Late-night hosts on Wednesday addressed the media fallout from the revelations earlier this week that, in an email chain with music publicist Rob Goldstone, Donald Trump Jr enthusiastically welcomed what was presented as Russian aid in the presidential election.



Trevor Noah began with a game, the Doncathlon, in which he detailed the defenses of Trump offered by various rightwing media personalities.

“Welcome to the first of what I assume will be many Doncathlons,” he began. “The first event tonight, ‘The Hillary Deflection’, is where participants do all they can to divert attention from Don Jr back to last year’s Democratic nominee.”

Noah then showed footage of Fox News’ Jesse Watters asking why the media was focusing on Trump Jr rather than myriad supposed Clinton scandals.

“You’re right,” the host joked. “Why are we worried about the president of the United States when we could be talking about an unemployed grandma of the forest? So many questions. And who was the lady she was meeting in that forest?”

Noah continued: “Jesse Watters crushed that event, but many people prefer the next one: the giant leap. And the winner was someone who could come up with the most unlikely conspiracy theory, so obviously the gold medal went to none other than Sean Hannity.” In the clip that followed, the Fox News host suggested Trump Jr’s meeting was a set-up by Democratic operatives,calling it a story “you won’t catch on other news channels”.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Noah said. “You won’t. Because it’s dumb as shit.”

Noah then moved on to “semantic judo”, in which pundits “use the weight of the truth against itself”.

“The champion here is Mr Greg Jarrett,” he said, showing a clip of the Fox host saying that nowhere in the US constitution does it say that collusion with a foreign government to swing an American election is a crime.



“All of these are worthy participants, but last night there was one competitor people tuned in to Fox News to see,” Noah said, airing clips of Trump Jr himself offering a spirited defense of his actions on Sean Hannity’s show while simultaneously corroborating them. “I love that he’s totally confessing but with the tone of someone who thinks he’s giving an alibi,” the host joked.

Stephen Colbert also analyzed the media’s reaction to a blistering news cycle, beginning: “Let me present you with a bouquet of early blooming headlines.”

The host then read a list of them, suggesting the White House is “paralyzed” and facing a “category-5 hurricane”.

“Remember,” he joked. “Republican presidents have a spotty track record when it comes to dealing with hurricanes.

“Well, that’s not fair,” he said of the headlines. “Those were the Washington Post and CNN. How about hearing from someone on their side? Try the New York Post.”

The Post, Colbert explained, is a notable ally of President Trump’s, but a headline this week read “Donald Trump Jr is an idiot”.

The host continued: “Keep in mind, they’re defending him, because the alternative to idiot is inmate. Donald Trump Jr is quickly rising through the ranks of America’s most embarrassing Donald Trumps.

“So, with his agenda in tatters, with his White House paralyzed, in turmoil, with his family in disgrace, the president did the right thing and headed to France tonight,” Colbert joked, referring to the president’s meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

“This proof of the Trump campaign collusion may have cost the president something he loves even more than his sons. It’s going to cost him his favorite catchphrase, because last night one White House adviser admitted: ‘The Russia story will get worse and worse and you can’t just really say anymore ‘fake news’,’” Colbert said, referring to a Politico story that ran Wednesday. The Late Show then aired an “in memoriam” segment chronicling Trump’s usage of the phrase.

