President-elect Joe Biden has won the 2020 election, but the real winners might be all the late-night TV hosts who never have to perform material about President Trump ever again.
Well, at least after Inauguration Day.
For now, Trump is still the president of the United States, and the network comedians are still roasting him — this time for refusing to concede defeat after former Vice President Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris were declared America’s next president and vice president, respectively, over the weekend.
“Trump still hasn’t conceded, and I read that White House staffers are trying to figure out who should be the one to tell him it’s over,” Jimmy Fallon said on “The Tonight Show.” “People thought it might be Jared Kushner or Ivanka, but today they finally found the perfect person to deliver the news. Watch this.”
Cue a cleverly edited video of a younger reality-TV Trump telling an older Trump, “You’re fired” and to “just get out” … la “The Apprentice.”
“The president has been holed up in the White House tantrum pantry, where things are so stressful, the Daily Mail reports his staff is lighting rose-scented candles in an attempt to soften the environment and combat the smell of fast food delivered to the president,” Stephen Colbert said on “The Late Show.”
“The president would like you to believe that we will never know who really won the election. But we do know. We know it’s Joe. And come Jan. 20, Donald Trump will know it too.”
Leading up to, during and after the events of Nov. 3, Trump and the GOP have made baseless claims about voter fraud, for which there is no evidence.
“Trump says he’s gonna hold rallies to outline specific incidents of voter fraud, which, of course, means ramble incoherently about Jon Bon Jovi and Lady Gaga,” quipped James Corden on “The Late Late Show.” “But here’s the thing … guys. We don’t have to listen to him anymore. Now he’s just some guy.”
“The president — and virtually the entire Republican Party — are engaged in an attempt to delegitimize the election and blow up our democracy,” said Seth Meyers on “Late Night.” “Clearly, the deep rot in our political system and the conservative movement exposed by Trump’s rise is not going away. He is not unique, and fixing that will require bold, systemic change.”
Meyers was among multiple hosts who couldn’t help but poke holes in the Trump administration’s unfounded conspiracy theory that the left rigged the ballot count in its favor.
“You’re telling me that the crafty Democrats have used their satanic powers to steal the election, but for some reason they didn’t steal the Senate?” said Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show.” “Because what? They were using a free version of satanic powers, and taking the Senate is a premium feature?
“America’s whole system is rigged to help Donald Trump. The man lost by 4 million popular votes and still had a chance to win the electoral college. How does that make sense? The only person Donald Trump should be mad at is himself, because he started on third base and still somehow lost the game.”
A couple of the comics even took aim at Trump’s many admirers, who have continued to stand by their losing candidate to the bitter end of what has been one of the longest, most heated election cycles in the nation’s history.
“Trump supporters took to Twitter to write things like, ‘If you don’t include California, Donald Trump won the popular vote,’” said Jimmy Kimmel, who dubbed Trump “unhappy Gilmore” on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” after news of Biden’s victory arrived while the president was golfing.
“Right. And if you don’t count the murders, Ted Bundy was a pretty good dude. … Processing a loss like this is going to take time. I mean, this is the first time that he’s ever failed at anything — besides his casinos, his airline, his mortgage, Trump steaks, Trump University, Trump magazine, Donald Jr., Eric, etc.”