Stephen Colbert said the president has the markings of a “syphilitic brain,” as the late-night host provided a recap of every “horror” Donald Trump has executed in the last year.
Colbert opened his monologue unpacking a list of Trump’s various, “exhausting” actions, eliciting loud boos and jeers from his audience. He displayed news clippings from Time, The New Republic, and The Express UK, all of which encapsulated some of the Trump administration’s more ridiculous moves this year.
He also displayed a fake headline of his own, one that also recapped Trump’s decisions accurately: “These are the mad ramblings of a syphilitic brain,” read the headline from “The Late Show Gazette.”
“A lot has happened in a short time,” Colbert declared. “This year alone: Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, held a giant military parade on his birthday, said he wants Canada to be our 51st state, signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship, tore down the East wing of the White House to build a ballroom, covered the remaining parts of the White House in golden geegaws, forced Paramount to make Rush Hour 4, made himself the chair of the Kennedy Center board and then renamed it the Trump Kennedy Center, and personally pocketed over $1.4 billion.”
“And guess what? You didn’t remember most of that stuff,” he continued, impassioned. “You didn’t remember most of that stuff, because every single day there’s some new Trump horror dominating the headlines.”
Colbert pointed out that each new horror of the administration eclipses the next: “Case in point,” he said. “Trump invaded Venezuela a couple of weeks ago, seized their leader, and brought him to Brooklyn, and absolutely nobody’s talking about it. Not even me! That’s f---ing weird.”
“Today’s maniacal criminality distracts us from yesterday’s maniac crimes,” he concluded.
