Stephen Colbert has had many blunt words for Republicans in the days since a pro-Trump mob, some of whom are now being investigated by the FBI for domestic terrorism, attacked the Capitol building — and he isn’t done yet.
During his Late Show monologue on Tuesday, the host turned his attention to the latest Republican talking point: calling for “unity” and “healing” in an attempt to justify their arguments not to impeach the president. Unsurprisingly, Colbert was having none of it.
“OK, let’s unify in punishing all the insurrectionists and their political leaders who legitimise their homicidal fantasies,” he says in the clip above. “There can be no healing until the sickness is identified and removed, and you can do it now! The tumour lost his Twitter feed! ‘Cuz unity’s great, I’m all for unity, so Republicans — what is your outreach to the other side? You got to ante up. You don’t get to stay in the game if you don’t toss in a chip of good faith. The other side is going to stop this from happening again by getting rid of the guy who caused it; what are you willing to do to help?”
So far, Colbert argues, Republicans have done nothing.
“They were simply certifying a free and fair election — an election that you knew was free and fair — but you lied about it anyway because you wanted the campaign cash and all those eyeballs, and you were afraid to make your boss and his MAGA monster mad,” he says. “Your lies legitimised the fantasies of a violent, anti-democratic mob that nearly got you and your colleagues killed, and did get a policeman murdered.
“Now you want to use your hollow calls for unity to sweep it all under the rug?”