When Monica Lewinsky traveled to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday to promote her new podcast, she briefly popped the show’s liberal bubble by lamenting to the eponymous host that if what she went through in 1998 were to happen with some future Democratic president, she isn’t convinced the reaction would be any different.
Colbert wondered, “As opposed to 1998, what you went through in 1998, how do you think that would be different in 2025? If someone had that same experience, how do you think it would be different for them? Or if at all?”
Lewinsky tried to delicately dance around the political angle of the question but ultimately could not avoid it:
Yeah, it would be different in the number of ways. So, first of all, just the news cycle is shorter, but I think because of the MeToo movement, we are more aware of power dynamics now, and what I'm not 100 percent sure of is, given the, I don't know the right way to say it, I think given certain political lanes that we live in now, I don't know if it were a young, charismatic, very popular Democratic president, if it would be—if it would be as different as we think it would be. So, I’m not sure—
Colbert interrupted to ask, “Because it would be an opportunity for attack?”
Lewinsky agreed, “Yeah, I think so. So, I don't know that we have seen as much of a shift in the political landscape in that, but 100 percent different. And I think that women are supported more now for sure.”
It is hard to argue with that. As recently as November 2024, Clinton himself was on The Late Show ironically lamenting the supposed decline of the rule of law, and last March, Colbert moderated a discussion between Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden as part of an expensive New York fundraiser.
Here is a transcript for the February 20-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/21/2025
12:27 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: As opposed to 1998, what you went through in 1998, how do you think that would be different in 2025? If someone had that same experience—
MONICA LEWINSKY: Right.
COLBERT: — how do you think it would be different for them? Or if at all?
LEWINSKY: Yeah, it would be different in the number of ways. So, first of all, just the news cycle is shorter, but I think because of the MeToo movement, we are more aware of power dynamics now, and what I'm not 100 percent sure of is, given the, I don't know the right way to say it, I think given certain political lanes that we live in now, I don't know if it were a young, charismatic, very popular Democratic president, if it would be — if it would be as different as we think it would be. So, I’m not sure—
COLBERT: Because it would be an opportunity for attack?
LEWINSKY: Yeah, I think so. So, I don't know that we have seen as much of a shift in the political landscape in that, but 100 percent different. And I think that women are supported more now for sure.
