CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Seth Meyers used the respective Monday editions of The Late Show and Late Night to roll out the red carpet for two of the most left-wing members of the Senate in Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. The two hosts lobbed mostly softballs and let their guests go on unchallenged monologues as they discussed their favorite pet issues.
On the Senate’s immigration bill, Colbert claimed that “it's actually the bill the Republicans probably couldn't get under other circumstances.”
Warren agreed and hyped various parts of the bill, “So people who are here, who are trying to get asylum, actually would be allowed, legally, to go get jobs... They can move out of shelters. They can pay taxes.”
However, she also attacked the bill from the left, “I also want to say there are some things that are really missing.”
Warren mostly meant a pathway to citizenship provision, “I worked on a bill with a lot of other people to say, 'Let's create a path to citizenship for these undocumented workers. Let's not' -- I don't want to bang a pan to say thank you. I actually want to say you have helped save this nation [during COVID]. You kept our food supply going, you kept our medical care going, you kept our trash pickup going. We are grateful and we will show we are grateful by creating the path to citizenship.”
Later, Colbert wondered, “Why are you mad at Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, Jerome Powell. I know you don't like rich guys?”
For Warren, high prices are everybody’s fault, except Biden, “The problem is, yes, we had inflation, but inflation was being caused by a lot of things, like supply chain kinks that COVID had given us. The war in Ukraine had driven up energy prices sharply, the price of wheat, and giant corporations looked around and said ‘Oh, everybody is talking about inflation right now. Great time to raise our prices’ and they didn't just raise those prices to cover costs.”
As for Powell, Warren declared that “I want him to bring those interest rates down.” In other news, Warren also urged the DEA to “join the 21st century, and let's make marijuana legal.”
As for Meyers and Sanders, the former turned the show in Late Night DNC even more than usual, “I know you have a lot of immense personal respect for President Biden. Obviously, we have an election coming up, the Democratic voting coalition is very diverse. A lot of different kinds of people. Make a case for why you think people should turn out for president Biden in November.”
Sanders launched into a nearly three-minute monologue that consisted of typical talking points about both Donald Trump, “Trump is trying to do is get us to hate each other, based on where we were born, or the color of our skin, or our sexual orientation and we just cannot allow that to happen.”
As for Biden, “The economy, as you indicated is really doing well, unemployment extremely low we're creating a whole lot of jobs, rebuilding manufacturing in America."
Summing up the choice, Sanders claimed, “if you really want to turn your back on the millions of men and women who fought to defend democracy, I guess Trump is your candidate. But if you believe in what this country is supposed to value, is that we all come together as one people, we believe in the rule of law, Biden is your candidate.”
Shifting topics, Meyers observed, “You've called Hamas a disgusting terrorist organization, many hostages are not back, and yet we also see an unspeakable loss of civilian lives in Gaza, is there -- do you have any optimism for a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians?”
Sanders proved he has no grasp of geopolitical realities as he on one hand claimed, “we in the United States through our financial support of Israel are complicit in what's happening and I will be damned if I'm going to give another nickel to the Netanyahu government in order to continue this war against the Palestinian people.”
Meyers claimed solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was above his paygrade, but repeated his question about whether there’s any hope for peace, to which Sanders claimed, “So, we're talking about a two-state solution. Hamas cannot be, in my view, part of that equation. They are a terrorist jihadist group, there are people, Palestinians, who believe in democracy, Palestinians who do believe in improving the lives of people there.”
Does Sanders think Hamas is just going to voluntarily agree to leave power in Gaza? Such questions would’ve been asked in a proper interview, but that is not why he and Warren appear on the late night shows.
Here are transcripts for the February 5-taped shows:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/6/2024
12:08 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: It's actually the bill the Republicans probably couldn't get under other circumstances—
ELIZABETH WARREN: That’s right.
COLBERT: -- because it doesn't have comprehensive immigration reform. It has border security.
