Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, and Trevor Noah only half-laugh at the White House smearing CNN's Jim Acosta with doctored video
President Trump's newest trick is banning journalists, Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show. "That's very strongman. I'm not saying he's Kim Jong Un — he's Kim Jong-ish." At Wednesday's "White House press tantrum, the president and CNN's Jim Acosta just got into it — until an intern was dispatched" to grab Acosta's mic, Colbert said. "That has got to be the worst intern assignment. ... 'Brad, you're in charge of making copies, Kathy, you'll be destroying the First Amendment, okay? Remember, it's for college credit!'"
A lot of people were outraged that the White House then revoked Acosta's press pass, but Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the move by tweeting a video appearing to show Acosta chopping the intern's arm. "That is terrible," Colbert said, "or it would be if it weren't 'fake news.' Because Sarah Sanders tweeted a doctored video," apparently from Alex Jones' Infowars. "The fact that the White House press secretary is promoting this doctored video is reprehensible and grounds for dismissal," he said. "Or as they call it in the Trump administration, Thursday."
In the doctored video tweeted out by "the Hucaka-B.S. machine," they "sped up Jim Acosta's hand movement to make it look more violent," Jimmy Kimmel explained on Kimmel Live. "Now Jim Acosta clearly never touched that White House intern — that's just a lie — and I think this also might be the first time I've seen Sarah Sanders take the woman's side on any subject, ever. So good for her, baby steps. But she should be forced to resign for that. I mean she intentionally disseminated doctored video footage to discredit a reputable journalist — she's the White House press secretary!"
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"Yeah, the fact that Trump is using doctored footage to prove something everyone knows is a lie is deeply disturbing, but also it's just lazy," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "If you're going to use a fake video, use a fake video." Watch his example below. Peter Weber
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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.
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