Joe Biden and Stephen Colbert talk Trump, grief, and who can unite America in 2020

Joe Biden and Stephen Colbert talk Trump, grief
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

When Joe Biden was last on The Late Show, he was vice president and Donald Trump president-elect, Stephen Colbert reminded Biden on Monday, and he said we should give Trump a shot to do the job. "Have we given him enough of a shot at this point?" Colbert asked. Biden said he reached a tipping point with Trump's response to the white supremacists and neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, and could no longer stay silent.

There has been a lot of talk about not "normalizing" Trump's behavior, "but whoever is the president is de facto presidential," Colbert said. "What do you think has changed about the presidency with him being president? ... How will this influence future presidencies?" "I think, God willing, it will go down as the single exception in American history," Biden said. After the novelty of the Trump show wore off, lots of Americans began to worry about the stability of the Republic, and "but for 74,500 votes ... we'd have a good president," he said. "We're talking about this like it was a wave election." "Only he is," Colbert cut in, getting a laugh from Biden.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.