Colbert: Trump is ‘a coward’

Stephen Colbert is slamming Donald Trump, calling the GOP presidential nominee a “coward” for not making a return trip to his late-night show.

“I would have him on tomorrow, but he’s a coward,” the “Late Show” host said Friday in preview clips from an interview on SiriusXM’s “The Bill Carter Interview.”

“It’s clear that Donald Trump is a coward because he won’t come back on the show,” Colbert added. “He’s a chicken,” the CBS funnyman added.

{mosads}Trump appeared on Colbert’s show in September 2015, in the heat of the primary, but hasn’t returned since, though he and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are fodder for its comedy on a nightly basis.

Colbert also skewered Trump for being the target of a first-of-its-kind Friday editorial in USA Today denouncing the real estate mogul and calling him “unfit for the presidency.”

“There’s never been a general election like this before where there’s like a mainstream, or supposed — what you’d imagine is a mainstream rejection of one of the candidates,” Colbert told Carter. “USA Today for God’s sake. The thing that gets slipped underneath your door. The cartoon page masquerading as a newspaper says totally unqualified. We’re not saying vote for Hillary, just don’t vote for him. I’ve never seen that before. There isn’t really a bifurcation.”

Colbert defended one of his late-night TV rivals, Jimmy Fallon, for an interview earlier this month with Trump that was widely panned as softball.

“Every host’s responsibility is to be honest with themselves and with their audience about the kind of show that they do. So I fault no host who acts consistently and honestly,” Colbert said.

But, citing a recent sit-down with Michelle Obama, the former “Colbert Report” host says he makes it a point to “ask at least one question of some kind of substance with your guest.”

“We had a lovely time together, and I just wanted to ask … does she have any sympathy for Melania Trump for being in a situation where you end up being called out for plagiarism. And that’s all I required for me to enjoy that interview and to feel that I had served my own curiosity there.”

Carter’s full interview with Colbert airs on Monday.