when Beto O'Rourke jumped in,

and President Trump immediately attacked him.

For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."

[ Cheers and applause ]

Trump and his advisers are already putting together

his 2020 re-election campaign,

and they're not just staffing up and raising money.

They reportedly want Trump's re-election bid

to be one of the biggest

and most sophisticated campaigns in history.

Trump's campaign manager told "The Washington Post" this week,

"We are creating the largest campaign operation

in American history.

An unstoppable apparatus that will follow and implement

President Trump's strategy."

An "unstoppable apparatus"? [ Laughter ]

Are you talking about your presidential campaign

or the Death Star? [ Laughter ]

But, of course, Trump has to create an unstoppable apparatus

because he's, perhaps, the weakest candidate

of any sitting President in recent history.

Polls have shown that a large majority of Americans

consider the President both a criminal and a liar.

And yesterday, the guy who ran the President's last campaign,

Paul Manafort, was both sentenced in one case

and indicted in another.

Trump was asked by reporters if he was considering a pardon

for Manafort, and he insisted that he wasn't.

-Will you pardon Paul Manafort?

-I have not even given it a thought as of this moment.

It's not something that's right now on my mind.

-Now, in fairness, that's an accurate answer

to virtually any question you could ask Donald Trump.

[ Laughter ] "Mr. President..."

[ Cheers and applause ]

For example, "Mr. President, what is the role of government

in American life?"

"It's not something that's on my mind."

[ Laughter ]

Trump's brain is capable of holding

exactly one thought at a time,

and it echoes through his skull like a cave.

-[ Echoing ] Hamburgers, hamburgers.

China, China, China.

Golf, golf, golf.

-But the Russia investigation and the various scandals

swirling around Trump

aren't the only things making him vulnerable.

In fact, this week, he did something

that could potentially hurt him more politically

than Robert Mueller ever could.

He proposed a budget that would gut

wildly popular healthcare programs

that he specifically promised he would never cut.

-President Trump released his budget for 2020 today,

proposing massive cuts to government-funded healthcare.

The President's budget includes a cut of $845 billion

to Medicare over the next 10 years

and $241 billion from Medicaid.

-So, Trump said he would never cut Medicare or Medicaid,

and now he's cutting billions from Medicare and Medicaid.

Is there anything about this guy that isn't a lie?

I'm starting to suspect his fake hair

is covering a full head of real hair.

[ Laughter ]

Trump's legal attacks and his attacks on healthcare programs

have made him one of the weakest incumbent presidents

in modern polling and left a huge opening for Democrats,

which is why so many of them are running for president.

In the last few weeks, Washington governor Jay Inslee

and former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper

have officially jumped in.

Colorado Senator Michael Bennet was in New Hampshire,

and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio

was in South Carolina,

and Senator Elizabeth Warren was in Queens,

and three more candidates were in Texas

doing townhalls on CNN.

In total, "The New York Times" lists 15 candidates

who've already declared

and at least another eight who might run.

Look at that. There are so many people

on that screen, you didn't even notice

that one of them was Carrot Top.

[ Laughter and applause ]

And on top of all that, "The New York Times" reported

that former Vice President Joe Biden

is 95% committed to running,

and in this speech to firefighters this week,

he teased -- [ Cheers and applause ]

he teased a possible run.

-You know, I'd like you all to --

I appreciate the energy you showed when I got up here.

Save it a little longer.

I may need it in a few weeks.

[ Cheers and applause ] Be careful what you wish for.

-No, dude, be careful what you wish for.

You really want to do this?

If you run for president, everyone's gonna dig

through every dumb thing you've said the last 40 years

and get mad at you.

Why do you wanna do that to yourself?

Right now, you're known as Obama's wingman, Uncle Joe.

The only guy who ever looked like he was having fun

at the State of the Union.

[ Laughter and applause ]

I mean, look at that party animal.

He looks like right after that was over,

he was gonna make Obama do a keg stand.

[ Laughter ]

Then, there's former Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke,

who officially jumped into the race today

after spending weeks teasing a possible run.

Beto appears on the new cover of "Vanity Fair" this week

with the headline "Beto's Choice."

And, look, I'm a little upset it took Beto this long to announce,

because if he'd done it in 2008,

I definitely could've played him on "SNL."

[ Laughter ]

Definitely.

I mean, it certainly was closer than John Kerry.

[ Laughter ]

But the cover was not the only eye-catching thing

about this profile.

Beto also explained why he wanted to run for president.

Now, it's a key question for any candidate.

People want to know why you're doing this

and what you can bring to the table.

