Stephen Colbert chronicles Trump's impeachment meltdown, Finnish president edition

Stephen Colbert on Trump and impeachment

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

last updated 3 October 2019

Things aren't going well at President Trump's White House, The Late Show noted Wednesday, and it's not just the rodents raining from the ceiling.

"Donald Trump is clearly losing it — and he did not have a surplus of 'it' to start with," Stephen Colbert said in Wednesday's monologue. "In response to impeachment, Trump hasn't formulated much of a plan yet — unless you count freaking out on Twitter," he said, focusing on Trump's "coup" tweet. "What does he mean, take away your guns and religion? Does he not know that if Trump is removed from office, Mike Pence becomes president? Or is he trying to tell us that Pence is way different behind closed doors?"

"Trump continued to froth in a joint appearance this afternoon with the president of Finland," Colbert said. He agreed with Trump's assertion about what is important in the impeachment inquiry, though: "Yes, all that matters is the transcript — the transcript where the president of Ukraine asks for missiles and you say, 'I would like you to do us a favor though.' It's like a Scooby-Doo villain saying: 'I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for me releasing this signed confession. Here, I'll rip off my own mask!'"

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In a subsequent press conference, Trump "kept insisting that his phone call was 'perfect,' and that the document that proves he's guilty doesn't say what we all see that it says," Colbert said. "Things got extra spicy when a reporter dared to do his job" and Trump dodged his question and berated him to ask Finland's president a question. "And here's the questions: Got any dirt on Joe Biden?" Colbert added, in Trump voice. Trump also lashed out at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), responding to her press conference with "a rare presidential swear-word tweet," he noted. "Wow, using the potty talk. Okay, grandpa, don't get your blank-strap in a bunch." 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.

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