Stephen Colbert mocks the GOP's flirtation with quashing Trump's tariffs, favors impeachment and jail

Stephen Colbert on jailing versus impeaching Trump

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

Thursday was the 75th anniversary of D-Day, "when we beat the Nazis once and for ... until very recently," Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show. "President Trump was in Normandy to commemorate the occasion, and he gave a speech that was by all accounts — and I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly — 'presidential.' Haven't seen that word in a while. That all came to a screeching halt once he wasn't reading somebody else's words." He ran through Trump's comments at a press conference after the ceremony.

"The president is, of course, facing his own battles back home," Colbert said, pointing to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's reported comment to her top lieutenants about Trump: "I don't want to see him impeached, I want to see him in prison." Okay, Colbert said, "but why do we have to choose?" Still, Republicans are getting restive, too, flirting with quashing Trump's tariffs on all Mexican goods. "Oh, really? Flirting?" he asked, laughing. "Flirting with rebellion? That could lead to a dalliance with integrity, maybe making eyes with governance, and then at the Christmas party, a drunken hookup with defending the Constitution."

Seriously, the pending tax on Mexican imports is a bad idea, Colbert said. "Everyone is going to feel these tariffs. Our top four agricultural imports from Mexico are beer, avocados, tomatoes, and tequila. Trump is putting a tariff on summer!" But rumors that Republicans might actually do something about it "were shoved into a shallow grave" by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who's hoping Mexico works this out with Trump, he said. "In other words, McConnell wants the Mexicans to do the jobs American politicians won't do." 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.