It's a question past candidates have flubbed,

and, in many cases, it's doomed them.

So, here's what Beto said.

"I think I'd be good at it. I want to be in it.

Man, I'm just born to be in it."

[ Laughter ]

I'm sorry. No one is born to be president.

Nobody is born to be anything.

Springsteen said he was born to run,

and then he wrote 400 songs about New Jersey.

[ Laughter ]

I mean, look at Trump. He wasn't born to be president.

If he was born to be anything,

it was selling fake Rolexes in Times Square.

[ Laughter and applause ]

Beto also talked about his rise to fame,

the Senate campaign that launched him to national stardom

and the very first event he did in that campaign,

and his description of that experience was --

Well, it was a little weird.

He told "Vanity Fair,"

"I honestly don't know how much of it was me.

But there is something abnormal. Super normal.

I got in there, and I don't know if it's a speech or not,

but it felt amazing, because every word

was pulled out of me, like by some greater force

which was just the people there.

Everything that I said, I was, like,

watching myself being, like, 'How am I saying this stuff?

Where is this coming from?'" [ Laughter ]

Now, in the run-up to 2020, we here at "Late Night,"

we're gonna try really hard, and we're gonna ask yourselves,

"Would we make fun of Donald Trump if he said that?"

So, let's see. "Because every word

was pulled out of me, like, by some greater force,

which was just the people there.

Everything that I said, I was, like,

watching myself being, like, 'How am I saying this stuff?

Where is it coming from?'"

Yeah, no, Beto, that was [bleep] weird, yeah.

[ Laughter and applause ]

That was a [bleep] weird thing to say.

Seriously. I did not know that weed was legal in Texas.

And when Beto went to Iowa today for his first official event

since announcing his campaign,

there were a few more weird moments.

For example, at the end of his speech,

a lady in the crowd forced him to make it absolutely clear

that he was running for president.

-Thank you.

I cannot tell you how much this means to me.

I will remember this forever --

every single one of your faces and what you were wearing,

what you had to drink. [ Laughter ]

-Let us remember it!

Tell us that you're going to run.

Announce it now for us. -He already did.

-I'm running to serve you

as President of the United States of America.

[ Cheers and applause ]

-Man, I don't know who that lady is, but I love her.

[ Laughter ]

She should moderate every presidential debate.

"You have five seconds. Now spit it out!"

[ Laughter and applause ]

And yet as weird as Beto's launch has been so far,

as always, Trump and his allies on Fox News

have found a way to outweird him.

For example, the "Vanity Fair" profile

mentions some of the books Beto has in his house,

and Fox News host Brian Kilmeade was apparently baffled by that.

-"Vanity Fair" has a huge article and feature on him.

It's almost as if they helped launch his campaign.

Here's a quote from it.

He says, "I want to be in it, man.

I'm just born to be in it."

They also point out that he has this huge library,

as if it's a big plus that he reads books.

-I mean... [ Laughter ]

It is a plus.

Reading is definitely...

[ Cheers and applause ]

It's definitely a plus for a president.

Also, just so you know, when you attack someone

for reading books,

you're really attacking yourself.

[ Laughter ]

Although I'm not surprised Kilmeade is anti-book.

I bet if you open one in his house,

there would just be a hollowed-out spot

for a Snickers. [ Laughter ]

"I see you found 'Moby Dick.'

I think you'll find it's delicious."

[ Laughter ]

And Fox News is not the only cable channel

that's taken a keen interest in Beto's announcement.

There was also MSNBC, which honed in on even

the smallest details of Beto's trip to Iowa.

For example, they seemed especially fixated

on his minivan.

-Beto O'Rourke is driving himself in his Dodge Caravan.

-Where is he?

-And he's arriving here to Fort Madison High School.

-Yvonne, do we know how the minivan got to Iowa,

if it's a rental that he acquired there

or if this is sort of the O'Rourke family minivan

that has now been moved to Iowa for campaign purposes?

-It looks like an Illinois van.

This is about three hours away from any major city.

The question, Congressman, is where is the rental car from?

-Des Moines. -Des Moines.

-Picked it up in the Des Moines airport.

-Wow. Hard-hitting stuff, you guys.

[ Laughter ]

"Did you use Hertz or Avis?! Answer the question!"

[ Laughter ]

"Will you release your minivan returns?!"

[ Laughter ] Then there was Trump.

Today, Trump is dealing with an urgent airline-safety issue,

a resolution from the House

calling for the Mueller report to be made public,

an unprecedented rebuke from the Senate

over his national emergency declaration,

and dozens of scandals and investigations

of every aspect of his life,