Trump's cruel immigration musings might have come from a 'Colbert Show' skit

It's no secret that Trump gets a lot of his ideas from cable television. You could say that Fox News broadcasts to an audience of one. But it appears the president's inspiration can even come from jokes made by those far more progressive than himself.

As pointed out by Stephen Colbert on The Late Show Wednesday night, Trump’s horrible idea for a southern border fortified with a snake and alligator filled moat came from an unlikely source. “Not only is Trump’s gator plan insane, it’s also plagiarized,” Colbert said. “And you’ll never guess who he stole the idea from.” Cut to a video of president Barack Obama giving a speech on border security in 2011.

“All the stuff they asked for, we’ve done,” Obama said. “You know, they said we needed to triple the border patrol. Or now they’re gonna say we need to quadruple the border patrol. Or they’ll want a higher fence. Maybe they’ll need a moat.” At this point Colbert’s audience started laughing. “Maybe they’ll want alligators in the moat.”

Colbert could barely contain his smugness and blew a kiss at Obama. “Ah remember back in 2011 when a president talking about alligator moats was a joke, and the most embarrassing thing about Kevin Spacey was K-Pax? It was a simpler time,” the comedian said.

Then things took an even weirder turn, because Colbert revealed that Obama actually stole the joke from him. “I have a bone to pick with Obama,” he said, “because he also plagiarized that joke from this guy I used to know who played a conservative pundit on a comedy show.” Cut to a series of clips of Colbert on The Daily Show and The Colbert Report making jokes about border moats filled with fireproof alligators and crocodiles as far back as 2006.

The Trump Administration can often feel like a cruel joke, and moments like this make it seem like it all is.