Stephen Colbert explains the serious downside of electing a 'true outsider'

Stephen Colbert is still terrified over President Trump
(Image credit: Late Show)

Stephen Colbert began Monday's Late Show by telling his audience that over the weekend he converted his "panic room" into a "let's give him a chance room," conceding that the change was purely cosmetic. Almost a week after Donald Trump was elected, "there are some positive signs, I gotta say — you gotta look for hope in things," he said. "Today, Barack Obama held a press conference where he emphasized the need for calm, then immediately left for Greece. He'll probably be back."

Colbert turned to the "seemingly normal news" that Trump has started staffing his White House, beginning with RNC chairman Reince Priebus. "Trump picked an establishment Republican chief of staff, all right? You can back off the ledge," he said. "Now, get back on the ledge, because this is Trump's new White House chief strategist," Steve Bannon, former head of Breitbart News, a leading news source for the so-called alt-right. "Now if you've never read Breitbart, it's the news your racist uncle gets sent to him by his racist uncle," Colbert said. And "here's how to understand the alt-right. Think about what's right, then think about the alternative to that."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.