Brow Beat

Stephen Colbert Reacts to Trump’s Congressional Address in a Live Monologue: “One Down, Seven to Go”

Stephen Colbert was live on The Late Show after President Trump’s address to Congress, which was as “presidential” and “Reaganesque” as all of his other hateful, ideologically contradictory speeches. Fortunately, Colbert wasn’t as willing to fall for the polished traps as other members of the media. As the late-night host began his analysis of the night, “Technically this was not a State of the Union—because I think in this timeline the Confederacy won.”

Colbert worked off of a highlight reel, snipping Trump’s horrendously long address to its most memorable moments: when he took credit for beginning to “drain the swamp” of Washington, indicated that he’d launched “anti-regulation task forces” in every governmental agency, and most notably, revived the call to “repeal and replace Obamacare.” On that last point, Colbert noted the audience’s enthusiastic reaction. “I’ve got to say, that must have been hard on Trump,” he joked. “People got so excited just hearing Obama’s name.” (Indeed, Obama’s just a little more popular than Trump.)

But overall, nothing especially new was said—it was just the latest heavily covered moment in this “alternative timeline.” It wasn’t all bad news for Colbert, however. “As we come to the end of tonight’s address to Congress, I think we can all agree on one thing,” he said: “One down, seven to go.”