The Conversation (0)
Greg Evans
Nov 06, 2020
Stephen Colbert was stunned into silence on Thursday evening when recounting what president Trump had said about the results of the US election.
Although at the time of writing a winner is yet to be officially declared, Joe Biden has pulled ahead of Trump in the vote counts in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia and has eaten into the president's lead in Pennsylvania.
Trump's reaction to this was to give a short speech in the White House briefing where he made baseless accusations against the Democrats, claiming that some votes were made "illegally" and people with "special interests" bolstered Biden's campaign.
The president's unfiltered and unhinged rant left many shocked but Stephen Colbert, a man not usually known for being speechless, temporarily didn't know what to say.
When giving his opening monologue on the latest episode of The Late Show, Colbert tore into Trump for lying to the press and spreading conspiracy theories.
The president came out into the White House briefing room and lied for 15 minutes. Just nonsensical stuff about illegal vote dumps and corrupt election officials and secret democratic counting cabals, and I don't know, longform birth certificates, probably. It's all the same. And if you did not know that Joe Biden was getting close to 270, Donald Trump just provided all the proof you will ever need. So we all knew he would do this...
At this point, Colbert stopped to compose himself and appeared to be either on the verge of tears or completely exhausted and bereft of words. After staying silent for 15 seconds, Colbert continued.
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. He is the president of the United States. That office means something, and that office should have some shred of decency.
Colbert called on other Republicans to speak out and make a stand against the president who he called a 'fascist.'
Republicans have to speak up. All of them. Because for evil to succeed, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing.
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.
The 56-year-old host has been a political commentator in the United States for many, many years now but viewers were surprised to see him this worked up and emotional about what Trump had said:
You can watch Colbert's entire monologue in the video below.
Some Republicans have already started to speak out and criticise Trump's actions, however major members of the party such as Mitch McConnell, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham have either declined to comment or supported the president's unfounded claims.
More: Why Trump choosing not to concede if Biden wins is a disgrace to our democracy