--- title: Watch Stephen Colbert on Trump Press Conference VIDEO description: The 'Late Show' host decoded Trump's comments from his Thursday press conference—and admitted to agreeing with the president on one point. canonical: https://time.com/4674480/colbert-on-trump-press-conference/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-17T16:25:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:41:12.893Z og:title: Stephen Colbert Goes Hard on Trump: 'We Elected a Mess' og:description: Colbert offers a translation of Trump's "stress conference" og:url: https://time.com/4674480/colbert-on-trump-press-conference/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert Goes Hard on Trump: 'We Elected a Mess' twitter:description: Colbert offers a translation of Trump's "stress conference" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Stephen Colbert Go Hard on Trump: 'You Inherited a Fortune. We Elected a Mess.'  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 17, 2017 4:25 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Feb 17, 2017 4:25 PM UTC In his monologue during the _Late Show_ on Thursday night, host [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/4011585/stephen-colbert-interview-transcripts/?iid=sr-link1) offered a step-by-step takedown of Donald Trump’s [first solo press conference](http://time.com/4674107/donald-trump-press-conference-media/?xid=homepage), hitting on everything from Trump’s [listing of grievances and accomplishments](http://time.com/4674107/donald-trump-press-conference-media/) to his remarks about being a politician. Colbert kicked off playing a clip of the president saying he “inherited a mess. It’s a mess.” “No, you inherited a fortune. We elected a mess. For the record,” Colbert responded, alluding to Trump’s family inheritance. In another soundbite from the press conference, which Colbert dubbed the “stress conference,” Trump said that “I don’t think there’s ever been a president who in this short period of time has done what we’ve done.” Colbert had a quip for that. “I don’t often say this, but Mr. Trump I completely agree with you. This is unprecedented.” Watch the full monologue above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4674480/colbert-on-trump-press-conference/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4674480/colbert-on-trump-press-conference/"},"headline":"Watch Stephen Colbert Go Hard on Trump: 'You Inherited a Fortune. We Elected a Mess.'","datePublished":"2017-02-17T16:25:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:41:12.893Z","description":"Colbert does agree with Trump—on one point.","url":"https://time.com/4674480/colbert-on-trump-press-conference/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Donald Trump","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4674480/colbert-on-trump-press-conference/","name":"Watch Stephen Colbert Go Hard on Trump: 'You Inherited a Fortune. We Elected a Mess.'"}}]}] ```