Stephen Colbert has ridiculed Donald Trump's claim that his $250m gilded ballroom renovation would not touch the existing White House, after a backhoe demolished part of the East Wing. On Tuesday's Late Show, Colbert said the move was 'so deeply unsettling' and compared it to 'being a kid and seeing your teacher at the grocery store … for sale … in the meat department.'
Colbert noted that Trump had promised the 90,000-sq-ft project would not interfere with the current building, but 'so that was a lie'. He joked that the ballroom could 'just as easily end up being a combination Pizza Hut-Taco Bell'. The treasury department has instructed employees not to share photos of the construction, which Colbert said was 'not generally something you instruct when you're proud of what's going on'.
On the Daily Show, Michael Kosta mocked Trump for prioritising the ballroom during a government shutdown, saying: 'Countless federal employees aren't being paid … but not to worry – President Trump is working day and night … to build a ballroom!' He added that 'not touching' the White House turned into 'demolishing' it, and asked: 'Who's his general contractor? Bin Laden and Sons?'
Seth Meyers on Late Night also responded to the demolition, saying: 'I don't think he's planning on leaving in three years. If I had three years left on a lease, I wouldn't even put up a shelf.' Meyers also joked about Trump's claim that a cameraman hit a mirror, saying 'luckily, no one in his administration casts a reflection'.
