Stephen Colbert introduces Trump's newest influential adviser, Alex Jones, then imitates him

On Tuesday, activists hung a "Refugees Welcome" sign on the Statue of Liberty. "That's absolutely a lovely thought, but kind of redundant on the Statue of Liberty, isn't it?" Stephen Colbert asked on Wednesday's Late Show. "It's like taking a rainbow flag and adding 'We like the gays!' — it's not necessary." Or at least it wasn't. "But I guess that's where we are right now," he said: "You've got to say things out loud that before we just assumed we all agreed on."

That was Colbert's setup for President Trump's deep thoughts on slavery from his visit to the Museum of African American History and Culture, which reportedly included "Boy, that is just not good" and "That is really bad." "I haven't heard that kind of eloquent denunciation since the Civil War novel The Red Badge of Dang, That's Messed Up!" Colbert joked.

Trump is "a bit of a hothead, loose cannon, powder keg," Colbert said, after a dark joke about children in shackles, "which is why it's important for him to be counseled by people who are even-keeled. Unfortunately he's talking to some jerk named Alex Jones." For those unfamiliar with Jones — who, according to a new New York Times article, now serves as "occasional information source and validator for the president" and speaks with him on the phone — Colbert played a clip of the excitable conspiracy-monger, and then imitated him: "This is why you don't mix steroids with peyote, this is why!"

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"Now, if you've been living underground for the last few years, you probably listen to Alex Jones," Colbert said. "But for the rest of you, he runs a conspiracy website called InfoWars." He played another clip. "Now obviously it's not fair to judge a guy on one, isolated, dumbass clip," Colbert said, pausing, "so here's a bunch of 'em." Jones was a surprisingly easy segue into a short riff about The Washington Post's new tagline: Democracy Dies in Darkness. "So The Washington Post has officially entered its goth phase," he said. "It's a strong message that they're going to hold Trump accountable, a message he will receive the minute Fox & Friends reports on it." Watch below. Peter Weber