David Letterman is back for another round of his verbal sparring match with President Donald Trump, who he called a “big tubby goofball” on Friday.
Letterman made the comments while discussing Jimmy Kimmel’s first monologue after returning to Jimmy Kimmel Live on Tuesday.
“You saved the republic for God’s sakes,” Letterman said of Kimmel, whose monologue after returning to air Tuesday was “word perfect” and “quite a document.” Letterman then turned his attention to Trump, who’d raged against him on Truth Social last week.
“Whatever happened to the very highly overrated David Letterman,” Trump wrote, “whose ratings were never very good, either. He looks like hell, but at least he knew when to quit. LOSER!!!”
He appeared to be reacting to comments Letterman made at the The Atlantic Festival, calling the president an “authoritarian criminal.”
“We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office,” he said.
Letterman was particularly amused Friday that Trump said he “looked like hell,” telling viewers on his YouTube channel, “Isn’t that a little like the kettle calling the pot black? I mean, you see this big tubby goofball.”
He added, “Let’s try to stop being surprised by this lunatic behavior. He’s a dictator. This is what dictators do.”
The Late Show predecessor said he’d “looked up” the definition of dictator and asserts that Trump fits the bill. “He wants everything to go his way. Forget about what’s good for you and me. As long as it’s good for Donnie,” he said.
Letterman also called attention to “the cowardice on display now” as Trump tries to get late night hosts booted from their shows.
“People seem to be stunned when things like this happen,” he said referencing the cancelation of Late Show and Stephen Colbert’s firing (which Letterman called “pure cowardice” on CBS’ art), as well as Kimmel’s suspension—both of which Trump has claimed credit for.
“I am so tired of people being stunned… We have a pretty good history of being stunned by this guy and the reason he continues to behave this way—not because he wants to stun us, but because he’s a dictator and dictators do these like this,” he said.
“I think the question we need to ask ourselves now is, what exactly are we going to do about this?” he added, noting that something should be “done” about Trump before the midterms roll around a year and a half from now. For his part though, Letterman said he’s satisfied. “I feel like having been singled out on by the president that my work here is finished,” he concluded.
The post David Letterman Sounds Off on ‘Big Tubby Goofball’ Trump appeared first on The Daily Beast.
