Stephen Colbert's Late Show taped well before Wednesday night's Republican debate (and in some time zones, competed with it when it aired), so Colbert was careful to note that he hadn't seen the GOP slugfest yet. But since the debate was being held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, he looked at how various candidates are trying to don the mantle of the Republican icon.
Jeb Bush is wearing a vintage Reagan-Bush '84 T-shirt, just like the hipsters, and Donald Trump has ripped off one of Reagan's mottoes. Carly Fiorina, he joked, has taken on the Gipper's hairstyle. But Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) went so far as to recreate one of Reagan's ads from 1984, replacing the Soviet bear with a scorpion. Colbert raised some good questions about what the ad means — like: "What does the scorpion represent? Is it terrorism? Iran? Mexicans? Scorpions? A bear in a scorpion costume?" — but it inspired him to make his own Reagan knockoff ad. And unlike Reagan's original, this one might just freak you out. Watch below. Peter Weber
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
September 7 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include stressing about Powerball, and a busy FBI schedule
-
Nvidia: unstoppable force, or powering down?Talking Point Sales of firm's AI-powering chips have surged above market expectations –but China is the elephant in the room
-
5 hard-working cartoons about Labor Day celebrationsCartoons Artists take on creation of AI, spelling mistakes, and more
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
