Stephen Colbert says 'second meeting' shows Trump is in Putin's pocket

Colbert reacts to Putin and Trump meeting

(Image credit: YouTube/The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)

published 20 July 2018

President Trump surprised everyone — his own director of national intelligence included — on Thursday by seemingly inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington. This sent Stephen Colbert into a conniption fit on Thursday's Late Show.

"It is hard to imagine you could be this shocked every day by the Trump administration," Colbert said. "I mean, freshly shocked!" Americans were horrified by Trump's Monday meeting in Helsinki with Putin, Colbert said, and since then, people within the administration have been "trying to put distance between Trump and Putin." But then the president had to sabotage those efforts with a tweet (what else?), suggesting he and Putin were arranging a second meeting. That made Colbert spit out his coffee.

"Second meeting. Second meeting?!" Colbert gasped. "Because the first one went so well! ... Nothing could have gone worse than your meeting in Helsinki!" So what's Trump thinking? Colbert says one thing's for sure: Trump is in Putin's pocket. "The reason remains, why? There's only two possible answers: Either Putin has something on him, or he's an idiot." Either way, somebody has to break it to Trump that Putin doesn't have his interests at heart, so Colbert staged a tearful intervention. Watch below — but beware, there's some NSFW language. Jessica Hullinger

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Jessica Hullinger is a writer and former deputy editor of The Week Digital. Originally from the American Midwest, she completed a degree in journalism at Indiana University Bloomington before relocating to New York City, where she pursued a career in media. After joining The Week as an intern in 2010, she served as the title’s audience development manager, senior editor and deputy editor, as well as a regular guest on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. Her writing has featured in other publications including Popular Science, Fast Company, Fortune, and Self magazine, and she loves covering science and climate-related issues.

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