Stephen Colbert found yet another reason to be disappointed in President Donald Trump. The Late Show host mocked the president over reports that Trump does not read security briefings, leading Colbert to come up with some clever solutions.
Colbert cited reports that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard struggles to get President Trump to read about world events. The Late Show host highlighted reports that Trump doesn't read, a revelation that Colbert called "appalling."
“One CIA analyst said that when he tried to give the president his daily intelligence briefing, Trump did not read it, but he touched it," Colbert said during Tuesday night's monologue. “Touching it doesn’t count! He’s not your Aunt Sarah who’s only at the book club to drink wine," he added. ‘I like the way the letters on the cover bumped out a little bit. That was nice. Let’s crack open that next Chardonnay. I’m not getting any less divorced.’”
As always, Colbert tried to add in a layer of sincerity and actual concern. While it amuses the comedian to hear Trump doesn't read, it doesn't make the reality any less worrisome for Colbert.
He cited another official who claimed that briefing Trump “presented the intelligence community with the most difficult challenges it had ever faced.” That story reminded Colbert of a different kind of intelligence community. “Yes, the most difficult challenges that the entire intelligence community of the United States has ever faced: getting Trump to learn," Colbert said. "I believe that’s the plot of the next Mission: Impossible. ‘Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get Donald Trump to read anything.’”
Stephen Colbert has a solution to get Donald Trump to read
So how does the intelligence community fix this issue and get the president of the United States to read such critical information? One proposed idea would use one of Trump's favorite things: television.
One official suggested converting written briefings into videos, using a Fox News-type packaging to keep Trump's attention. Colbert mocked the idea, saying "It makes sense because he’s always watching. The best way to get information into his brain is just to put the information someplace he’s already looking all the time.”
Colbert decided to throw the White House a bone and suggested his own solution to Trump's reading problem. “So either they have to put the top secret information on Fox News ... or at the bottom of a chicken bucket.”