Stephen Colbert is stunned that Trump is going where Obama never dared: 'He's coming for your guns'

Stephen Colbert is shocked at Trump and guns

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

published 1 March 2018

Stephen Colbert told his Late Show audience on Wednesday that his job is to make sense of the day's news and throw in a few jokes so everyone can sleep at night, but "I know I'm going to be staring a hole in the ceiling tonight, because I have no explanation for what happened this afternoon" in President Trump's bipartisan meeting with lawmakers to address gun violence. "We need to find any solution that does not involve an imaginary Donald Trump stopping an attack with karate," he said, approvingly.

Trump "immediately made clear the real obstacle to gun control: Barack Obama," Colbert said. "I distinctly remember how the Republicans were begging Obama to sign the GOP gun control bill," he added, with a colorful coda about flying pigs. But things got ever weirder when Trump "turned on the Republicans in the room," repeatedly taunting them for being afraid of the NRA, and then opposed a GOP provision expanding concealed-carry nationwide, Colbert said, stunned that Trump was "being reasonable."

But then Trump went "way past there, to a place no one had a ticket for," suggesting law enforcement take guns away from dangerous people before getting a court order, Colbert said. "Well, he's finally doing something Obama never did: He's coming for your guns. That's groundbreaking," but it wasn't the only big gun control news Wednesday. That led to a few Dick's jokes, before Colbert quipped his way through the mounting troubles and humiliation of Jared Kushner.

Subscribe to 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.