“Donald Trump walked into the briefing room and tried to poison American Democracy,” said Stephen Colbert at the start of his monologue following Trump's speech of “historic dishonesty” Thursday night. Colbert then delivered a barnburner denunciation of Trump's lies and the party which backs him.
“That's why I'm not sitting down yet, I just don't feel like it yet,” Colbert continued. “That's also why I'm dressed for a funeral, because Donald Trump tried really hard to kill something tonight.”
“He's so predictable. … He said this stuff back in 2016 … so we all knew he would do this,” said Colbert, choking back tears and going silent for 15 seconds. “What I didn't know is that it would hurt so 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 in the White House — our house, not his — that is devastating.”
“Right now something unpredictable needs to happen,” Colbert continued. “Republicans need 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. It's in your best interest.”
“You only survived this up until now because a lot of voters didn't want to believe everything that was obvious to so many of us: that Donald Trump is a fascist,” Colbert added. “And when it comes to democracy versus fascism, I'm sorry, there are not fine people on both sides. So you need to choose: Donald Trump or the American people?”
“This is the time to get off the Trump train, because he just told you where the train is going. And it's not a passenger train. And he'll load you on it someday too.”
Colbert continued: “By the way, if Donald Trump is right — if Joe Biden did pull the strings behind the scenes in Republican states like Arizona and Georgia while coordinating with Democratic states like Pennsylvania and Nevada and Wisconsin and Michigan and throwing in the red herring of letting the Republicans keep the Senate and gain a few seats in the House while just barely removing Donald Trump — wow! I mean, kudos to that level of interstate coordination. I mean, anyone who could accomplish that many things at once right now really would be the president we need during a global pandemic. This is when I really wish I could swear.”
