Stephen Colbert laughs at Trump fumbling his greatest hits at 1st post-insurrection MAGA rally

published 29 June 2021

The Pacific Northwest is sweltering in a record-shattering heatwave, and The Late Show briefly rebooted Frasier on Monday to check in on how Seattle is holding up.

"It's so bad in Seattle, everyone is down to their flannel speedos," Stephen Colbert joked in his Late Show monologue. "Speaking of hot air," former President Donald Trump held a big rally over the weekend in Wellington, Ohio — his first since the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. "With nearly six months to prepare, the former president had plenty of time to work on fresh material," he said, but he mostly dragged out his greatest MAGA hits. "The Snake," election theft, the crying guy "Lock Her Up," hydroxychloroquine — "this really seems like you're just reading a speech from last summer," Colbert said. "But he did delight the crowd with one of his patented 'I smell toast' moments," then "continued fumbling, flailing, and failing to remember" words and names in a way Colbert and his audience found pretty amusing.

"The sad thing is the people at that rally believe the old guy's election lies, but do you know who doesn't?" Colbert asked. "People who know things," like "disgraced" former Attorney General Bill Barr, who told ABC News' Jonathan Karl he always knew Trump's fraud claims were "bulls--t." Barr also said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) urged him to speak out about the election in December, as he couldn't publicly tell the truth himself because Republicans needed Trump's help to win Georgia's two Senate elections — which Democrats won. "In the end, Mitch McConnell sold his soul for nothing," Colbert said. "So, a pretty fair price."

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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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