ELIZABETH WARREN: Well, so, here's the thing. It's got some really good pieces. It’s more resources for the border, which is good. It's got in it for example it's got work permits in it. So people who are here, who are trying to get asylum actually would be allowed, legally, to go get jobs and that means-- yeah.
COLBERT: Pay taxes.
WARREN: They can move out of shelters. They can pay taxes. And look at, at least back home in Massachusetts, there are a lot of employers who really would like to have the extra help, to have the extra workers. So, there's some good things.
I also want to say there are some things that are really missing. You remember back during COVID that one of the things we all talked about were the essential workers who kept us all going. It was a lot of undocumented workers and I worked on a bill with a lot of other people to say let's create a path to citizenship for these undocumented workers. Let's not -- I don't want to bang a pan to say thank you. I actually want to say you have helped save this nation. You kept our food supply going, you kept our medical care going, you kept our trash pickup going. We are grateful and we will show we are grateful by creating the path to citizenship.
…
COLBERT: Hey, everybody, look at that. We're back here with Senator Elizabeth Warren. Why are you mad at Jerome Powell?
WARREN: Well.
COLBERT: The Fed chair, Jerome Powell. I know you don't like rich guys.
WARREN: Yeah.
COLBERT: But why don't you like -- you rolled your eyes at Elon Musk the last time we were talking.
WARREN: Elon Musk is still on my list, but on Jerome Powell. It's about interest rates. Jerome Powell and the Fed raised interest rates extraordinarily. I mean, just remarkably and now they are at a very high level. The problem is, yes, we had inflation, but inflation was being caused by a lot of things, like supply chain kinks that COVID had given us. The war in Ukraine had driven up energy prices sharply, the price of wheat, and giant corporations looked around and said "Oh, everybody is talking about inflation right now. Great time to raise our prices" and they didn't just raise those prices to cover costs. They raised those prices triple and quadruple what they needed to raise them.
We know that because their profit margins went up. It's called price gouging. So Jerome Powell raised interest rates. Inflation has come back down six of the last seven months, inflation has been at two percent or lower which is the Feds’ target and now it's happening with this high inflation rate, we've got the other stuff starting to get it under control. Biden Administration is fighting back. But this high interest rate is driving up the cost of housing. It means that people can't afford a mortgage.
First-time buyer can't get into this market. People can't move and even for renters, it affects what you pay for rent because when your landlord is paying more for a mortgage, believe you me the landlord passes it on to the tenant. Plus, it means there's less new construction and we need more housing so I want him to bring those interest rates down.
COLBERT: Last week, you, Senator Fetterman, Senator Schumer, and Senator Sanders sent a letter to the DEA asking for marijuana to be descheduled.
WARREN: Yeah.
COLBERT: How is that different—two-part question: how is that different from legalization? And are you high right now?
WARREN: So, let's do the first part. The answer is, legalization is what you do if you had a functional Congress. Well, that's not the world we live in. So descheduling is something the administration could do without going to Congress. Right now marijuana is scheduled, it's called, as a drug by the DEA, at the same risk as heroin.
And that means not only is it illegal, you can't even do research on it. It's so – no and what we are saying in this letter is guys, get with it, at the DEA. It's not 1954. More than half of all states have legalized marijuana. They’ve said either-- Massachusetts, it's legal both for medicinal purposes and recreational purposes.
COLBERT: Actually mandatory. The toll booths on 95, they just hand them out.
WARREN: You know; you still have personal choice.
COLBERT: Okay, I understand. Just keep it.
WARREN: Alright. But the idea is to say at the federal level instead of creating this conflict which is causing all kinds of problems. Got problems in banking laws, problems in tax laws. You just say deschedule and look, we need some restrictions of course. Let's treat it like an alcohol. We need to-- but deschedule it, join the 21st century, and let's make marijuana legal. Shouldn't be that hard.
***
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
2/6/2024
1:04 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: You -- I know you have a lot of immense personal respect for President Biden. Obviously we have an election coming up, the Democratic voting coalition is very diverse. A lot of different kinds of people. Make a case for why you think people should turn out for president Biden in November.
