There’s one sector of American life where Donald Trump’s presidency has been an unquestionable, unambiguous boon: the world of late-night comedy. Whether it’s his administration’s ongoing game of musical communications directors, his continued inability to get Obamacare off the books, or just the state of his orange, withered soul, Trump’s tenure has served as fertile soil for folks like Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, Jimmy Kimmel, and Seth Meyers to plant a wide variety of jokes at the current president’s expense.
Given how often Trump is mentioned by the various late-night hosts, you’d think he’d be content with the amount of coverage he’s getting. (At the very least, his positive effect on viewership numbers must be flattering to his TV ratings-obsessed brain.) Instead, though, he went on one of his now-customary weekend morning Twitter binges today, denouncing unnamed “late night host,” and suggesting that they’re actively colluding with the Democrats in order to attack him.
Trump used his rant to float the idea of invoking the government’s equal time rule in order to balance the scales, functionally putting himself and his colleagues on the same level as a bunch of late-night TV joke slingers. (Fair enough.)
Meanwhile, Meyers and Kimmel were quick to take the president up on his generous offer to spend less time doing potentially world-ending White House stuff, and more time making sure people were saying nice things about him on TV.