Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel laugh seriously at Trump calling the 'moron' story 'fake news'
President Trump reportedly fumed for two hours when he read NBC News' report Wednesday morning that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had called him a "moron," then got even angrier when Tillerson did not directly deny having said that. "He vehemently would rather not answer that question," Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show. Still, Tillerson did categorically deny ever considering resigning, a claim Trump picked up on in a Thursday morning tweet in which he criticized NBC News for not verifying their "Fake News" with him first. After thinking of some stories Trump might not be the best source for verification on — think Barack Obama's birth certificate — Colbert said that Tillerson's job appears to be safe, thanks to a career "suicide pact" he reportedly made with Defense Secretary James Mattis and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
In The Late Show's opening skit, Mnuchin did not seem overly thrilled about the suicide pact.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live, Kimmel noted the riposte to Trump's verification tweet from MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle, who helped break the "moron" story: "Sir, we didn't need to verify that he called you a 'moron.' He did it behind your back." More generally, Kimmel took issue with Trump calling anything fake news. "No one, no breathing human on the planet Earth produces more fake news than Donald Trump," he said, noting that PolitiFact says only 5 percent of Trump's statements are "true." "Donald Trump is a tornado of fake news, he's the Michael Jordan-Elvis Presley-and-Great Wall of China of fake news combined, okay? Donald Trump criticizing fake news is like Hugh Hefner criticizing fake breasts." Watch below. Peter Weber
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How to make the most of chestnutsThe Week Recommends These versatile nuts have way more to offer than Nat King Cole ever let on
-
Deaths for children under 5 have gone up for the first time this centuryUnder the radar Poor funding is the culprit
-
Codeword: December 22, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
