Stephen Colbert has hit President Donald Trump where it hurts: in the ratings. Trump hosted the Kennedy Center Honors for the first time late last month, having boldly declared that the event would attract its highest ratings ever. As Colbert gleefully noted, the reality fell far short of that. Trump’s hosting gig ultimately attracted just 3 million viewers on CBS — an all-time low.
“Now, it is beneath me to gloat. But if it weren’t beneath me, I’d call him no talent, low-rated Donald Trump,” quipped Colbert, echoing Trump’s frequently used turns of phrase.
Putting that viewer number into context, Colbert gleefully compared Trump’s ratings to his own when he first hosted the Kennedy Center Honors in 2015. The Late Show host had attracted over three times as many viewers as Trump, with around 9.25 million people tuning in at the time.
“Trump’s terrible numbers hurt more when you remember that he predicted it would be ‘the highest rated show they’ve ever done,'” said Colbert. “Well, that’s about as far off as a prediction could possibly be. Next to Amelia Earhart’s famous words, ‘One thing’s for sure, I ain’t getting lost.'”
