‘IS THIS THE THING?’

Stephen Colbert on Nancy Pelosi’s Impeachment Call: ‘This Might Be the Thing’ That Gets Trump

The “Late Show” audience greeted the news with a full-on standing ovation.

By Matt Wilstein & Melissa LeonSep 24, 2019

“Lordy, what a day,” Stephen Colbert said at the top of his Late Show monologue Tuesday night. “You really feel the ground shifting under your feet.”

After telling his viewers to “buckle up,” the host said, “For two and a half years, Donald Trump has had scandal after scandal.”

He recited a long list of those scandals—“Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, saying Nazis are ‘fine people,’ being an unnamed co-conspirator to campaign finance violations, lying about the Moscow Trump Tower, stealing money to pay for the border wall, faking the weather with a Sharpie”—before making sure his audience knows that these are all 100 percent real.

“Every time people have asked, ‘Is this the thing? Surely, this must be the thing,’” Colbert continued. “And every time, it wasn’t the thing. But here’s the thing. There’s a new thing. And it might be the thing.”

After playing the clip of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally announcing an “official impeachment inquiry” into Trump’s alleged crimes, Colbert just stood there and took in the ecstatic cheers from his audience, which evolved into a full-on standing ovation.

“OK, but how do you feel?” he asked them.