Stephen Colbert Mocks John Kelly Over Bob Woodward’s Trump Reveal
In his first show back after a long break, the bearded ‘Late Show’ host teased his upcoming interview with the author of ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’

CBS
Stephen Colbert has been on hiatus so long he had time to grow a beard. As the Late Show host told his audience Tuesday night, so much “historically crazy stuff” happened while he was gone—including the simultaneous conviction of Paul Manafort and guilty plea by Michael Cohen. But all he wanted to talk about was Bob Woodward’s new book Fear: Trump in the White House.
“I knew I had a grey beard,” Colbert said at the top of his monologue. “It came in all white. Evidently talking about Donald Trump for two years has made my mouth old.”
On Tuesday, the Washington Post released excerpts from Fear, which Colbert joked was “named after the emotion Trump feels whenever he sees a book.” Woodward, who will appear on The Late Show next Monday, spoke to several current and former White House officials who painted a disturbing picture of life working under this president.
According to Woodward, Colbert said, “nobody in the White House likes President Trump very much, least of all Chief of Staff John Kelly,” who is quoted as saying of his boss, “He’s an idiot. It’s pointless to try to convince him of anything. He’s gone off the rails. We’re in crazytown. I don’t even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I’ve ever had.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Laughing, the host added, “It won’t be the worst job forever, General. Your worst job will be explaining to your grandkids why you worked for the big, orange baby-cager.”
Register below to read this article for free or subscribe
to unlock unlimited access to The Daily Beast.
Monthly
$1
First month then $5.99/month
Annual
$35
First year then $59.99/year
Premium
$79
First year then $119.99/year
*Substack access provided by the next business day, using your subscription email. Choosing the Premium plan constitutes your permission to share your subscription email with Substack and your agreement to Substack’s Privacy Policy.
Already have an account? Sign In
Looks like you already have a subscription!
You're all set!
Thanks for subscribing.
