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Former late-night talk show host David Letterman on stage to help kick off the 5th anniversary of Joining Forces and the 75th anniversary of the USO, during ceremonies at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Thursday, May 5. | AP Photo David Letterman on Trump: ‘If I had a show, I would have gone right after him’

David Letterman called Republican nominee Donald Trump “a person to be shunned” because of his comments about Mexican immigrants and a disabled reporter.

And if Letterman were still on the air, he wouldn’t go easy on him, he told The New York Times’s David Itzkoff in an interview published Friday.

“If I had a show, I would have gone right after him,” said Letterman. He took particular issue with Trump’s mockery of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski, who is physically disabled. “I would have said something like, ‘Hey, nice to see you. Now, let me ask you: what gives you the right to make fun of a human who is less fortunate, physically, than you are?’”

“And maybe that’s where it would have ended,” he continued. “Because I don’t know anything about politics. I don’t know anything about trade agreements. I don’t know anything about China devaluing the yuan. But if you see somebody who’s not behaving like any other human you’ve known, that means something. They need an appointment with a psychiatrist. They need a diagnosis and they need a prescription.”

Late night television hosts’ treatment of the Republican candidate has been the topic of much debate during the 2016 election cycle. NBC’s Jimmy Fallon faced a barrage of criticism after he mussed up Trump’s hair and lobbed easy questions to the candidate during a “Tonight Show” segment in September, although Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has also gotten the soft-ball treatment from Fallon during her appearances on the program. Letterman’s replacement on CBS, former Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert, has expressed regret for initially “being nice to a guy who isn’t nice to other people” when Trump first appeared on "The Late Show" in September 2015.

“Saturday Night Live” vet Seth Meyers, now a host of NBC’s “Late Night,” has more consistently barbed the Republican candidate, as has TBS’s “Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee.

Letterman also said he was “pleased” that Clinton used a segment from Letterman’s “Late Show,” in which he pointed out Trump’s ties were made in China, in an attack ad.

“I was flattered,” he said. “I was pleased. I felt like I still have a small voice in this. I thought it was good.”

You can read Itzkoff’s full interview with Letterman here.

