Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Seth Meyers enjoy the fallout from Obama's subtle swipe at Trump


"Just when you think things can't get any weirder," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show, President Trump "cranks it up to 11 and then swallows the knob." Also, hydoroxychloroquine, as Trump revealed Monday. "It was such a shocking statement that even Fox News had to clap back," he said.
"Now, in addition to the president slowly poisoning himself with the Dr. Jekyll method, the other big news is that on Friday, Trump removed the inspector general for the State Department," his third such Friday night firing in six weeks, Colbert said. Trump blamed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who the inspector general was investigation for misusing government resources and stonewalling Congress over an $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
"We heard a lot more from the president this weekend, but it was from the one we like," Barack Obama, who gave two virtual commencement speeches on Saturday," Colbert said. They included "a thinly veiled swipe at Donald Trump," and Trump, in return, called Obama a "grossly incompetent" president.
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.
Tooning Out the News illustrated Trump's incompetence retort.
Say what you want about Obama — "he certainly had his flaws as president — but it was so comforting just to hear a politician capable of showing empathy and compassion and talking in coherent sentences," Late Night's Seth Meyers said. "It's both revealing and depressing that when Obama talks about grown-ups behaving like little children, we all know exactly who he's talking about. I mean, there's no mystery. Even Trump knows."
It is "crazy how Obama never even had to mention Trump by name," Trevor Noah agreed at The Daily Show. "But as subtle as Obama's criticism may have been, it apparently set off a five-alarm outrage fire over at Fox News," he said. "Look, there's no denying that Obama went out of his way to dis Trump in the speech. But I genuinely find it hilarious that Fox News — Fox News! — is going to spend all day being offended about how a former president doesn't have decorum when the current president literally interrupted a pandemic briefing to remind everybody how he boned models."
Noah also panned the graduation speech from Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb): "Anyone can deliver a speech that inspires people, but it takes a real leader to deliver a commencement speech that makes you wish you had booked Ted Cruz." Watch COVID-19 give its own address 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.
-
Trump reignites Jan. 6 furor by awarding military honors to killed rioter
IN THE SPOTLIGHT With military funeral honors for Ashli Babbitt, the president makes good on campaign promises designed to animate his political base while relitigating history
-
'Is it OK to be happy when the world is falling apart?'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Will online age checks doom internet freedom?
Today's Big Question Or do they protect children from harm?
-
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