Late-night hosts from Stephen Colbert to Samantha Bee reacted to the frustrating inevitability of President Donald Trump’s impeachment acquittal on their respective shows Wednesday.
While yesterday’s party-line vote was largely expected for weeks, the occasion still marked an ominous approval of Trump’s executive power and yet another instance in which his actions will go unchecked.
“The only lesson Trump ever learns is that he gets away with everything,” Colbert said on The Late Show. “Multiple bankruptcies, nothing. Multiple sexual assault accusations, nothing. He’s in perfect health despite eating like a rat behind the Bob’s Big Boy. Nothing!”
On Full Frontal, Bee laid out the consequences of this decision, quipping: “By voting to acquit Donald Trump, the Senate has set a devastating precedent. Future presidents can solicit foreign interference in an election, they can investigate private citizens, there are no rules. That’s not America, that is Outback Steakhouse!”
There was also much discussion about the various Republican senators who went on talk shows to acknowledge that Trump had definitely done something wrong, but had certainly been cowed by this experience. Few drew as much ire as Maine’s Susan Collins, who stated the president had surely learned his lesson — only for Trump to quickly retort, once more, that he had done nothing wrong.
“Man, Donald Trump would be the hardest person to defend in court,” Trevor Noah joked on The Daily Show. “You’d be like, ‘Your honor my client has learned his lesson.’ ‘No I haven’t!’ ‘His days of selling drugs are over.’ ‘Who wants cocaine!’
The only Republican who broke ranks and voted to convict trump was Utah Senator Mitt Romney. Romney detailed his decision in an unexpected speech in Congress, then even went on Fox News to back it up.
“I love that he did it on Fox News just to enrage Trump even more,” cracked Seth Meyers on Late Night. “Trump’s aides probably had to put duct tape over the TV to make the headline say, ‘Trump Is a Good Boy and I Love Him.’”
