Steven Colbert continued his streak Wednesday night of becoming the paramount late night host for Democratic primary candidates to speak with on the campaign trail press tour. Kirsten Gillibrand as well as Kamala Harris were given the royal treatment during their appearances on The Late Show, so it only makes sense the courtesy would be extended to Beto O’Rourke during his appearance on the show Wednesday night.
To begin, Colbert could not resist the temptation to ask about impeachment proceedings against President Trump, snarkily commenting “But if that actually goes forward and he's impeached, you wouldn't have the pleasure of running against him. Aren't you robbing yourself of the joy of running against President Trump there?”
Things then took a more serious note, with Colbert taking the classic liberal shot at President Trump suggesting he is a racist due to his stance on the citizenship question on the Census. “Trump is using the executive privilege over census information. So he will not reveal any communications between I think it's Wilbur Ross and is it the Attorney General as well? About whether the citizenship question was put in there to suppress responses from non-- from non-whites, essentially.”
O’Rourke provided the much desired talking point for the left with his response of “That means less representation and less resources. So we absolutely must get those documents. And then we also must understand that we already have a smoking gun from a Republican strategist who said that he did this to diminish the power of communities of color.”
The intellectual argument for adding a citizenship question to the Census does not cross the minds of Democrats under the guise of the media. The rule of thumb is when in doubt about the facts, refer to the plan as racist.
Click expand to read the transcript below:
The Late Show With Steven Colbert
6/13/19
12:06:06 AM
STEVEN COLBERT: If I'm not mistaken-- correct me if I'm wrong you are one of the candidates who is in favor of starting impeachment investigations, or impeachment proceedings against President Trump. Am I correct in that?
BETO O' ROURKE: Yes
COLBERT: But if that actually goes forward and he's impeached, you wouldn't have the pleasure of running against him. Aren't you robbing yourself of the joy of running against President Trump there? Why do-- why do you think? Pelosi is still dead set against it. She's saying it's not impossible, but she just does not see the sign that it's the right thing to do. Why do you feel differently?
O'ROURKE: You know, impeachment is not about getting rid of the President. It's about finding the facts, getting to the truth, ensuring that there's accountability and justice for what happened to this democracy in 2016. A candidate for president who invited the participation of a foreign power. Who once the investigation began, fired the principal investigator, James Comey, the head of the F.B.I. Tweeted in broad daylight to his attorney general to stop the investigation and there was something really powerful in what Bob Mueller said within the last few weeks in his public comments. He said that when the subject of an investigation lies to the investigators or obstructs justice, it gets to the very heart of this government and our ability to hold ourselves accountable. In other words, for this democracy to persist, there has to be justice. And if we set the precedent that some people are above the law or beyond the reach of the law, by not impeaching this president, not getting to the facts or the truth, I think that begins the end of this democracy. So let's begin impeachment proceedings, get to the truth, and hold people accountable.
COLBERT: Just today, this is news, Trump is using the executive privilege over census information. So he will not reveal any communications between I think it's Wilbur Ross and is it the Attorney General as well? About whether the citizenship question was put in there to suppress responses from non-- from non-whites, essentially.
O'ROURKE: Right
COLBERT: So but he's exerting executive privilege. What do you make of the present state of the presidency? If you were president, what power would you surrender? Because there seems to be this snowballing collection of presidency. Not generation after generation, literally one president after another. What is the first power you would signal you were willing to give up as president?
O'ROURKE: So, first of all, let me just say on this census issue, they're predicting that the census is predicting a 6% under count that will be targeted against nonwhites in this country, so Hispanics, African Americans, communities of color. That means less representation and less resources. So we absolutely must get those documents. And then we also must understand that we already have a smoking gun from a Republican strategist who said that he did this to diminish the power of communities of color.
COLBERT: That's how we know that this exertion of executive privilege is really to hide something.
O'ROURKE: That's right.
COLBERT: We need to see the other half of that communication.
