Late-night hosts on Monday made fun of Donald Trump’s first full cabinet meeting, in which his underlings went around heaping praise upon him. Hosts also took aim at his public statements in the wake of the former FBI director James Comey’s damning testimony last Thursday.

Stephen Colbert of The Late Show began: “There have been a lot of moments in Donald Trump’s brief presidency that have raised eyebrows and lowered expectations. I’m not entirely sure, but I’m going to guess things are really going poorly inside the White House right now because today he had his first full cabinet meeting. Now, they usually have their first meetings earlier than this, but it was hard to schedule around all their meetings with the Russian ambassador.

“For this meeting, they let in the cameras so every single person around the table could speak freely to the American people. Just whatever was on their minds. Good or bad, just the honest, unvarnished truth,” Colbert joked, before airing clips of the meeting, in which top advisers to the president thanked him for the “blessing” and the “privilege” of working for him.

“I cannot get over these fawning cabinet members,” Colbert exclaimed. “These are adults, some of them are billionaires, and they’re just happy to have their leashes yanked as the cameras roll for the dear leader. This is next-level weird. This is an unprecedented public stroke-fest for an emotionally frail man.”

Colbert poked fun at the president’s egregious assertion, at that same cabinet meeting, that there had never been a president, “with few exceptions – FDR, he had a major depression to handle”, who had passed so much legislation.

“Mr President, don’t sell yourself short,” Colbert said. “Since you got elected, many people have a major depression to handle. And that’s why we’re here.”

Seth Meyers also discussed Trump’s inaugural cabinet meeting.

Late-night TV hosts on Comey testimony: 'How is he still president?!' Read more

“With the Russia investigation weighing on Trump and the administration bogged down by allegations that he committed obstruction of justice, the president has been eager to brag about his accomplishments, even nonexistent ones,” he said. “It’s also important to note that the Trump administration has signed no major legislation. And if you thought maybe someone in his cabinet would point that out, you’re out of luck, because instead, they went around the table taking turns thanking and praising him.

“Is there anything creepier than watching Trump make his staff go around the room and praise him?” Meyers asked. “Even Kim Jong-Un is like, ‘Dude, have some self-respect.’”

Meyers went on to discuss Trump’s remarks at a press conference, in which he asked: “Who would do that?” in response to a question about whether he asked Comey for a pledge of loyalty.

“Any time you hear the question, ‘Who would do that?’,” Meyers said, “the answer is likely Donald Trump. Who would set up a fake university to rip people off? Donald Trump. Who would brag about committing sexual assault? Donald Trump. Who would tweet a made-up word and leave it up for hours? Dovald Covfefe.”

Trevor Noah also poked fun at the president’s Twitter usage, saying he was “basically running the entire country with his thumbs”.



“Personally, I take Donald Trump at his word when he tweets,” Noah said. “That’s how he communicates. But not everyone is as respectful of the president as I am. In fact, there’s a group of Beltway insiders scheming to disempower Donald Trump by claiming his tweets should be ignored.”

Noah was referring to most of Trump’s advisers and spokesmen, who have gone on the record to lament the “obsession” with the media covering the president’s tweets.

“It’s the president!” Noah remarked. “I can imagine Trump’s defenders back in Bible days saying, ‘I think everyone needs to stop obsessing over every single commandment – it’s not like they’re written in stone.’ There are forces in Washington that would hide and suppress his all important tweets, but not on our watch.”

Noah then announced the opening of The Daily Show’s “Donald J Trump Presidential Twitter Library”, an interactive pop-up museum open only this weekend that memorializes the president’s tweets through the years.