Stephen Colbert shows Trump waving his 'secret' Mexico deal 'to appreciate what a bizarre person' leads the U.S.


President Trump is threatening tariffs on $300 billion more of Chinese goods if Chinese President Xi Jinping doesn't meet with him at an upcoming G-20 summit. The Daily Show's Trevor Noah found that threat sad, but on Tuesday's Late Show, Stephen Colbert laughed it off as "a pretty aggressive invitation. It's like sending out an evite that says 'Come to Rick's barbecue if you ever want to see your family again.'"
Trump also keeps insisting he reached a secret deal with Mexico. "Yesterday, Mexico's foreign minister said that no secret immigration deal existed between his country and the United States," Colbert said. "So today, Trump answered his doubters in a way that I think deserves that we just take a moment ... to appreciate what a bizarre person is leading our country." He asked viewers to imagine any other president holding up a folded sheet of paper they claim is a secret deal they won't let anyone else read.
But it turns out, "you can actually read what it says," Colbert said. "Once again, Trump is foiled by his arch-nemeses, sunlight and reading." He read what he wished the agreement included, then said it actually contains "kind of boilerplate" language about Mexico having 45 days to stem the flow of migrants, "but there's nothing in there that's a secret thing that we haven't heard about before." He lightheartedly struggled to make sense of Trump's explanation for when he could reveal the secret deal that everybody already knows about.
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.
Jimmy Fallon was also bemused by Trump's secret sheet of paper — and he also claimed to know what it said. "Yeah, here at The Tonight Show, we find out those types of things," he joked. "It says: 'Do you want to make an agreement? Sí or No?'" Fallon then tricked audience members into dressing up like a raptor. Watch below. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed 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 ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed 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 view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in Zürich
The Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle