Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Seth Meyers recap Trump's coronavirus weekend: 'snake oil salesman,' face mask refusenik

Late night hosts on Trump&#039;s coronavirus response

(Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Daily Show The Late Show, Late Night)

published 7 April 2020

"We're now entering Week 4 of self-isolation — or as historians will eventually call it, Canned Beef Week," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. "Government officials and health experts are warning that this is gonna be the toughest week yet of the coronavirus," but "there's one optimist in this sea of sober reality: Donald Trump." Because Trump is refusing to take charge of the national pandemic response, he said, "social distancing requirements have been left to the states," with decidedly mixed results.

"Scientists are working hard to develop a coronavirus treatment, but for now, we should all try to avoid misinformation about unproven cures," Colbert said. "And there is one popular source of rumors everyone should ignore." He showed some of Trump's hydroxycloroquin boosterism then a fake ad for the drug. Meanwhile, he added, the CDC's "sudden reversal" on wearing face masks in public "is a little confusing, but on Friday, the president used his daily briefing to make it even more confusing."

"Joe Biden said that from now on, he will wear a mask in public because it's important to follow the science," but "Trump has said that these guidelines are 'voluntary' and he will probably not wear a mask," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "Which, let's be honest, doesn't surprise anyone — Trump is all about appearance. He's not gonna be wearing a mask" unless his aides can trick him into thinking of it as "a border wall for your face."

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Meanwhile, states are begging for ventilators, but Trump is only offering "some unsolicited medical advice" on unproven treatments, Noah said. "Okay, here's what I don't get: Trump's acknowledging he's not a doctor, while legitimate doctors who could answer these questions are standing right there next to him. Why are we getting his opinion at all?"

"We've been calling Trump a snake oil salesman for years, and now he's literally standing at a podium trying to sell us a miracle cure," Late Night's Seth Meyers said. "And by the way, you know Trump and his buddies own stock in hydroxychorloquine because it's a six-syllable word and he didn't stumble on it once." Look, he added, "obviously it would be terrific news if a genuine antiviral medication was proven successful in clinical trials," but Trump is urging people to try an unproven medicine "because he's already failed to supply other life-saving equipment." Watch 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.