Trevor Noah on coronavirus: 'Trump is the worst person to reassure the nation'

Late-night hosts discussed the US response to the coronavirus and how Donald Trump responded to this week’s Democratic debate.

Trevor Noah

On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah called the coronavirus “the worst global pandemic since Baby Shark” before discussing the announcement that the vice-president, Mike Pence, will be overseeing efforts to deal with any outbreak in the US.

“I think this is great because Mike Pence has a lot of experience in this area,” he said. “He’s been quarantining himself from women his whole life.”

But, Noah added: “I still feel safer with him than with Trump.”

Noah joked that Trump seemed more concerned about how the virus has affected the stock market. If Trump’s “poor stock market” got sick, Noah joked, Trump would try to “nurse it back to health with [a] special chicken soup – it’s a special KFC bucket poured with Diet Coke”.

Noah said that he found Trump’s efforts to calm any concern to be useless. “Trump is great for jokes but in times of crisis Trump is the worst person to reassure the nation,” he said.

There’s also talk of cancelling the Olympics in Japan because of the coronavirus. “No one’s going to want to touch the same baton,” he said

Stephen Colbert

On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert joked about Larry Kudlow’s comment that the containment is pretty close to airtight in the US. “Because everybody knows all you need to prevent the spread of a virus is pretty close to airtight,” he said.

He also showed a public health poster of the many beards the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say will not work as well with the use of a face mask. “Oh God, all of Brooklyn is dead,” he quipped.

Colbert moved on to this week’s heated debate, “where all the candidates adopted Bernie’s plan of yelling above Bernie’s plans” and Trump’s tweet response, where he referred to Elizabeth Warren as “a chocker”.

Colbert said: “I think he was trying to spell choker, but failed to perform the crucial task at the key moment when everything was on the line.”

Joe Biden continues to tell a moving story about being arrested while trying to visit Nelson Mandela whenever he can.

“The only thing that would make it more moving is if it happened,” Colbert joked, after sharing reports claiming it to be false.

Seth Meyers

On Late Night, Seth Meyers took aim at Trump’s assertion that he is the chief law enforcer. “First of all, you’d never pass the background check or the physical,” he said.

Meyers also joked about the manic energy that dominated this week’s debate. “Does the C in CBS stand for clusterfuck?” he said.

He continued: “I’ve seen more polite conversation between New Yorkers fighting for a cab.”

Jimmy Kimmel

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host spoke about the Sanders camp claiming that it would be a hard no against taking any of Mike Bloomberg’s money. “Has any no from Bernie Sanders ever been a soft no?” he said.

He also joked about Trump’s “chocking” mistake. “Maybe he was jocking?”

Kimmel then moved onto the coronavirus, which he said “could be the fastest growing virus from Asia since Gangnam Style” before quipping: “Even the Masked Singer is wearing an extra mask.”

The coronavirus is yet another word that Trump couldn’t spell this week. “This is all part of his ‘If you can’t spell it, you can’t catch it’ campaign,” he said.