In late March into early April 2025, claims circulated on the internet that longtime late-night comedian David Letterman made comments about U.S. President Donald Trump that included the statement, "If the guy was running Dairy Queen, he'd be gone… So why do we have to be victimized by his fecklessness, his ignorance … let's just stop whining about what a goon he is and figure out a way to take him aside and put him in a home."
Users shared the claim across social media platforms like Facebook (archived), BlueSky (archived), Instagram (archived) and X (archived).
Posts featuring the claim also included a graphic featuring the alleged quote along with images of both men. The image of Trump is taken from the president's notorious speech in 2015 mocking disabled Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Serge Kovaleski.
The purported quote is attributed to Letterman in an interview with The Associated Press (AP) published on July 10, 2017. However, according to the article, it is only a portion of what the comedian allegedly said.
The quote shared in the claims is a truncated version of Letterman's alleged full response to the question, "Speaking of the current administration, late-night seems to have become mostly Trump jokes and tirades. Do you miss not being part of that?"
According to AP, Letterman's complete answer read:
Here's what I keep saying: We know there's something wrong, but what I'm tired of is people, daily, nightly, on all the cable news shows telling us there's something wrong. I just think we ought to direct our resources and our energies to doing something about it. And other people have made this point: If the guy was running Dairy Queen, he'd be gone. This guy couldn't work at The Gap. So why do we have to be victimized by his fecklessness, his ignorance? But it's just the behavior is insulting to Americans, whether you voted for him or not — and I feel bad for people who did vote for him because he promised them things that they really needed and one wonders if he's really going to come through. I know there's trouble in this country, and we need a guy who can fix that trouble. I wish it was Trump, but it's not, so let's just stop whining about what a goon he is and figure out a way to take him aside and put him in a home.
Letterman's purported comments were widely covered in the news media at the time, with reports popping up on CNN, HuffPost, The Hill, Fox News, PageSix and the CBC. While it is likely AP's rendering of Letterman's quote is accurate, Snopes reached out to Letterman's representatives to confirm that AP's reporting accurately reflects his statements and will update this story should we get a response. Until then, we have opted not to give a rating to this claim.
Letterman hosted NBC's "Late Night with David Letterman" from September 1982 to June 1993 before moving networks to CBS and hosting "Late Show with David Letterman" starting in August 1993.
Letterman's stint as the host of "Late Show" came to an end on May 20, 2015, before Trump officially announced his candidacy in the 2016 presidential election, which prompted reporters to ask him questions about how he might have handled the new administration on the show.
Trump made more than 30 appearances between Letterman's two late-night gigs, according to The New York Times, with the first occurring on "Late Night" in 1987 to promote his book "The Art of the Deal." The appearance, along with a segment from 1986 in which Letterman visits Trump Tower, is available to view on YouTube.
Stephen Colbert replaced Letterman as host of "Late Show" in September 2015.
Letterman's 33-year stint as a late-night talk show host is the longest in television history, surpassing previous record holder Johnny Carson in 2013.