Late-Night Hosts Ponder Trump’s Secret Deal With Mexico
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Version 0 of 1. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If you’re interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. In recent days, President Trump has angrily defended his immigration deal with Mexico, rejecting a Times article that said it was based largely on actions the Mexican government had agreed to take months earlier. The president claims that a secret part of the deal has not yet been revealed, though he was directly contradicted by Mexico’s top diplomat. Late-night hosts speculated as to what the secret might be. “What if America is making Mexico the 51st state? That could be the new deal. [Imitating Trump] ‘Folks, they can’t sneak into the country if they’re already in the country, problem solved!’” — TREVOR NOAH “‘No more than three,’ said Trump when asked how many more migrants he plans on marrying.’” — SETH MEYERS Trump also groused that he wasn’t getting the credit he deserved for the immigration deal and others. “It’s true. Trump gets no credit. That’s why he had to borrow all his money from the Russians.” — STEPHEN COLBERT “Maybe the reason he can’t get credit is because you’ve declared bankruptcy six times.” — JIMMY KIMMEL Trevor Noah mocked the president for withdrawing threatened tariffs on Mexican imports that were seen as bad for Americans as well. “Crisis averted! Thank you, Trump. You realize this could have tanked the stock market, it could have seriously hurt the U.S. economy, but Trump stopped it from happening. And, yes, he was the one who caused the crisis to begin with, but that’s not the point. That’s not the point! Give it up for Trump!” — TREVOR NOAH Nineteen Democratic candidates for president were in Iowa on Sunday, looking to sway voters in a marathon of speeches at the state’s first major event of the 2020 election. “Little-known fact: A group of Democrats that large is called a Whole Foods.” — STEPHEN COLBERT “It took over three hours. People in Iowa were like, ‘We’ve never been this bored, and we live in Iowa.’” — JIMMY FALLON “The only thing that’s good about this weekend is for a weekend, it doubled the number of black people in Iowa.” — TREVOR NOAH Late-night hosts poked fun at Pete Buttigieg’s not-so-inspired jazz keyboard playing (“He’s the hip young candidate in the field, everybody,” Fallon joked), and Tim Ryan’s choosing to walk out on stage to the country rap ditty “Old Town Road.” “That’s your walk-on song? Are you running for president or trying to go viral on TikTok?” — TREVOR NOAH The candidate leading in the polls, Joe Biden, did not attend because he was celebrating his granddaughter’s high school graduation. “But don’t worry — nothing bad ever happens when the Democratic front-runner decides not to go to a swing state.” — STEPHEN COLBERT “President Trump called into a show on CNBC to defend his stance on tariffs. He called in, yeah. Then two minutes later he called in again and won two free tickets to see Maroon 5.” — CONAN O’BRIEN “So the threats of tariffs, the negotiations, the deal itself, were all fake. It was like theater. In this case, ‘The Lyin’ King.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT “[Imitating Trump] I’m also proud to announce that the Berlin Wall is coming down, the hostages have been released by Iran, and I have purchased Louisiana from France.” — STEPHEN COLBERT “Anyone can be a good guy, anyone can be a bad guy. Not everyone can be both, huh? He’s Bruce Willis and the guy taking the building hostage.” — TREVOR NOAH Lin-Manuel Miranda joined Desus and Mero for a brand-new musical based on the baseball legend Babe Ruth. The MSNBC host Rachel Maddow will stop by “Late Night” for a chat with Seth Meyers. Ali Stroker made history on Sunday as the first person who uses a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. She won for her role as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of the musical “Oklahoma!” |