Stephen Colbert called BS on Donald Trump’s false, hilariously inflated claim that 300 million people died in 2024 from drug overdoses on Tuesday. But he did admit that if that almost every single living American had died last year, it “would explain why we appear to be in hell.”
The joke was inspired by comments Trump made after news broke of another U.S. military attack on a Venezuelan boat, which killed everyone on board. As Colbert explained, “They did one like two weeks ago and then another one last week. Trump was asked about one of the two sinkings this weekend, and he defended it.”
Colbert then ran a clip of Trump saying, when asked if the attack was illegal, “what’s illegal are the drugs that were on the boat, and the drugs that are being sent into our country, and the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs.”
“I hope that’s illegal, because that’s a lot of people. In fact, it would mean nearly 90% of the current US population, about 340 million people, died of drug overdoses last year, which would explain why we appear to be in hell,” Colbert joked.
“We’re all dead, and we’re in hell right now, but I found an angel,” Colbert added, holding up his most recent Emmy award.
“To put that level of dumb into perspective, he is saying that 300 million Americans died of drug overdoses last year, when last year only 62 million people died in the entire world. Where the hell did he get those numbers? Out of JD Vance’s stat crack?” Colbert continued, referencing a joke about the Vice President he made earlier in the monologue.
Worth pausing from Colbert to note that trafficking drugs is not a capital crime under U.S. law, and per U.S. law and the constitution it is a crime to execute someone accused crime without a trial. In addition, the attacs, carried out on in waters belonging to Venezuela, is likely a violation of international law. And on top of all of that, the Trump administration hasn’t provided any evidence the boat even had drugs on it.
You can watch the whole monologue below:
