Stephen Colbert plowed through the highlights of the impeachment trial’s second day on Wednesday, admitting that even he was shocked to see the new evidence about the January 6 insurrection attempt at the Capitol.
“It’s even worse than we thought,” the late night host said. “And I came into this with my ‘It’s pretty bad’ septic tank brimming over.”
He described the sharp case being brought forth by Democratic politicians like Rep. Joe Neguse and Rep. Jamie Raskin, and railed against Republican lawmakers who ignored the trial proceedings and were instead seen reading briefing papers on other topics. “Yes, other more interesting topics—like how does history tend to remember cowardly fascists enabling worthless pieces of garbage?” Colbert quipped.
He got serious toward the end, urging people to take this trial as seriously as possible. “It is important that one time, as a nation, we look this in face,” he said. “It’s only by facing this truth will we have any hope of stopping it again.”
“Also,” he added, “I’m pretty sure it’s not Antifa now.”
Over on the Daily Show, host Trevor Noah mocked the weak defense brought forth by Donald Trump’s messy legal team. “I thought Ted Cruz was gonna start another insurrection just to changed the subject,” Noah said.
He also got a few shots in at Trump himself, who was reportedly yelling at the TV as he saw the case proceed. “This is bad news for Trump’s lawyers, because Trump is a dude who’ll spend four hours at a rally ranking his favorite department stores,” Noah said. “If he thinks you’re rambling, then you know you fucked up.”
Jimmy Kimmel praised house impeachment lawyers for presenting evidence that was “absolutely gripping,” and even more damning for the “imbeciles” who flooded the Capitol in a failed coup. “Trump should have been removed from office that day,” he declared.
Like Noah, he also had a go at Trump’s legal team, showing a round up of all the criticism for their bumbling defense. “The last time [Trump] was this mad was when he found out there was a Donald Trump Jr.,” Kimmel joked.
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