Stephen Colbert was as bummed as we imagine many of his viewers were while discussing the certification of Donald Trump’s election during his monologue on Monday’s “The Late Show.” “Yes, I used to feel things too,” he joked after his audience booed mention of the milestone.
But the topic prompted Colbert to reflect on the very different scene exactly 4 years ago today, when Donald Trump attempted to violently overthrow the government to undo his loss in the 2020 election.
“The striking thing about this time was how normal it was. Again,” Colbert said about today’s certification. “There was no riot, no one broke a window with their beard.”
“In fact, the whole process took only 30 minutes. Yeah, democracy shouldn’t take longer than it takes Rachel Ray to make a meal. Peaceful transfer of power,” he continued. “Now, if you had come up to me four years ago and said to my face that one day Donald Trump will be certified for a second term, I would have said, ‘six feet away, please. social distancing. Excuse me. I have to go wash all my banana and bang a pot for nurses.”
Clearly demoralized by the day’s events, Colbert dejectedly added, “I’m not sure, you know, what there is to say. It’s about January 6 at this point, you know, we all saw what happened. Trump lost. He said he did. A bunch of cowardly Republicans backed him up. They all whipped up a mob which stormed the Capitol and beat police with flagpoles, trying to overturn our democracy.”
“This launched the largest criminal investigation in our nation’s history. Nearly 1600 of the rioters faced judicial inquiry, 1000 of which have already been to trial or pleaded guilty. Out of all of them, two have been acquitted. The results are in: It was bad, or as Trump would call it,” Colbert said, at which point video of Donald Trump saying “that was a day of love” appeared onscreen.
“Yes, yes. On January, 6 love was in the air. Also bear spray” Colbert declared. He didn’t discuss the series of active decisions and embarrassing negligence that allowed this outcome at all. But you can still watch the complete monologue below.
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