CBS’s Stephen Colbert’s habit of inviting guests to The Late Show to tell him what he wants to hear continued apace on Thursday as he welcomed author, former Biden speechwriter, and frequent cable news talking head Jon Meacham to the show to promote his new book and do his usual shtick where he attempts to wax poetic about the dire state of Trump’s America. According to Meacham, the country is at risk of losing “the ethos that sent men to Omaha Beach” and other places that Americans associate with the fight for freedom.
Hyping Meacham’s new book that comes out next month, Colbert wondered, “Well, in this book, as I said, this is a collection of many Americans from many points of view addressing their moment in the American story. Are there one or two in here that especially feel instructive for today?”
Trying to tie himself to Frederick Douglass, Meacham began, “See, Frederick Douglass is always instructive. I think the most important American of the 19th century in many ways. Imagine what it takes for a person born into enslavement in 1852 to stand up and say ‘I, for one, do not despair of this republic. The fiat of the Almighty, 'Let there be light,' has not yet spent its force.’"
He also recalled how “he called the Constitution a glorious liberty document because he saw that it was the user’s guide, if you will, for that mission statement. The Declaration of Independence is our mission statement. The Constitution is our user's guide. And one thing we have to remember, all of us, is that there is nothing guaranteed about America making it to tomorrow. This is a fragile experiment because it's human. It's not clinical.”
Meacham then alleged that Trump is a threat to all these good things, “And what I want everybody to try to do at this point is think about, what do you want the future to say about us? We're at risk of being a generation that loses the ethos that sent men to Omaha Beach, that sent people into Gettysburg, who sent people to Selma, Alabama, to broaden the definition and understanding of what the country can be. And it's not easy. But it's also vitally -- was never supposed to be about the whims and the ego of a single person.”
No, but as we have seen in recent days, it was never supposed to be about mob rule in the streets that hinders the federal government’s ability to enforce the law either. The men at Gettysburg could relate to that as well.
Here is a transcript for the January 15-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
1/16/2026
12:31 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Well, in this book, as I said, this is a collection of many Americans from many points of view addressing their moment in the American story. Are there one or two in here that especially feel instructive for today?
JON MEACHAM: See, Frederick Douglass is always instructive. I think the most important American of the 19th century in many ways. Imagine what it takes for a person born into enslavement in 1852 to stand up and say "I, for one, do not despair of this republic. The fiat of the Almighty: ‘Let there be light,’ has not yet spent its force."
And he called the Constitution a glorious liberty document because he saw that it was the user’s guide, if you will, for that mission statement. The Declaration of Independence is our mission statement. The Constitution is our user's guide. And one thing we have to remember, all of us, is that there is nothing guaranteed about America making it to tomorrow. This is a fragile experiment because it's human. It's not clinical.
And what I want everybody to try to do at this point is think about, what do you want the future to say about us? We're at risk of being a generation that loses the ethos that sent men to Omaha Beach, that sent people into Gettysburg, who sent people to Selma, Alabama, to broaden the definition and understanding of what the country can be. And it's not easy. But it's also vitally -- was never supposed to be about the whims and the ego of a single person.
