For once, the big story of the day wasn't from Washington. It was the historic new photograph of a back hole, "a cosmic abyss so deep and dense that not even light can escape from it," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show, temporarily showing the "wrong" photo. "Some in the scientific community have pointed out that the black hole resembled the Eye of Sauron," he added. "Who would have guessed there'd be a crossover between space fans and Lord of the Rings nerds? Speaking of dark, destructive forces from which you can never escape, Donald Trump."
Trump "took a moment to yell at reporters" before flying off to Texas on Wednesday, and after trying to make sense of his "avant-garde poetry" on the wall, Colbert frowned at Trump's assertion that he "won" the Mueller report. "You don't win a report!" he said. Also, "the victory Trump is talking about is over his own intelligence agencies, who started the Russia investigation" — or as Trump described it, a thwarted "coup" attempt.
"Of course, describing a legitimate counterintelligence investigation as a 'coup' is just the mad ramblings of a syphilitic brain that no sane, responsible adult person would touch with a 10-foot pole," Colbert said. "Enter Attorney General and professional pole-toucher Bill Barr," who has assembled a team to investigate how the Russia investigation began and told the Senate on Wednesday he thinks "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign (before walking that back). Colbert was temporarily speechless, as you can watch below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to 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.
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purgeCartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Sudoku medium: August 23, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
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
