Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel recap Trump's truthy State of the Union 'game show'

"Tonight, Donald Trump addressed the folks who are still deciding his fate in the impeachment trial," and "it got a little awkward at times," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's live post-State of the Union Late Show. "Before the speech even started, Trump threw shade: He wouldn't shake Nancy Pelosi's hand." As is typical, he said, "the president invited some special guests to the gallery with inspiring stories of enduring unimaginable hardship — for instance, Melania."

"Trump jumped right into brag mode," about the economy, "our new military hardware," and his plans to ensure rural Americans have high-speed internet — "to which Iowa replied, 'That would have been handy yesterday!'" Colbert joked. Trump also "made up a lot of stuff, like saying that he was trying to protect pre-existing conditions. I think he assumes our pre-existing condition is amnesia that he tried to destroy protections for pre-existing conditions, but he also hit on one of his favorite lies: Socialists are coming for you." That didn't get the reaction he was expecting, he noted. "You just heard the single clap of the only person in America who likes their health insurance company."

"My fellow Americans, the state of our union was long," Colbert concluded. "But finally, Trump ended the speech, and Nancy Pelosi did this: She ripped him a new one."

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

"Trump promised he would always protect patients with pre-existing conditions, which is something I will definitely remind him of when he most certainly does the exact opposite of that," Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. Overall, "the speech was exactly what you might expect from Donald Trump and a teleprompter: not a great fit. It was a self-congratulatory speech," he said. "But in fairness to the president, why should we expect him to be able to deliver the State of the Union when he doesn't even know the state of Kansas City?"

"One of the funnier interactions — or lack thereof — tonight was Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi standing side by side, not talking to each other for the whole time," Kimmel said. "Which was kind of rude on his part, because she tried really hard to make him president." He laughed ruefully at Trump giving Rush Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom, especially on Rosa Parks Day: "This is the medal they gave Rosa Parks, tonight, Rush Limbaugh got it. And then, Trump turned his plan to cripple public schools into what was basically a game show. ... Maybe Bob Barker should be president instead." Barker is white and 96, so it's possible. Peter Weber