Stephen Colbert ridicules the GOP for trying to sink Hillary Clinton with a giant squirrel

Plenty of people think the Republican National Committee's use of a giant orange squirrel to shadow Hillary Clinton on her book tour is misguided, or just plain silly. Stephen Colbert turned mocking the RNC squirrel and associated Twitter account into an art form.

On Wednesday night's Colbert Report, he ridiculed the "nut" puns, trotted out history jokes ("Nation, this is the best use of a mascot in politics since Stephen Douglas dressed up as a banana and said that Lincoln was not appealing"), noted that the RNC already tried to use the same squirrel on President Obama, and lambasted the whole idea of a giant squirrel hampering Clinton's assumed presidential ambitions: "Because, sure, Clinton's gone toe-to-toe with some of the toughest men on the planet, but has she ever taken on a man-sized rodent armed with puns?"

Colbert's cruelest cut, though, doesn't even come from Colbert himself. It comes from another mascot, McGnaw the Gluten-Free Beaver, who he brings out to help the RNC squirrel in its quest to take down Clinton. As Colbert learns, McGnaw's teeth cut both ways. --Peter Weber

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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.