MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace travelled over to CBS and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday to promote her new podcast because, apparently, everybody needs their own podcast. But other than self-promotion, Wallace would accuse the Trump Administration of laying siege to Los Angeles and claim Trump just wants to “[bleep] around with the military.”
Colbert would get the ball rolling by offering up his take on Trump, “I have a theory, and I think that he's not entirely aware that he is breaking laws. I think he doesn't care that he's breaking laws. I think he just has his appetites. The man wants what he wants, and laws be damned, get me what I want in the nugget hole, I want it. You know what I mean?”
Wallace expanded on the idea and accused Trump of creating the situation in LA, “I think that's what the White House chef is for, right? Like, make me what I want. I mean, I think the appetite for destruction is the most under-covered part of the Trump story… What he’s doing in LA is about creating destruction so he can go in like he is playing a part.”
After Colbert recalled how Wallace used to work for George W. Bush and asked her compare and contrast the personnel that made up Trump 1.0 with the people in Trump 2.0, Wallace lamented, “In the first term. They weren’t in the highest levels, but in the first term, this is really important at a policy lever place. The people that tapped Robert Mueller to investigate Trump's ties to Russia were “normal” Republicans. There are none of them there, and if you talk to former senior military officials, what's different about Stephen Miller running the ICE raids and running basically a siege of Los Angeles is that there is no Mark Milley, there is no Mark Esper, there is no Jim Mattis, and that's the big difference, and that’s the danger.”
It should be said, far from a siege, it currently looks like the Marines headed to LA will be there only to protect federal property and will only engage with demonstrators if they are attacked first. The liberal talking point that the overwhelming majority of LA remains peaceful also would seem to debunk the idea of a siege.
Nevertheless, Colbert wondered, “Yeah, exactly. More than 700 Marines and 2,000 National Guard troops have been sent there to deal with it. We’ve seen Trump stretch his presidential powers over the last five months. Is this different?”
Wallace claimed it is, “It feels different. It feels different to — can we swear here?.” After Colbert gave her the green light, Wallace continued, “[Bleep] around with the military. It feels really different, and he wanted to the first time, but people like Mark Milley stopped him and it feels really different to use the military as pawns out loud and as a public tactic. That feels different to me.
Later, in a second segment, Colbert wondered, “Why do you think, in America, your former party — the Republican party — beat the Democrats to that eventuality? Why do you think they were the first party that actually went ahead and threw everything out the window in order to serve a strongman?”
Wallace answered that, “It's the most heartbreaking thing about it because this is the party that thought democracy was worth fighting unpopular wars for. It is the biggest perversion of what the Republicans told themselves they were for 100 years.”
Colbert tried to get more specific, “I grant you the heartache, but why do you think it happened?”
Wallace again lamented, “I think it was the most weak. I think it was weak at the core, and I think it was the most drawn to Trump's toxicity. I think it never found a moment, despite the fact that there were hundreds of off-ramps, to say, "No, this isn't who we are."
The truth is Nicolle Wallace had her ideal candidate in 2008. She even worked for John McCain’s campaign and yet still refused to vote for him. Nobody is less qualified to mourn the state of the GOP than Nicolle Wallace.
Here is a transcript for the June 10-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
6/11/2025
12:08 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: I have a theory.
NICOLLE WALLACE: Tell me. Tell me.
COLBERT: I have a theory and I think that he's not entirely aware that he is breaking laws.
WALLACE: Really?
COLBERT: I think he doesn't care that he's breaking laws. I think he just has his appetites. The man wants what he wants—
WALLACE: Maybe.
COLBERT: — and laws be damned, get me what I want in the nugget hole, I want it. You know what I mean?
WALLACE: I think that's what the White House chef is for, right? Like, make me what I want. I mean, I think the appetite for destruction is the most under-covered part of the Trump story.
COLBERT: Oh, he creates chaos and he enjoy that.
WALLACE: What he’s doing in LA is about creating destruction so he can go in like he is playing a part.
COLBERT: Looking for opportunities—
WALLACE: Correct.
COLBERT: — the old metaphor of throwing a grenade into the room and then going in to clean things up.
WALLACEL: Yeah. Yeah. Or the arsonist going in.
COLBERT: Exactly.
WALLACE: Yeah, cleaning up—
COLBERT: So, okay, so you were with the Bush Administration, the W. Bush administration.
WALLACE: We always talk about this.
COLBERT: I mean, it’s part of your CV, baby.
WALLACE: I know, I know, I know, but I feel like it's where there’s distance between us.
COLBERT: No, there’s no distance between us.
WALLACE: Okay.
COLBERT: But here’s the thing, is that, you worked in that administration and when you look at the people that Trump has hired this time around—
WALLACE: Yeah.
COLBERT: — as opposed to last time around, because you were there—
WALLACE: Oh yeah.
COLBERT: — you saw cabinet meetings and stuff like that.
WALLACE: Sure.
COLBERT: What does it say to you about who he hired this time?
WALLACE: Well, I don't know any of them.
COLBERT: I'm not saying, you're buddies—
WALLACE: No, no, this is a serious point. Last time they still came from Republican politics. There were still people in every agency that I knew.
COLBERT: Sure, he kind of reached out—yeah.
WALLACE: Correct. In the first term. They weren’t in the highest levels, but in the first term, this is really important at a policy lever place. The people that tapped Robert Mueller to investigate Trump's ties to Russia were “normal” Republicans. There are none of them there, and if you talk to former senior military officials, what's different about Stephen Miller running the ICE raids and running basically a siege of Los Angeles is that there is no Mark Milley, there is no Mark Esper, there is no Jim Mattis, and that's the big difference, and that’s the danger.
COLBERT: There’s nobody to push back when the president says "Why can't you just shoot them, like shoot them in the legs" or something like that—
WALLACE: Correct.
COLBERT: — as Esper has testified —
WALLACE: Correct. And Milley and others.
COLBERT: Yeah, exactly. More than 700 Marines and 2,000 National Guard troops have been sent there to deal with it. We’ve seen Trump stretch his presidential powers over the last five months. Is this different?
WALLACE: It feels different. It feels different to — can we swear here?
COLBERT: Sure.
WALLACE: [Bleep] around with the military. It feels really different, and he wanted to the first time, but people like Mark Milley stopped him and it feels really different to use the military as pawns out loud and as a public tactic. That feels different to me.
…
COLBERT: Why do you think, in America, your former party — the Republican party — beat the Democrats to that eventuality? Why do you think they were the first party that actually went ahead and threw everything out the window in order to serve a strongman?
WALLACE: It's the most heartbreaking thing about it because this is the party that thought democracy was worth fighting unpopular wars for. It is the biggest perversion of what the Republicans told themselves they were for 100 years.
COLBERT: I grant you the heartache, but why do you think it happened?
WALLACE: I think it was the most weak. I think it was weak at the core, and I think it was the most drawn to Trump's toxicity. I think it never found a moment, despite the fact that there were hundreds of off-ramps, to say, "No, this isn’t who we are."
