Is President Donald Trump succumbing to the pressures of office?
Vanity Fair reported Wednesday that the preseident recently told an adviser, "I hate everyone in the White House." It also said that people close to the president are concerned he's "unstable," losing a step," and "unraveling."
All of this prompted Stephen Colbert to crack on Wednesday's The Late Show: "So, keep in mind, up till now, he's been raveled. This is the full unraveling."
Reacting to Trump's purported comment that he hates everyone in the White House, the comedian added with a grin, "Mr. President, I know exactly how you feel." He followed up with the caveat: "Dislike, dislike intensely...not hate."
The Vanity Fair piece also said Trump's White House Chief of Staff, John Kelly, is "miserable in his job." This prompted Trump to tweet:
The Fake News is at it again, this time trying to hurt one of the finest people I know, General John Kelly, by saying he will soon be.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017
...fired. This story is totally made up by the dishonest media.The Chief is doing a FANTASTIC job for me and, more importantly, for the USA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2017
Two things here, according to Colbert. The first, "Yes, very important you clear up that John Kelly works for the USA because so much of Trump's staff works for Russia."
And secondly, and this is big considering Trump's stance on fake news, Colbert said that, well, Trump is guilty of creating fake news himself.
"Trump was very upset by rumors that he was about to fire Kelly, 'even though there appeared to be no such reporting by the national media,'" the comedian said, quoting a Politico article on Trump's tweets.
Colbert suggested that there may be a more sinister reason for Trump's tweet about a purported Kelly firing.
"Nobody is saying Trump is going to fire John Kelly, but Trump," he said. Putting on Trump's voice, he continued: "'Look John, I think you're doing a great job, but I'm seeing people on Twitter saying I'm going to fire you. I don't think that's true at all, but it's out there now, it doesn't look good. You're fired.'"
Just last week, fellow late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel also called out Trump for peddling fake news.
"No breathing human on the planet Earth produces more fake news than Donald Trump," said Kimmel.
According to The Washington Post, as of Tuesday, Trump had made 1,318 false or misleading claims over 263 days.
Make that 1,319 now—and perhaps even more.
Uncommon Knowledge
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