Stephen Colbert says that Donald Trump plays his old character on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” better than he did.
“I’m not the first person to say this, but I completely agree that he’s my old character with $10 billion,” he said in an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired on Sunday. “You know, he’s completely playing on an emotional level, and so beautifully. I mean, that’s one of the reasons why I just can’t do that old character anymore, because he’s doing it better than I ever could because he’s willing to drink his own Kool-Aid. And manufacture and distribute it.”
“If money is speech, he’s got a $10 billion mouth and doesn’t have to spend any of it because everyone will point a camera at him,” Colbert continued.
Earlier in the interview, the comedian said that the he does appreciate Trump’s “populism” and ability to gain support from voters who are tired of the status quo.
“There’s a populism to Trump that I find very appealing,” Colbert said on CBS. “I may disagree with anything that he’s saying and think that his proposals are a little, well, more than a little shocking. But there is something really hopeful about the fact that, well 36 percent of the likely voters want him so the people in the machine don’t get to say otherwise. That’s the one saving grace, I think, of his candidacy.”
Watch the interview via CBS:
“…there is something really hopeful about the fact that, well 36 percent of the likely voters want him so the people in the machine don’t get to say otherwise. That’s the one saving grace, I think, of his candidacy.”
Is it 36 % of likely voters or 36% of likely Republican voters?
More like 8-13% of the actual voting age population and almost 100% of those are bigots, racists, misogynists and xenophones. But other than that, democracy at its finest and fuck the Man.
It’s unfortunate that Trump exemplifies all of the bad things about populism and hardly any of the good.
I’m not sure you can call Trump’s angle “populism”. He isn’t pushing an agenda against the status quo. Most of his talk is doctrinaire Republican and what Tea Party stuff he’s pushed is old hat. Kicking ISIS’s ass, carpet bombing, “making America great again”, deporting folks and Muslim bashing are GOP red meat. You can’t sell “off the rack” politics and be a populist.