BERNIE SANDERS: Well, for a first step, it's absolutely imperative that Donald Trump be defeated. Let me -- you know, and what this election is about, it is not just policy, it's not just differences of views on healthcare, education, or tax policy. You have a president, former president, who really does not believe in democracy. He's trying to undermine democracy.
He is a pathological liar. And he is in very intense ways trying to divide our people up. Look, this country faces enormous problems today and we all know what they are. We're talking about income and wealth inequality, we're talking about 60 percent of workers living paycheck to paycheck, we're talking about the existential threat of climate change, enormous problems facing this country.
But instead of focusing and providing solutions to those problems, what Trump is trying to do is get us to hate each other, based on where we were born, or the color of our skin, or our sexual orientation and we just cannot allow that to happen and then on top of all that, you've got a guy in Trump, who during his presidency gave massive tax breaks to the rich, at a time when we have unprecedented income and wealth inequality, it's the last thing they need.
This guy wants to throw tens of millions of people off of the health insurance that they have, he appointed anti-union members of his administration to make it harder for workers to form unions and I'll tell you, all over this country, women are fighting for the right to control their own bodies, he wants to take that away.
So that's Trump.
And on the other hand in Biden, I'm not going to sit here, you know I ran against Biden, so I'm not going to sit here and tell you I agree with everything Joe Biden is doing, I don't, big time. But on the other hand, this is the first president in the history of the United States to walk on a picket line with workers! And that's a pretty impressive thing.
We made some progress in lowering the cost of prescription drugs and taking on the pharmaceutical industry. The economy, as you indicated is really doing well, unemployment extremely low we're creating a whole lot of jobs, rebuilding manufacturing in America, so we're beginning to move forward in the right direction, and in my view we have a lot, lot more to do, but the choice in this election is very clear if you do not believe in democracy, if you really want to turn your back on the millions of men and women who fought to defend democracy, I guess Trump is your candidate. But if you believe in what this country is supposed to value, is that we all come together as one people, we believe in the rule of law, Biden is your candidate.
MEYERS: I want to ask, because I know you've been a voice in the Senate over the current situation in the Middle East, we are almost four months after the horrifically unforgettable acts of October 7. You've called Hamas a disgusting terrorist organization, many hostages are not back, and yet we also see an unspeakable loss of civilian lives in Gaza, is there -- do you have any optimism for a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians?
SANDERS: Seth, I hope to God it takes place, as you've just indicated, Hamas began this war with their horrific, brutal terrorist attack against, killing 1,200 innocent Israelis, wounding more, taking over 200 people hostage.
But I have to tell you that what Netanyahu and his right-wing government are doing right now to the people of Palestine is, of Gaza is indescribable and unspeakable. I mean, we're looking at 25, 26,000 people who have been killed already, two-thirds of whom are women and children, 65,000 people who have been wounded, we're looking at 70 percent of the housing units in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.
Can you believe that 70 percent? You're looking at 1.8 million people pushed out of their homes, God knows where they're going, and right now, and this is -- I hope everybody hears this you're looking at the possibility of hundreds of thousands of children starving to death and we in the United States through our financial support of Israel are complicit in what's happening and I will be damned if I'm going to give another nickel to the Netanyahu government in order to continue this war against the Palestinian people
MEYERS: Do you see -- I mean, it all seems so impossible I mean, I certainly don't know the solution I wouldn't ever claim to but do you see any hope for optimism that there's a future for the Palestinians and Israelis
SANDERS: The history of the region is terrible, you know, we don't have time to go into it, deals with the Holocaust, of six million Jews, it deals with the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their home, but at the end of the day, the people, Palestinian people are entitled to a homeland of their own. So, we're talking about a two-state solution.
Hamas cannot be, in my view, part of that equation. They are a terrorist jihadist group, there are people, Palestinians, who believe in democracy, Palestinians who do believe in improving the lives of people there. We've got to work with those people, and create a long-term solution where Israel has the security that it is entitled to, and the Palestinians have a state of their own, and the freedom that they are entitled to.
