Stephen Colbert recaps Wednesday's Republican debate, finds only one winner

Stephen Colbert finds only one winner in the GOP debate — (Image credit: Late Show)

Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate was impressive in one regard, Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show: "It managed to thread the needle between confusing and boring." From the CNBC moderators' first question — "the one question that no one in human history has ever answered honestly" — they did manage to bring out the fight in the 10 Republicans on stage. Only, the fight was mostly against the moderators. Still, Colbert said, "what the moderators lacked in courtesy they made up for in lack of preparation."

Colbert didn't find many winners in the two-hour-long debate — from the viewers on down, it was pretty dismal — but he did salute the one hero of the night, Donald Trump. He was so pleased with Trump for negotiating the debate down from three and a half hours to two, he pledged to vote for the bronzed billionaire — with one big caveat. If you watch until the end, you'll get to see Colbert nearly chop off author Jonathan Franzen's head with an axe. Peter Weber

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Explore More

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.