Stephen Colbert criticized Donald Trump’s response to the Orlando nightclub shooting and mocked the candidate’s insinuation that “there’s something going on” with President Obama when it comes to the debate over the term “radical Islam.”
Colbert first addressed Trump’s tweets in response to the massacre at the gay club, in which Trump said “I called it” and “appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism.” The late-night host sarcastically compared Trump’s post-Orlando tweets to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s remarks to Congress after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
The focus then turned to Trump’s June 13 speech, in which the presumptive GOP nominee decried Obama and Hillary Clinton for rejecting the “radical Islam” terminology, among other jabs.
“This whole speech, with its nativism, its fear-mongering and especially its self-aggrandizing in the face of tragedy feels like a new low,” Colbert said. “It makes me long for the days when Trump was just bragging about the size of his penis.”
After reminding viewers about the genitalia references that accompanied the GOP primary, Colbert then showed his audience an interview in which Trump said that Obama’s reluctance to say “radical Islam” was due to the president having “something else in mind.”
“We’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind,” Trump said Monday on Fox News. “And the something else in mind, you know, people can’t believe it. People cannot … they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable.”
Trump was later asked to clarify his statement, but offered a vague explanation.
“Well, you know, I’ll let people figure that out for themselves,” Trump told a radio host. “Because, to be honest with you, there certainly doesn’t seem to be a lot of anger or passion. There was certainly not a lot of anger so, you know, I’ll let that, we’ll let people figure it out.”
Colbert then said he “would take a stab” at what Trump meant before turning to a blackboard labeled the “Figure-It-Out-Atron.” Words from Trump’s comments were written on the board.
“Trump is saying Obama is not smart because he won’t say ‘radical Islam,’” Colbert said. “Trump then says it’s inconceivable, so something must be going on, probably because Obama is a Muslim and that’s a bad thing.” When Colbert linked the words with chalk, they formed a swastika. Trump has drawn support from some self-proclaimed white nationalists. After initially failing to denounce former KKK leader David Duke, Trump said he “disavowed” him. “There’s got to be an answer,” Colbert said. “And I don’t know what it is. But I hope Trump explains it soon ’cause until he does, that kind of looks like he’s an a******.” Colbert is not the only comedian lambasting Trump. NBC’s “Late Night” host Seth Meyers said the candidate reached a “new low” with his response to the Orlando attack. “When it comes to bigotry, Trump keeps upping his game,” Meyers said Tuesday. “He’s like if Joseph McCarthy was exposed to gamma radiation and became a racist orange Hulk with tiny hands. Hulk mad, hands too small to smash.”
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