US talk show host Stephen Colbert delivered a largely joke-free first half of his monologue on Thursday night to call out Republicans in the wake of President Donald Trump’s outrageous speech.
The president attacked the democratic process and declared, without evidence, that he won the election, despite the fact that votes were still being counted across multiple states.
But Colbert said he wouldn’t be showing any clips of the speech during his show.
“We’re not going to show you a second of what that sad, frightened fraud said tonight,” Colbert told viewers. “Because it’s poison, and I like you. He can suck silence.”
Colbert then challenged Republican lawmakers who were standing by Trump and those who have remained silent:
“Donald Trump is a fascist ― and when it comes to democracy versus fascism, I’m sorry, there are not fine people on both sides. So you need to choose: Donald Trump or the American people. This is the time to get off the Trump train because he just told you where the train is going, and it’s not a passenger train. He’ll load you on it someday, too.”
Colbert said it was not just votes being counted. Americans were also keeping score.
“They’re going to count who was willing to speak up against Donald Trump trying to kill democracy,” Colbert said.
“And they’ll count who will stay silent in the face of this desperate attack on the bedrock institution of this truly great nation.”
Watch Stephen Colbert’s latest monologue in full below: