Stephen Colbert picks apart Trump's latest 'hissy fit meltdown'

Late-night hosts critiqued Donald Trump’s behaviour at his latest press briefing and his inaccurate claims of total authority.

Related: Seth Meyers on Trump: ‘He’s so shallow he barely exists in the third dimension’

Stephen Colbert

On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert said that Trump has turned his daily coronavirus press briefings into “little rallies where he rambles incoherently and attacks the press” but that his latest “hissy fit meltdown” was a new low.

On Monday, the US president lost his temper and ranted at journalists for almost two and a half hours. “It was like watching The Irishman with just one unconvincingly de-aged criminal,” Colbert said.

Trump then showed a “ridiculous” propaganda movie to highlight that he had done since January to deal with the pandemic but as Colbert noted: “It skipped over the entire month of February.”

When this was challenged, Trump denied that nothing had been done that month. “You can lie all you want but what you lied about happened less than two months ago and we were all here!” Colbert said.

Trump also inaccurately claimed that he has total authority as president. “He does have authority and the country is totalled,” Colbert agreed.

While he might not officially be a king, Colbert did notice some similarities between Trump and royalty: “golden crown, multiple wives, inbred sons”.

Trevor Noah

On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah said Trump was most upset that the virus “would hurt his ability to brag about the economy”.

There has been talk of an “immunity certificate” given to people who have recovered from having Covid-19 so they can go about the world as normal. Noah thinks it could mean that “some people might want to get the virus intentionally”.

He joked: “It’s the same way everyone rushes to lose their virginity at prom so they get to hang out with the cool kids at college.”

Trump has bragged about his instincts being integral to how he handles the crisis. “This is the same guy whose instincts told him to look directly into the sun during an eclipse,” Noah said.

He played footage from Monday’s press conference as Trump refused to address what was achieved in February, “a masterclass in dodging the question”.

Noah added: “He was two seconds away from pretending he doesn’t speak English.”

He also referenced Trump’s desire to be given total authority. “His business cards might say president but y’all better treat him like a king,” he said.

Jimmy Kimmel

On Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host referred to it as “another manic Monday for Old Yeller” and that Trump “was almost foaming at the mouth” during his press rant.

He joked: “He was huffing and puffing so much, it was like he’d just done a sit-up.”

Kimmel speculated that “this is what happens when he goes a week without golf” before referring to him as “a lazy substitute teacher” for playing his shoddily assembled propaganda video. “Maybe he’ll finally get that Emmy he always wanted,” Kimmel said.

One of the few defenders of Trump’s performance was Sean Spicer who said it was one of the best press briefings he’d ever seen. “He’s not gonna come to your birthday party, Sean!” Kimmel joked.