Late night host Stephen Colbert mocked the Republican Party on Tuesday for the party’s internal divisions, likening the strife to the Civil War in his opening monologue.
On CBS’s “The Late Show,” Colbert said the party’s “internal strife” is like the Civil War, mocking the debate in the GOP over whether to support President Trump and his agenda.
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“Well, I don’t know if you’re paying attention, but internal strife is tearing the Republican Party apart at the seams,” Colbert said.
“It’s like a new Civil War,” he added, “only this time, neither side is trying to help black people.”
Colbert’s monologue came just hours after Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) announced he would not seek reelection in 2018 and would instead stand against Trump and his agenda in the Senate for the remainder of his term.
“It is clear at this moment that a traditional conservative who believes in limited government and free markets, who is devoted to free trade, and who is pro-immigration, has a narrower and narrower path to nomination in the Republican party — the party that for so long has defined itself by belief in those things,” Flake said during a blistering floor speech aimed at Trump.
Colbert, a frequent critic of Trump, specifically named Flake during his monologue, playing excerpts from the Arizona senator’s floor speech and joking that Flake resembled an “upright golden retriever.”
“Mr. President, I will not be complicit or silent,” Flake says in the short clip played by Colbert.
“No, I will be complicit and absent,” Colbert fired back.
“Now hold on,” he added. “You’re acting like all Donald Trump does is go on Twitter to threaten global stability. [But] he also threatens football players!”