Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers marvel at Team Trump's coup PowerPoint, Chris Wallace's succession

published 14 December 2021

"There are shocking new details in the investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection, including a PowerPoint plan for overturning the election and an attempt to intimidate a Georgia election worker that make it very clear Donald Trump and his gang were trying to stage a coup, and came very close to succeeding," Seth Meyers said on Monday's Late Night. It's incredible that new details continue to come out, "with each piece of new information being more insane than the last. I don't know how it's possible. It's like Succession — just when you think it's getting repetitive, they find a new way to shock you."

"They did everything they could, left no stone unturned, looked for every crack and crevice in our democracy they could possibly find," Meyers said. "They tried so many things even Kanye's apparently involved now." Seriously, "it's so disorienting for things to be both this dangerous and this dumb at the same time," and "yet somehow, things keep getting both more dangerous and dumber," he sighed. "They wrote down their plans for a coup in a PowerPoint. You know what that means? Congress is going to have to subpoena Clippy."

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"So what was in these slides of sedition?" Colbert asked. They appear to have advocated declaring a state of emergency and invalidating all electronic votes nationwide. Meadows may also have helped clear up "one of the biggest mysteries of Jan. 6" — where was the National Guard? he added, because in a Jan. 5 email, Meadows indicated that the National Guard was on standby, but mostly to "protect Trump people."

"These details are just further proof that the right win has completely gone bonkers nutso," Colbert said. "It's gotten so bad that yesterday, Chris Wallace announced he's leaving Fox News. It's the end of an era, but luckily Fox has already filled the time slot with Flaming Christmas Tree." Still, with Wallace's departure "goes Fox News' last shed of credibility — now they have to change their slogan from 'Fair and Balanced' to 'Horse Paste and Guns! Argle Bargle! Argle Bargle!'" he joked. "So, what's next for Chris? Wallace will be joining CNN+" as "part of their 'Lose-a-Chris, Get-a-Chris' program."

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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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