Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Seth Meyers bemusedly check in on Trump's government shutdown

Stephen Colbert began Monday's monologue by joking that unlike the federal government, he was ending his (holiday) shutdown of The Late Show. He recapped how we got to Day 17 of the government shutdown, starting with President Trump being goaded by Fox News and Rush Limbaugh into refusing to sign bipartisan legislation he'd said he would sign. "So Trump shut down the federal government, citing Federalist Paper 58 — and I'm paraphrasing: Bawk-bawk-bawk-begawk," he said. Colbert had some fun pointing out that despite Trump's claims, no living ex-president told him to build a wall and former President Obama did not build one around his house.

Colbert also rolled his eyes at Trump's coming prime-time address on his so-called national emergency, and at the president's bizarre appropriations of Game of Thrones memes. Still, "I can understand why Trump loves that Game of Thrones wall," he said, "because the only walkers who got through were white."

The wall is "just one of the lead characters in Game of Thrones, it's also President Trump's most famous campaign promise," Trevor Noah said on The Daily Show. And if he couldn't fund it when Republicans controlled Congress, that won't change with Democrats running the House. "I bet Trump is just hoping that if it goes on long enough, America can't afford to have another election and then he can just keep on being president," Noah suggested. He tried to lift everyone's spirits by making Michael Kosta dress up as a panda, briefly.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up