--- title: Stephen Colbert: No Way Trump Would Run into Florida School description: 'Late Show' host Stephen Colbert criticized President Donald Trump for saying he would have run in unarmed during the recent mass shooting. canonical: https://time.com/5177243/stephen-colbert-trump-schools/ author: Jennifer Calfas article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-02-27T14:59:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:50:57.937Z og:title: Colbert Seriously Doubts Trump Would 'Run' Into Florida School og:description: For several reasons. "The part I really don't believe is that he can run" og:url: https://time.com/5177243/stephen-colbert-trump-schools/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6d9d4ba3a3b7438/698928fa656a3f1675bd3add/colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1468 og:image:height: 826 og:image:alt: Colbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colbert Seriously Doubts Trump Would 'Run' Into Florida School twitter:description: For several reasons. "The part I really don't believe is that he can run" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6d9d4ba3a3b7438/698928fa656a3f1675bd3add/colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Said He Would Have 'Run' Into Florida School Unarmed. Stephen Colbert Has His Doubts. > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3cc778f9-93a3-4d6f-8495-ccb0d8fa8f17&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Feb 27, 2018 2:59 PM UTC  Stephen Colbert mocks Trump's claim about running into the Florida school unarmed on The Late Show. Stephen Colbert mocks Trump's claim about running into the Florida school unarmed on The Late Show. by [Jennifer Calfas](https://time.com/author/jennifer-calfas/) ## Jennifer Calfas Feb 27, 2018 2:59 PM UTC Comedian [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/5167864/stephen-colbert-florida-shooting-students-gun-reform/) said President Donald Trump is “living in a fantasy,” after [Trump claimed he would have run in unarmed](http://time.com/5175857/president-trump-florida-shooting/) to help stop the mass shooting that [killed 17 people](http://time.com/5159944/nikolas-cruz-charged-17-counts-murder-florida-school-shooting/) at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, earlier this month. _The Late Show_ host ridiculed Trump on Monday night, expressing doubt over Trump’s comments earlier in the day at a gathering of governors at the White House. “You don’t know until you’re tested, but I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon,” Trump told the group. “O.K.,” Colbert responded after showing a clip of Trump’s speech to his _Late Show_ audience. “There’s a lot in there that I doubt, but the part I really don’t believe is that he can run.” “Look, sir,” Colbert continued, “we already know how you react to combat situations. You got five deferments from Vietnam. What are you going to do, run in there and stab them with your bone spurs?” Colbert, a frequent Trump critic, said Trump was “living in a fantasy,” and, while doing so, could “at least make it interesting.” Impersonating the President, Colbert continued: “Even if I had a gun, I would’ve dropped it, just to show how tough I was. Then I would’ve run in and hit the shooter with my laser-beam eyes, then use my mind like Neo in _The Matrix_ and fly away to space Mar-A-Lago. Space-A-Lago.” Colbert also criticized White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s response to a question about Trump’s comments, in which she said Trump was explaining how he would have stepped up “as a leader.” “Trump’s got all kinds of fantasies about what he would have done in that school,” Colbert said. He then launched into an impression of Sanders: “The President believes he would have had a big role in the school if he were a student there. He’d be captain of the football team, probably dating the hottest girl. The other kids wold call him Big Donnie. He would sit at the cool lunch table, but in the end he surprises the nerds when he shows up to help them win the state spelling be.” Trump’s comments Monday came after a local sheriff’s deputy [resigned](http://time.com/5171755/broward-sheriff-deputy-resigns-video-parkland-florida-school-shooting/) amid revelations that he stayed outside of the school while the shooting was taking place. Broward County is investigating whether other deputies were also slow to act during the shooting. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5177243/stephen-colbert-trump-schools/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5177243/stephen-colbert-trump-schools/"},"headline":"Trump Said He Would Have 'Run' Into Florida School Unarmed. 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