President Trump flew to Tulsa on Saturday for his first rally in months, and The Late Show summed up how it went Monday night in an homage to Oklahoma.
"Saturday night's rally was supposed to be Trump's big moment," Stephen Colbert said. His campaign "was so overconfident about the attendance, they built an 'overflow' stage outside" for 40,000 excess Trump fans. "Instead, the crowd was 25 people," he said. "To put this disaster in perspective, the arena Trump spoke in can hold more than 19,000 people, but only 6,200 people attended. That's one-third capacity! Now I don't want to be a glass-half-empty kind of guy, but half empty would be a huge improvement."
"Aw, poor Trump," Trevor Noah deadpanned at The Daily Show. "For somebody who was born into wealth and never suffered a single consequence for his actions, this dude just cannot catch a break." Coronavirus fears almost certainly depressed turnout, but Trump was also "foiled by a bunch of meddling kids" and K-pop fans, he laughed.
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.
By the time Trump's helicopter landed back at the White House, "it was clear that all of those empty seats really took a toll," Noah said. "Honestly, it's weird to see Trump display emotion — it's actually uncomfortable," he added. "But I think this experience was the first time Trump actually felt the full weight and severity of the coronavirus pandemic. And what finally got to him wasn't the 122,000 lives lost in America, but instead the 12,800 empty seats in an arena."
Tooning Out the News tried to pep up Trump's "walk of shame" by drawing in cheerful Secret Service agents.
"We should never have to see the president in such a pathetic state — it's embarrassing," Late Night's Seth Meyers said. "Trump is now and always has been a historically unpopular president, he's just been able to mask his unpopularity and soothe his ego with large crowds." He "staked his political fortunes and his ego on this rally," Meyers said, and instead of mounting "a big show of political strength," he had a total "flop."
"You can tell the Trump campaign may be lowering expectations because the next rally is being held inside the birthday room at Dave & Buster's," Jimmy Fallon joked at The Tonight Show. He sighed at Trump's long story about drinking water and walking down a ramp, was less amused at Trump's testing confesssion: "If Trump wants fewer people showing up for tests, he should just hold his next rally at a testing site." Watch below. Peter Weber
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacyFeature He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed 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 illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed 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 viewSpeed 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 talkSpeed 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 ZürichThe Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
