President Donald Trump recently expressed frustration about media outlets that quote anonymous sources in negative stories about his job performance. During his Feb. 24 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump dared these negative sources — if they’d like to say “Donald Trump is a horrible, horrible human being” — to “say it to my face.”
Well, Stephen Colbert is happy to take on that challenge.
“Sir ...” he said after the clip played, to applause from the crowd. “It would be my honor to say it to your face.” He beckoned the camera closer, smashing his face against the glass to make sure his message was crystal clear.
Just before that, Colbert had a very simple, but poignant, line about the president during his opening monologue.
After spending part of this monologue responding to the borderline unbelievable ending to the Oscars on Sunday ― where “La La Land” erroneously won Best Picture until it was announced that “Moonlight” was the true winner ― Colbert transitioned to Trump.
“Speaking of heartbreaking mistakes,” Colbert said, followed by a slight pause. “Donald Trump ... “ he continued, to the crowd’s applause.
When the audience finally settled down, Colbert began to talk about Trump’s upcoming address to a joint session of Congress, where the president is expected to present a plan for the nation’s healthcare.
Yet earlier on Monday at the White House, Trump had said the mystifying line “Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated.”
After showing the clip of the president’s quote, Colbert followed up his “heartbreaking” comment with a more poignant response to Trump.
“It’s just that you didn’t know,” Colbert said, “That’s like if I performed open-heart surgery tomorrow and said, ‘Wow, nobody said it’d be so wet in here.’”
Heartbreaking for sure.