Tuesday night on CBS’s The Late Show, far-left host Stephen Colbert engaged in the latest smear against Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL), falsely claiming he was “silent” on alleged neo-Nazi gatherings and deceptively edited a clip to claim he only commented so far as to attack Democrats for using it against him. In reality, DeSantis slammed the white supremacists as “jackasses.”
As a reminder, this came from the same guy that had Whoopi Goldberg on the night prior.
Colbert closed his monologue to boo’s from the dark-blue audience as he griped: “Speaking of the worst people in public office, Florida Governor...Ron DeSantis.”
Citing the “Nazi rallies in Orlando,” Colbert noted that it was a “terrible” thing before launching into his DeSantis smear:
[T]he easiest thing in the world to condemn, unless you're Ron DeSantis, who “remain[ed] silent.” It's been said the only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to say nothing. It's also bad when Ron DeSantis says nothing.
Colbert added the Governor was “cornered by...reporters wanting to know things like, ‘Hey, gov: So Nazis? Where do you come down on that whole deal?’”
Instead of showing a fuller clip of DeSantis condemning what happened during a Monday Q&A, Colbert played a fragment of his comments and said the only thing DeSantis did was spot “the true enemy: Democrats.” Then, he played this from DeSantis calling out the left’s attempts to tie him to Nazis:
What I'm going to say is these people, these Democrats who are trying to use this as some type of political issue to try to smear me as if I had something to do with it — we're not playing their game.
Put simply, Colbert proved DeSantis’s point.
What the governor actually said was that, in addition to condemning what took place, he promised “state law enforcement is going to hold them accountable...and they should,” and insisted Jews have “tremendous support” in the Sunshine State.
DeSantis also mentioned a 2019 state law targeting anti-Semitism, which the Jerusalem Post said “mandat[ed] that discrimination against Jewish people be treated the same as acts of racial discrimination in Florida’s public education institutions.”
Also in the response Colbert purposefully left out, he ignored DeSantis emphasizing how anti-Semitism is a scourge inside the left as they’ve chosen to include open anti-Semites in the halls of Congress like Ilhan Omar (MN).
Back in a world where Politifact should given him a pants on fire ruling, Colbert lamented:
He seems to think being asked how he feels about Nazis is some kind of gotcha question instead of the biggest softball question of all time. Watch. [CAMERA TURN] I think Nazis are bad. [TAKES CLASSES OFF] [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Where do I get the courage? [CAMERA TURN] Not from Ron DeSantis. [LAUGHTER]
Colbert also served up two pathetic bits about conservatives wanting to ban Black History Month and a graphic claim about the testicles of tens of millions of Americans (click “expand”):
Unfortunately, 14 states have a weird way of celebrating Black History month with new rules that limit how teachers can teach Black History Month or as the teachers — [BOOS] — or as the teachers will now be forced to call it, Month. One Black educator warned that teachers could “mention that...Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color line but not discuss why Black players were banned.” They could also “mention soul singer Marvin Gaye but not discuss his What's Going On lyrics.”
(....)
Let's be clear: It is difficult after years of building a thick, protective callous over my heart and my brain just to protect myself from the hot, black, tar of his narcissistic, evil impulses for me to take this information in for the — the gargantuan and grotesque violation of everything that this country holds dear. But I think it's worth taking a moment right now to let this sink in, to marinate in the madness. At home, you might want to pause your DVR to scream into a bag or punch a hole in the drywall — [LAUGHTER] — because, to be clear, the former President, still the leader of one of the two major parties who has all of the Republicans balls in a little velvet pouch that he wears around his neck like an amulet, wanted troops — U.S. troops to go into your local polling place, grab the machines, throw 'em in a truck, then God knows what? Waterboard them till they said he won? You should be alarmed, even if you voted for him, because military coups do not lead to healthy societies.
Speaking of fake news and far-left partisanship, NBC’s Late Night host Seth Meyers had two bits on his early Wednesday show with one his writers (and Peacock host) Amber Ruffin.
The two were going back and forth in a set called “Jokes Seth Can’t Say” because he’s a straight, white male, they also claimed Republicans were banning Black History Month and compared climbing Mt. Everest to voting in Texas (click “expand”):
MEYERS: February is black history month...
RUFFIN: ...offer not valid in Virginia.
AUDIENCE: Oooooo! [LAUGHTER]
RUFFIN: It’s not!
(....)
MEYERS: An all-black group is planning to climb Mount Everest...
RUFFIN: ...which is just a fancy way of saying they're going to try to vote in Texas. [LAUGHTER]
Like with most things, we ask this question (though we know the answer): Where are the fact-checkers?
The blatant and open lies by Colbert and Meyers were made possible thanks to the endorsement of advertisers such as Geico (on CBS), Google (on CBS), Subway (on NBC). Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from February 2, click “expand.”
CBS’s Late Show With Stephen Colbert
February 2, 2022
11:38 p.m. EasternSTEPHEN COLBERT: Unfortunately, 14 states have a weird way of celebrating Black History month with new rules that limit how teachers can teach Black History Month or as the teachers — [BOOS] — or as the teachers will now be forced to call it, Month. One Black educator warned that teachers could “mention that...Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color line but not discuss why Black players were banned.” They could also “mention soul singer Marvin Gaye but not discuss his What's Going On lyrics.”
(....)
11:40 p.m. Eastern
COLBERT: Let's be clear: It is difficult after years of building a thick, protective callous over my heart and my brain just to protect myself from the hot, black, tar of his narcissistic, evil impulses for me to take this information in for the — the gargantuan and grotesque violation of everything that this country holds dear. But I think it's worth taking a moment right now to let this sink in, to marinate in the madness. At home, you might want to pause your DVR to scream into a bag or punch a hole in the drywall — [LAUGHTER] — because, to be clear, the former President, still the leader of one of the two major parties who has all of the Republicans balls in a little velvet pouch that he wears around his neck like an amulet, wanted troops — U.S. troops to go into your local polling place, grab the machines, throw 'em in a truck, then God knows what? Waterboard them till they said he won? You should be alarmed, even if you voted for him, because military coups do not lead to healthy societies.
(....)
11:45 p.m. Eastern
COLBERT: Speaking of the worst people in public office, Florida Governor and man describing what Adele's music means to him — [BOOS] — Ron DeSantis. Over the weekend, horrifically, there were a couple of “Nazi rallies in Orlando.” I assume they were trying to annex the Sudetenland pavilion at Epcot. Now, this is terrible, and the easiest thing in the world to condemn, unless you're Ron DeSantis, who “remain[ed] silent.” It's been said the only thing necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to say nothing. It's also bad when Ron DeSantis says nothing. [LAUGHTER] Then DeSantis got cornered by some no-good reporters wanting to know things like, “Hey, gov: So Nazis? Where do you come down on that whole deal?” But DeSantis identified the true enemy: Democrats.
GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS (R-FL) [on 02/01/22]: What I'm going to say is these people, these Democrats who are trying to use this as some type of political issue to try to smear me as if I had something to do with it — we're not playing their game.
COLBERT: He seems to think being asked how he feels about Nazis is some kind of gotcha question instead of the biggest softball question of all time. Watch. [CAMERA TURN] I think Nazis are bad. [TAKES CLASSES OFF] [CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] Where do I get the courage? [CAMERA TURN] Not from Ron DeSantis. [LAUGHTER]
