Late-night hosts have taken aim at Donald Trump over the ongoing US government shutdown, accusing him of using the crisis to punish political opponents. Stephen Colbert, on The Late Show, described the situation as a “shut-pertunity” for the president, claiming he is weaponising the shutdown to target states that did not vote for him in the 2024 election.
Colbert highlighted that federal funds have been cut in states that backed Kamala Harris, including New York, where cuts to the mass transit system have been imposed. In contrast, no cuts have been made to states that supported Trump. The host joked that the “Ronald Reagan oil field and memorial whorehouse” remains safe. He also criticised Trump for sharing AI-generated racist memes, calling the level of political discourse “infantile bigotry”.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Kimmel discussed the shutdown and accused Trump of trying to “do as much damage as he can”. He also mocked the right’s plans to have ICE agents present at the Super Bowl, joking that “ICE heard there was a field where brown people get tackled and said: hey, that’s our job”. The show featured a surprise appearance from Jon Stewart, disguised as a delivery driver, who joked about the lack of job security in late-night television.
Seth Meyers, on Late Night, highlighted the hypocrisy of Republicans over the shutdown. He showed clips of Mike Johnson complaining that FEMA would lose funding, despite Trump’s frequent calls to dismantle the agency. Meyers said Johnson is there to “launder Trump’s insanity” and that “they want to have it both ways”. He also noted Trump’s recent post about Project 2025, the controversial right-wing wish-list he previously disavowed, calling the denial “bullshit”.
