Stephen Colbert isn't sure Trump should treat Mar-a-Lago's crowded terrace like the Situation Room

Stephen Colbert challenges Stephen Miller to a showdown
(Image credit: Late Show)

President Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago club over the weekend, and paying club members frequently swarmed his table for a little face time with the president of the United States. "Now, I know that sounds like corruption...." Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show, leaving it at that. But the big story about Mar-a-Lago was Trump's curious handling of his first national security emergency, an unexpected missile launch by North Korea.

"This is a provocation by a rogue nuclear state, so President Trump immediately retreated to a secure location where he could be briefed on the details," Colbert said, adding, "I'm just kidding." Instead, he and Abe huddled at a dinner table on the Mar-a-Lago terrace, surrounded by aides, private servers, and fellow club members. "Other diners even posted Facebook photos of Trump and Abe looking at what one imagines are classified documents by the light of someone's cellphone flashlight," Colbert said. "But I'm sure those documents are secure — unless that cellphone flashlight also somehow has a camera attached to it — can't happen. Another guy posted Facebook photos of himself with a guy who carries around the nuclear launch codes, identifying the staffer by name."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.