Stephen Colbert half-defends Jeff Sessions from Trump's 'dumb Southerner' slur in Woodward's book

Stephen Colbert defends Southerners — (Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

There was "historically crazy stuff happening" every one of the 19 days The Late Show was on break, a white-bearded Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's show, and "we were prepared to talk about all of it," but then Bob Woodward dropped excerpts of the latest "explosive book about the Trump White House," and what are you gonna do? According to Woodward, nobody in the White House likes President Trump, least of all Chief of Staff John Kelly, and Colbert had some fun with choice Kelly quotes about hating his job, calling Trump an "idiot," and referring to the West Wing as "Crazytown."

There were also quotes from Defense Secretary James Mattis, former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, and Trump himself, who reported mocked Attorney General Jeff Sessions as "this dumb Southerner." Colbert took umbrage: "As a South Carolinian, that is a hurtful stereotype, sir. Not all Southerners are dumb — just the ones willing to work for you." But the craziest anecdote from the book might be that after a disastrous mock interview, Trump lawyers John Dowd and Jay Sekulow went to Special Counsel Robert Mueller to re-enact the interview and argue that Trump is incapable of telling the truth, he said. "Those are his lawyers, trying to help him not go to jail."

Colbert finished with a brief recap of Tuesday's Senate's Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh, the theatrics and the case of the missing (or last-minute) documents. 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.