At least nine women have accused Roy Moore of sexual misconduct while they were teenagers, "but the president is standing by his man for a simple reason," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show, assuming President Trump voice: "Yes, we want stopping crime, we just not want stopping sexual assault." Moore, the Alabama GOP Senate nominee, is happy to have Trump's support, tweeting, "I look forward to fighting alongside the president to #MAGA," and Colbert suggested a new meaning for Trump's favorite acronym: "That's the sound teenage girls make when they see Roy Moore at the mall — MAGAAAH!"
Moore's surrogates aren't really helping, Colbert said, playing and recapping a novel talking point from a spokeswoman: "What about all the women who haven't accused him of sexual assault?" But "the madness of defending him does not stop there," he said, playing a truly cringeworthy defense of Moore from his chief strategist, Dean Young. "I'm from South Carolina," Colbert said, "and that is why our state motto is 'Hey, We're Not Alabama.'"
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah had a saucier explanation for why Trump and most of the GOP are "so morally degenerate that they would actually back this man." Oddly, Trump backed Moore's rival in the GOP primary, he noted. "Back then, Moore's reputation was as a Bible-thumping defender of Christian values. But then the sexual misconduct stuff comes out and Trump's like, 'My man!'"
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.
The Republican Party was pretty easily seduced, Noah said, spinning an elaborate 50 Shades of Grey analogy. "I realized that essentially, Donald Trump has set the Republican Party free," he said. "He's basically their Christian Grey, that's what he is. He's the playboy billionaire who came along and was like, 'I'm going to show you Republicans who you really are deep down on the inside.'" Noah fleshed out his analogy, and you can watch that below. Peter Weber
-
Groypers: the alt-right group pulled into the foregroundThe Explainer The network is led by alt-right activist Nick Fuentes
-
10 concert tours to see this upcoming fallThe Week Recommends Concert tour season isn't over. Check out these headliners.
-
How to put student loan payments on pauseThe Explainer If you are starting to worry about missing payments, deferment and forbearance can help
-
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
-
A long weekend in ZürichThe Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
