Stephen Colbert asks if God could really triumph over Trump. 'God' isn't so sure.

Stephen Colbert asks God if he could triumph over Donald Trump

(Image credit: Late Show)

published 18 January 2017

Donald Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States on Friday, but he told The Times of London that he considers his first day in office to be Monday. "So Trump's not going to start until Monday?" Stephen Colbert asked on Tuesday's Late Show. "He apparently thinks the presidents get Saturdays and Sundays off. Instead of 'Hail to the Chief' its going to be 'Everybody's Working for the Weekend.'"

Colbert turned to Trump's historically low approval numbers. "But hey, it's not a popularity contest — and neither was the election," he said. Trump's 40 percent favorability numbers compare unfavorably with President Obama's 79 percent right before his first inauguration, Colbert noted, "but then again, he was the first black president, and if America's known for anything, it's giving black men the benefit of the doubt." At least Russian President Vladimir Putin approves of Trump, and said so in a bizarre news conference when he bragged that Russian prostitutes are the best in the world and also that he can't imagine Trump hiring any on his visit to Moscow, as alleged in a leaked dossier. "Yeah, it's hard for him to imagine, but he doesn't have to," Colbert said. "I'm sure he's seen the tapes."

He ended by ruminating on the assertion by Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Bernice King that "God can triumph over Trump." "Ladies and gentlemen, I am a person of faith, and I agree: With God, all things are possible, and I'm sure God will take care of us in the next four years," Colbert said. "This is all on him at this point." "God," or The Late Show's cartoon version anyway, was having none of it. "So God, can you triumph over Trump?" Colbert asked his animated ceiling. "Look, don't you put this on me," "God" protested. "You elected that guy. I haven't voted since Ross Perot." "But you could certainly triumph over him if you have to, right?" Colbert asked. "I don't know," the ceiling deity replied. "Trump has so many Twitter followers, and Vladimir Putin's backing him. Vlad said if I mess with his boy Donald he'd poison my sushi." Things got even more surreal when "God" pulled out a gun. Watch below. 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.