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."
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.
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.
"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.
-
August 23 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include deficit dimness, steamroller-in-chief, and more
-
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
-
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
