Stephen Colbert is well known for not being particularly fond of Donald Trump, but on Monday’s “The Late Show,” he set aside his animosity to offer a helpful word usage and spelling lesson after the president tweeted an amusing typo earlier in the day.
But don’t worry, Colbert still mocked Trump a little for the mistake.
The bit came during a discussion of Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s not-very-well-received television appearances on Sunday, where he directly contradicted Trump’s claim that U.S. embassies faced direct threats of attack, which Trump used to justify ordering the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
“The Trump administration, they’re like a couple who doesn’t coordinate their lie before leaving a party,” Colbert joked. “‘Well, we gotta head out. Babysitter called – what’s that? My wife said it’s because our embassies are under threat? Yeah it was, they were threatened by the babysitter, she’s a maniac.”
That’s when Colbert pivoted to his helpful grade school English class lesson. Colbert noted that on Monday, Trump tweeted: “The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was eminent or not, & was my team in agreement. The answer to both is a strong YES, but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!”
“Now,” Colbert said, “you may have noticed that Trump used the wrong word there, Eminent, which means ‘famous or respected within a particular sphere.’ I’ll use it in a sentence: Donald Trump is the most eminent example of a man who doesn’t know how to spell ‘imminent.’” Ohsnap!
We don’t know if Trump found Colbert’s lesson helpful, but we can report that later in the day, he deleted the tweet and then tweeted the statement again, this time with the correct word, imminent. Which, for some reason, was in quotes.
Watch the clip below:
TONIGHT: President Trump and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper can’t seem to get their stories straight. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/wRYCBvDOj9
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) January 14, 2020