Late night hosts all laugh at Trump's weird, slow amble down West Point's ramp, drinking technique
Between COVID-19, historic racial unrest, and the Trump presidency, "I'm stunned that we got some actual good news today," Stephen Colbert said on Monday's Late Show. The Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling that anti-discrimination laws protect gay and transgender employees "is a momentous change in LGBTQ rights," he said, "because now they have them."
"Sadly, the fight for racial justice is far from over," Colbert said, running through the police killing of yet another unarmed black man, Rayshard Brooks. Despite everything, "on Saturday Trump delivered the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point — because who better to inspire new members of our military than a draft dodger?" he asked. "The most suspenseful moment of the speech is when Trump attempted to quench his thirst," rivaled only when a "frail" Trump "hobbled down a gradual incline" at the end.
"Now, Trump's a senior citizen, so of course he walks slowly, and it would be pretty immature to waste time weighing in on this — which is why Trump weighed in on this," Colbert said. He fact-checked Trump's tweet.
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The Late Show also gave Trump's ramp shuffle the CBS Sports treatment.
Tooning Out the News put jockeys on Trump's back for the West Point Rampstakes. (Trump won.)
It "turned out to be a historic speech — no president in the history of this country has ever taken a weirder drink of water," followed by "a very strange walk down a ramp," Jimmy Kimmel marveled. "We can only hope he steps down that gracefully after November."
"There's so much to say about the ramp video, and I just can't pick one joke, so I'm going to tell as many jokes as I can in the time it took Trump two walk down that ramp," The Tonight Show's Jimmy Fallon said. And he did.
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"Deeply weird" Trump "once again showed off his fundamental weirdness after a speech at West Point, when he slowly descended a ramp like an old man being walked across the street by a Boy Scout," Late Night's Seth Meyers observed. "You know, for a guy who constantly talks about how tough he is, he sure walks like a baby deer on a frozen pond." Watching the video, he said, "maybe he does have bone spurs."
The Late Late Show's James Corden also found Trump's ramp amble amusing, and you can watch his jokes below. Peter Weber
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.
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