Stephen Colbert took aim at Donald Trump’s sinking poll numbers and shifting foreign policy strategy in his monologue on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday night. The late-night host accused the president of looking to cut and run from the conflict in Iran.
Opening on President Trump’s declining approval ratings, Colbert cited a recent survey showing the president at just 33% approval. “That’s only one out of every three people,” Colbert joked, before instructing his audience to look at the people sitting next to them. “Both of those people are more popular than Donald Trump.”
Based on the audience reaction, everyone in the Late Show crowd on Tuesday night were among the remaining 67% percent who wouldn't exactly say they approve of President Trump's job so far.
Colbert didn’t stop there, noting that while nearly half of Americans strongly disapprove of Trump, a smaller but still significant portion strongly approves. He mockingly attempted to “identify” those supporters with a sarcastic rant about wanting higher gas prices and even wishing Denmark would turn against the United States.
From there, the Late Show host pivoted to Trump’s handling of escalating tensions with Iran, particularly reports that he may be ready to abandon a U.S. military effort tied to the Strait of Hormuz. That launched Colbert into another installment of his recurring bit, “Hormuz News,” where he discussed both the complexity of the situation and Trump’s apparent impatience.
Describing the president’s reported reluctance to continue a prolonged operation, Colbert compared the strategy to starting a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle only to give up midway through. According to Colbert, the president's threats against other countries is nothing more than Trump looking for an out.
The comedian also mocked Trump’s suggestion that other countries should step in and secure oil access themselves, likening it to Alexander Graham Bell telling someone else to finish inventing the telephone after he made the first call.
But the sharpest joke of the monologue came as Colbert addressed Trump’s more aggressive rhetoric, including a social media post threatening to destroy Iranian infrastructure if the situation doesn’t improve. Colbert capped the segment with a stinging punchline referencing Trump’s past controversies, joking that someone “mentioned in the Epstein Files over 38,000 times should not really put quotes around the word ‘touch.’”
President Trump loves to insult late-night TV hosts like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel for their ratings. So there has to be an extra layer of satisfaction for Colbert when he gets to spend the start of his show discussing how poorly rated Trump has become over the past few months. If Colbert had it his way, he wouldn't be the only one out of a job by the summer.