave Colbert a reason to dust off his Bush impression after spending years doing Trump’s voice.
Speaking of Trump, he was noticeably absent from the PSA. According to reports, Trump’s refusal to participate in Inauguration Day ceremonies led to his exclusion from the video. It also didn’t help that Trump received the vaccine back in Jan. and did not permit it to be recorded.
Colbert seemed perfectly fine to let Donald Trump sit out the PSA but the Late Show host couldn’t let it slide when the former president released a statement. After reading what amounted to a glorified tweet, Colbert called it “unbelievably sad” and “pathetic.”
The statement wasn’t the most thoughtful way to note a year in which 530,000 Americans have died. But it is very much in line with who Donald Trump is as a person. It’s something that Colbert has tried to forget and move past but there remain certain things that the late night host just can’t ignore.
On Friday, March 12, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will air a special coronavirus anniversary special with Dr. Anthony Fauci as the guest. We’ll have to wait to see how much time Colbert devotes to Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
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