Exactly two months ago, after President Donald Trump responded to the election loss by declaring victory, Stephen Colbert stifled tears during monologue as he told viewers: “We all knew he would do that. What I didn’t know was that it would hurt so much. “
He hadn’t seen anything yet. But this time, Colbert wasn’t sad, he was angry.
Late show The host once again threw jokes on Wednesday night and went live on CBS to share his terrified response to the act of violent insurrection, earlier in the day fueled by the president’s electoral lies.
“I really want to do the show we’re going to do,” Colbert began. “And I don’t even want to do the show. Because the Lord has mercy, there are a few dark topics we occasionally talk about on the show, but I’ve rarely been as upset as I am tonight. “
Speaking directly to Republican members of Congress who support Trump, the host asked, “Are you tired? After five years of fooling around the fascist rhetoric of this president, guess whose followers want to burn the Reichstag? “
“Who could have seen this coming?” Colbert asked. “Everyone! Even mannequins like me. This is the most shocking, the most tragic, the least surprising thing I’ve ever seen. For years, people have been telling you that if you let the president lie always about our democracy and then join him in that lie and say he’s right when you really know he’s not, it’s going to be a terrible price to pay. But you never thought you’d have to pay and you. ”
From there, he chose Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO), who was caught in the room “raising his stupid fist to the crowd in front of the Chapter.” In the first line of the night that could be considered a joke, Colbert said: “It’s like Black Power, but the opposite. There should be a name for this. And, obviously, he has to keep his fist closed, because if he opened it, you would see all the blood on his hands. ”
Then the host took over Fox News. “Do you think that maybe years of conspiracy theory had something to do with this?” Colbert asked, mocking the network because he claimed the “news” and his “opinion” parts were different. Like the “lubricated catheters” he sells during commercial breaks, he said, “You know where you can stick to your excuses and skip lubrication.”
Colbert’s monologue, even longer than usual, continued for another 10 minutes as he tore up President Trump for claiming to support “law and order” while encouraging his servants to violently overthrow the US Chapter building. . “Obviously, if I said that, I would have been arrested because I provoked a riot,” he said. “But, of course, you can’t arrest the president … for another 15 days.”
“Now I said, violence is the last refuge of the incompetent,” Colbert later said. “And if the last four years have taught us anything, it’s that there are a lot of incompetent people in our leadership.”
Looking to 2022, “when all those Republicans, who are not wrong, are responsible for what happened today and are running for re-election,” he said, “let’s remember them for who they turned out to be today: cowards cynics who believe that voters should not choose who governs this country. Let’s hope the voters prove them wrong. “
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