Stephen Colbert unleashes on Trump’s $2 trillion budget mistake

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”/CBS; YouTube

Of course Stephen Colbert didn’t give President Donald Trump a pass on the $2 trillion math error in his proposed federal budget.

“Well, President Trump is still on his semester abroad, getting his extra credits,” Colbert said on Wednesday’s “Late Show,” referring to the president’s international trip this past week, which began in Saudi Arabia and ends in Italy this week. “He might want to stay over there for a little while until the firemen can put out his budget proposal. Not only does nobody like it, it turns out to have a big mistake in it.”

The host then tried to clear up what could be behind the error.

“There’s a simple explanation for how this happened,” Colbert said. “Donald Trump is an idiot or he’s lying.”

Not to get too deep into the mathematics of it all, but basically the proposed budget seeks to use a hopeful $2 trillion in increased revenue generated by tax cuts to cover the loss from the tax cuts and to make up for the amount needed to balance the budget. Basically, it’s applying the assumed growth generated from tax cuts twice.

“That’s like robbing Peter to pay Paul, but you’re paying Paul with Blockbuster gift certificates,” the host joked. “It doesn’t work anymore.”

In order to “help” Trump with his basic math skills, Colbert offered the following “lesson”: “If a train leaves Washington, D.C., traveling 40 miles an hour, please get on it. Just go.”

Watch the video below: