Late-night hosts on Trump's budget: 'Make the poor live on squirrel meat again'

Extract from The Guardian

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Late-night TV roundup

Comics, including Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers, discussed the budget cuts in the president’s latest proposal, which would affect many of his core voters

‘I know this is an unpopular opinion these days but I believe that children should go to the doctor and eat’ ... Stephen Colbert Photograph: YouTube

Guardian staff

Thursday 25 May 2017 00.51 AEST Last modified on Thursday 25 May 2017 01.37 AEST

Late-night hosts on Tuesday took aim at the Trump administration’s latest budget proposal and its extreme cuts affecting poorer citizens.
On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert spoke about the name that it’s been given: A New Foundation for American Greatness. “He’s building that foundation out of the ground-up bones of poor people,” he joked.

The budget proposes cuts to programs that wold help feed and provide medical care to children. “I know this is an unpopular opinion these days, but I believe that children should go to the doctor and eat,” he said.
What he found strange is that “the whole thing is particularly cruel to one minority group in particular: Trump’s voters”, which led Colbert to develop a new slogan for Trump: “Make the poor live on squirrel meat again”.

He also spoke about the proposed reduction to the National Cancer Institute. “Trump said we’d be sick of winning and he’s ready to deliver on the first half of that sentence,” he said.
Another cut would be to the Centers for Disease Control. “Whenever that thing inside of Steve Bannon bursts out and goes airborne, we will not be prepared to handle it,” Colbert joked.
He briefly discussed new reports that Trump had hoped to muddy the waters in regards to the Russia investigation. “Muddy the waters – also Trump’s environmental policy,” he said.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host spoke about the former CIA chief John Brennan confirming that there was contact between Russian officials and the Trump campaign. “However, still no contact between Donald and Melania,” Meyers said.

He also took aim at the grand title of the new budget. “Boy, you can tell that from the name Trump loves this budget,” he said. “When he doesn’t love something, he’ll give it a boring name – like Eric.”
Trump’s first foreign visit is also to include a visit with the pope. “I can’t wait to ask him why he wears that ridiculous thing on his head, said the pope,” Meyers joked.

Finally, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host spoke about how Sean Spicer feels about having Trump leave the country. “Let’s just say he had the first good week on the job in quite some time,” he said.
He then showcased a spoof trailer, imagining Spicer as Tom Cruise’s character in Risky Business as “the freaker of the house”. It was called Spicy Business.