Stephen Colbert has some theories on why Trump is lobbing bombs at America's NATO allies

Stephen Colbert covers Day 1 of Trump&#039;s NATO summit

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

last updated 12 July 2018

Wednesday was President Trump's first full day of a week-long trip to Europe, "and so far the trip is going," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. "The bumpy ride started at a breakfast with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg," he said, pointing out that Trump "chugged his orange juice" before anyone else — oh, and said "Germany is totally controlled by Russia." Colbert tried out some other ways Trump may have projected his own demons onto Angela Merkel, then knuckled down on Trump's salvo. "Trump claims Germany is controlled by Russia because 35 percent of their natural gas comes from Russia," he said. "It's true, we're all controlled by the people who give us our gas, which is why I'm forever beholden to the Chevron on Route 3. When they invaded the Pizza Hut next door, I said nothing — what could I do?"

"Now, I'm not ready to say that our president is a Russian agent, but I have an agent, and he doesn't do as much for me as Trump does for Russia," Colbert said. "I love you baby doll, but you never swung an election for me, okay? I lost to John Oliver." Even Fox News' political editor thinks Trump is going out of his way to help Putin, colorfully, he noted.

Then Colbert took a second to "get real": "Look, if you like the president, if you don't like the president, it don't matter. We all know what's going on here: Trump is trying to weaken the EU and weaken NATO and break up the European alliance, which is exactly what Russia wants. This is not a theory — this is happening in public. What we don't know is why." He offered some theories, some slightly more plausible than the others. Watch below. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Explore More

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.