Stephen Colbert destroys Alan Dershowitz’s impeachment defense
By Matt Moore
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert responded to Alan Dershowitz’s bold defense of President Donald Trump.
Alan Dershowitz was the latest individual to be front and center in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. The lawyer stood before the Senate on Wednesday to make his case for why President Trump’s actions regarding Ukraine are not impeachable offenses. And after Dershowitz spent the day laying out his reasoning, it took Stephen Colbert a matter of minutes to knock it down.
The entire impeachment saga has featured several figures that few could have imagined would be central to a political scandal in 2020. Yet names like Rudy Giuliani, Ken Starr, and Alan Dershowitz are all wrapped up with President Trump as he became the third president to ever be impeached.
It was Dershowitz’s turn on Wednesday to defend the president. The lawyer, known for defending O.J. Simpson, Jeffrey Epstein, and Harvey Weinstein, made arguments that were immediately questioned by both legal experts on television and armchair experts online.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert opened up Wednesday night’s show by breaking down the Dershowitz defense. Colbert explained the crux of Dershowitz’s argument and then went to work destroying it in typical Late Show fashion.
As challenging as Dershowitz says it is, Stephen Colbert has been trying to get inside the mind of Donald Trump for years now. The comedian pretty much has it all figured out by now but still gets surprised from time to time.
The main argument that Dershowitz made amounts to “a president cannot be impeached for any action taken towards re-election if he or she believes re-election is the public’s best interest.” So President Trump is free to engage in a quid pro quo with a foreign government if it helps him get re-elected because that would be good for the country.
The response from the Late Show audience is all you need to know about how this argument went over with most people. However, Colbert is reminded that President Richard Nixon made a similar case that whatever a president does can’t be illegal.
Colbert boils down Dershowitz’s argument and then dismantles it with one simple line. It is up to the public to decide what is in their best interest, not the politician. Again, the response from the Late Show crowd is all you need to know.
If a late night comedian can pick apart Alan Dershowitz’s logic then it would follow that the Senate would dismiss it as well. But as Colbert has showed his fans time and time again, Republicans are dug in on impeachment and standing behind President Trump no matter what.
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In the even that witnesses like John Bolton are allowed to testify then President Trump’s defense will have to work even harder to make their case. After seeing how easily Stephen Colbert destroyed Alan Dershowitz’s previous attempt, that could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.