Stephen Colbert says Trump's tragic attempt to 'poison democracy' means he knows Biden won

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

Right before taping, "Donald Trump walked into the White House briefing room, actually, and tried to poison democracy," telling lie after "nonsensical" lie "about illegal vote dumps and corrupt election officials and secret Democratic counting cabals and, I don't know, long-form birth certificates, probably — it's all the same," a raw Stephen Colbert said on Thursday's Late Show. "And if you did not know that Joe Biden was getting close to 270, Donald Trump just provided all the proof you will ever need."

Trump is "so predictable" that "we all knew he would do this," Colbert said, pausing. "What I didn't know is that it would hurt this much. I didn't expect this to break my heart. For him to cast a dark shadow on our most sacred right, from the briefing room of the White House — our house, not his! — that is devastating."

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Trump "is the president of the United States," Colbert elaborated. "That office means something, and that office should have some shred of decency. Now, we all knew he would leave a stain there," he added, but "everything he did, everything, is in some way presidential behavior — including this — unless, unless every single person rejects what he just did. ... Right now something unpredictable needs to happen. Republicans have to speak up. All of them. Because for evil to succeed, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing. So say something right now, Republicans" In lieu of good men, he asked what Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said — he declined to comment — and sighed.

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"This is the time to get off the Trump Train, because he just told you where the train is going," Colbert said. "It's not even a hard call. This is in your self interest to support votes being counted — that's how you got your jobs." He explained why he chose not to "show you a second of what that sad, frightened fraud said tonight — because it's poison and I like you" — offered a counterexample, and sat down to deliver his monologue.

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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.