--- title: Stephen Colbert on Trump Budget description: Stephen Colbert has an idea as to how Donald Trump's administration made a math error in its proposed budget canonical: https://time.com/4794063/stephen-colbert-on-trump-budget/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-25T15:25:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:56.547Z og:title: Colbert Roasts Trump's Budget Error With Simple Math og:description: Colbert has a guess why Trump's administration made a math error in its budget og:url: https://time.com/4794063/stephen-colbert-on-trump-budget/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcb6fd75d73326f9/6988ce9e8e06014bf846a7e9/gettyimages-608062782.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: stephen-colbert-fcc og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colbert Roasts Trump's Budget Error With Simple Math twitter:description: Colbert has a guess why Trump's administration made a math error in its budget twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcb6fd75d73326f9/6988ce9e8e06014bf846a7e9/gettyimages-608062782.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Roasts Donald Trump's Budget With Simple Math by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 25, 2017 3:25 PM UTC  Late Show host Stephen Colbert speaks while serving as emcee at Broadway's Jacobs Theater on September 19, 2016 in New York City. Late Show host Stephen Colbert speaks while serving as emcee at Broadway's Jacobs Theater on September 19, 2016 in New York City.John Moore—Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 25, 2017 3:25 PM UTC Earlier this week, news started circulating that President Trump’s [proposed budget ](http://time.com/4790686/health-budget-cuts-white-house/?xid=homepage)was based on a math error, a very large one, too. “It turns out that the entire budget is based on a $2 trillion math error,” said Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night’s episode of _The Late Show_. While theoretically the [budget](http://time.com/4792126/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-proposed-budget/?xid=homepage) is meant to boost economic growth enough to pay for $2 trillion in spending within 10 years, critics say it contained an accounting error that adds up to a [$2 trillion oversight](http://time.com/4791113/trump-budget-math-mistake/). Colbert had an idea about the source of the questionable computing. “There is a simple explanation for how this happened: Donald Trump is an idiot,” Colbert quipped, adding another possibility into the mix: “Or, he’s lying.” While [White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney](http://time.com/4792568/donald-trump-budget-cuts-mick-mulvaney/) stands by the numbers in the budget, saying during a press briefing, that the double counting was done “on purpose” because “you don’t want to make too many assumptions.” Colbert was not impressed with the explanation, retorting: “You don’t want to make assumptions because when you assume, you make an a– out of you, Mick Mulvaney.” Watch the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4794063/stephen-colbert-on-trump-budget/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4794063/stephen-colbert-on-trump-budget/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Roasts Donald Trump's Budget With Simple Math","datePublished":"2017-05-25T15:25:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:56.547Z","description":"Colbert has a guess as to why Trump's administration made a math error in its budget","url":"https://time.com/4794063/stephen-colbert-on-trump-budget/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Donald Trump","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcb6fd75d73326f9/6988ce9e8e06014bf846a7e9/gettyimages-608062782.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfcb6fd75d73326f9/6988ce9e8e06014bf846a7e9/gettyimages-608062782.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"stephen-colbert-fcc","caption":"First Lady Michelle Obama Hosts Event For Spouses Of Government Leaders During UN General Assembly","creditText":"John Moore—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/4794063/stephen-colbert-on-trump-budget/","name":"Stephen Colbert Roasts Donald Trump's Budget With Simple Math"}}]}] ```