Late night hosts deconstruct Trump's coronavirus 'buck-passing,' doubt its efficacy

Late night hosts on Trump&#039;s blame game — (Image credit: Screenshots/YouTube/The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Daily Show. Late Night)

President Trump clearly "needs someone to blame for how poorly he responded to the coronavirus," so "he's defunding the World Health Organization during a global pandemic!" Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. "Brilliant! It's like when your house is engulfed in flames, first thing you do, burn down the fire department." Still, "I don't think this buck-passing is going to work," he said. Without a White House full of experts and intelligence, his Late Show staff knew enough to make contingency plans on Feb. 28, "and we're just a TV show! We're not supposed to be more prepared than the president of the United States!"

Yes, Trump is obviously "scrambling to find somebody to blame for why his administration took so long to act," but "even if the World Health Organization acted perfectly, I don't know what Trump would have done differently," Trevor Noah said at The Daily Show. "Because his White House is filled with a bunch of idiots. And I know that's harsh, but I only say that because they are," though "sometimes I think Trump tells Kellyanne Conway to say dumb things on purpose just so that he looks smart in comparison."

"Stopping funding to an organization that handles pandemics in the middle of a pandemic is like slashing your own tires because you're mad you woke up late for work," Jimmy Kimmel said. "So far he's blamed this on Obama, the governors, the media, the WHO — has he blamed it on the Mexicans yet?" Just wait.

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But Trump "delaying the delivery of relief checks so that they could put your name on them might be the Trumpiest thing Trump has ever done," Kimmel said. "He didn't even put his name on the check he sent Stormy Daniels. These dollars are tax dollars we paid! As far as I know, he doesn't even pay taxes." Kimmel played some angry highlights from Trump's daily beat-the-press briefings.

So did Late Night's Seth Meyers, but he spread the blame: "That's the guy news networks have decided to air unfiltered during a national emergency, the guy who can't even read his own script." By the way, he added, "it doesn't make it better when you give it a negative chyron, like CNN did on Monday with 'Angry Trump Turns Briefing into Propaganda Session.' You know what else turned that into a propaganda session? Pointing your camera at it. Before you showed up, it was just Crazy Lawn Man Does His Thing." 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.