As everyone knows, late-night talk shows like Stephen Colbert are generally recorded in the late afternoon, though – obviously, the schedule is flexible. Last night the schedule flexed such that Colbert waited until after the Select Committee hearing, and the entire nation benefitted. Colbert was never better.
As comedians do, they pierce society’s soul with humor, but the laughs only come after one accepts the underlying truth, with a focus on the message. Despite the fact that the nation remained largely stunned by what they had just seen, especially Officer Caroline Edwards’ strong yet tragic testimony, Colbert had a job to do. He had to clear everyone’s head such that they could better appreciate what just happened.
He succeeded and left no stone unturned.
Colbert began, as one should, by taking a shot at the Republicans who pronounced the hearing a big nothing burger before they even saw the hearing. Colbert, emphasizing the hearing’s surprising clarity and power, pronounced the hearing as the juiciest burger ever created, set within a bun of burgers.
Without covering the entire monologue, Colbert chose to highlight one crucial fact that says everything about the premise of the entire need for an investigation, that the election was not fraudulent, it was not stolen, and the coup was based upon one man’s lie. Colbert ran tape from Ivanka’s penetrating testimony; Once she heard Bill Barr pronounce the election to have been legitimate with no significant fraud, Ivanka accepted Barr’s findings. Ivanka did not use the precise word “lost,” but she did, in fact, say that she believes her dad lose, fair and square. Colbert went right up to the line between edgy and distasteful, saying it was a bittersweet moment for Trump because Ivanka finally screwed him.
Colbert landed on the correct side, powerfully edgy, and did so for a reason. Yes, Team Trump’s meticulously planned violence had to be the focus of the first hearing. But the Committee also had to prove that it was all done based on a lie. The committee had thousands of officials who would have testified that Trump lost and it was all a lie. They picked Ivanka, perhaps Trump’s most trusted advisor, perhaps the only person on earth that Trump truly loves, to deliver the final decree. Trump lost. His inability to handle the truth put the nation through all it’s endured.
There is much more to the monologue, but it cannot be done justice with these words, and that is why the tape is provided above. One should make time to see it. In a fantastic career, one of the nation’s most necessary and informed voices was never better.
Jason Miciak believes a day without learning is a day not lived. He is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is a Canadian-born dual citizen who spent his teen and college years in the Pacific Northwest and has since lived in seven states. He now enjoys life as a single dad of a young girl, writing from the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He loves crafting his flower pots, cooking, while also studying scientific philosophy, religion, and non-math principles behind quantum mechanics and cosmology. Please feel free to contact for speaking engagements or any concerns.