Trevor Noah on Trump and Boris Johnson: 'Failed clones of each other'
Late-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s visit to the UK and his ongoing war with the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Trevor Noah
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah spoke about Trump’s treatment during his time in Britain. The Queen gifted him Winston Churchill’s book about the second world war. Noah joked: “That’s right, the Queen’s present for Trump was a book. Either she doesn’t know Trump or she’s trolling him.” He continued: “It’s like giving Stevie Wonder a fish tank.”
Even before landing, Trump showed he was upset with Sadiq Khan, calling him a “twin of de Blasio except shorter”. Noah commented on this strange comparison: “That’s a weird diss … Yeah, everyone is shorter than Bill de Blasio.” Noah continued: “That’s like someone being like, ‘Haha, this guy has less money than Jeff Bezos!’ Yeah, that’s all of us!”
But Noah noticed this is often a habit of Trump before he meets political leaders. “It’s almost like he sends his beefs ahead of him so he has something to do when he lands.”
But even so, Trump continued to step on toes, suggesting Boris Johnson should succeed May. Noah pointed out the uncanny resemblance between the two: “The UK is on the verge of electing a prime minister who looks exactly like Donald Trump.” Noah later said: “I’ve never seen two people who look like failed clones of each other.”
Despite all of the trip’s trappings, Trump was unable to sleep in Buckingham Palace, due to ongoing renovations. Invoking the meme of a man who denied a woman a room in the Holiday Inn Express, Noah mocked Trump in the Queen’s voice: “I’m sorry Donald, it’s above me now … I’m sorry, Donald, the Best Western is next door.”
Stephen Colbert
“The president has fled the country, knowing we were back on the air!” opened Stephen Colbert on The Late Show after returning from a short break.
Colbert briefed his audience about Trump’s activities in London. After telling his audience about the Queen giving Trump a book on the second world war, Colbert mocked Trump’s farright sympathies. “Look, thank you so much,” he said as Trump, “but don’t tell me how it ends. I really like that German Charlie Chaplin that invented the high-five.”
The host also commented on a photo of a pale-looking Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump “haunting” Buckingham Palace, quipping in a sing-song voice: “Sometimes, if you listen closely,
you can still hear them having no business there.”
Showing clips of Trump and the Queen dressed formally for the state dinner, Colbert commented: “This season of The Crown has really jumped the shark.”
The former businessman even gave a speech at the state dinner, recalling the Queen’s participation in the second world war. In his Trump imitation once more: “A great, great woman. Not very smart, though. She could have gotten out of the whole World War II thing by faking a bone spur.”
But it was not all tours and gifts on his trip to London. Before his visit, Trump started what Colbert described as an “international cat-fight”, calling the Duchess of Sussex “nasty” in an interview with the British tabloid the Sun. Colbert compared it to a rude answer to a wedding invitation: “That’s like RSVP-ing to a wedding: the bride sucks, I’ll have the fish.”
Colbert also circled back to Trump’s trip to Japan last week, in particular the covering up of the USS John McCain. Colbert joked: “Yes, Trump would have been enraged if he saw a ship with his arch-nemesis on it. That’s why the navy also asked to hide the USS Salad.”