Exactly two months ago, after President Donald Trump responded to the election defeat by declaring victory, Stephen Colbert contained his tears during his monologue when he told viewers: “We all knew he would do that. What I didn’t know is that it would hurt a lot. “
He hadn’t seen anything yet. But this time, Colbert was not sad, he was furious.
O Late Show The host once again told the jokes on Wednesday night, going live on CBS to share his horrified response to the act of violent insurrection earlier in the day, fueled by the president’s lies in the election.
“I really want to do the show we’re about to do,” Colbert started. “And I really don’t want to do the show either. Because, sir, have mercy, there are some dark topics that we talk about on the show occasionally, 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 yet? After five years of spoiling this president’s fascist rhetoric, guess what followers want to burn the Reichstag? “
“Who could have seen this coming?” Colbert asked. “Everyone! Even dummies like me. This is the most shocking, most tragic and least surprising thing I have ever seen. For years, people have been telling you cowards that if you let the President lie about our democracy over and over and then join to him in that lie and say that he is right when you know for a fact that he is not, there will be a terrible price to pay. But you never thought you would have to pay too. “
From there, he highlighted Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who was filmed “raising his stupid fist to the crowd outside the Capitol”. In the first line of the night that could be considered a joke, Colbert said: “It’s like Black Power, but the opposite. There really should be a name for that. And obviously he has to keep his fist closed, because if he opened it you would see all the blood on your hands. ”
Then the host went to Fox News. “Do you think that maybe years selling your conspiracy theories had something to do with it?” Colbert asked, mocking the network for claiming that his “news” and “opinion” sides are different. Like the “lubricated catheters” they sell during commercial breaks, he said, “You know where you can put your excuses and you can skip the lubrication.”
Colbert’s even longer-than-normal monologue continued for another 10 minutes as he attacked President Trump for claiming to support “law and order” while encouraging his minions to violently take over the U.S. Capitol building. “For the record, if I said that, I would be arrested for inciting a riot,” he said. “But of course, you can’t arrest the president … for another 15 days.”
“I said before, violence is the incompetent’s last refuge,” Colbert said later. “And if the past four years have taught us anything, it’s that there are a lot of incompetent people in our leadership.”
Looking at 2022, “when all those Republicans, who, make no mistake, are responsible for what happened today and are running for re-election,” he said, “let’s remind them who they showed themselves for today: cynical cowards who believe that voters should not choose who governs this country. We will hope that voters prove that they are all wrong ”.
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