Stephen Colbert on Biden’s patience vs. Trump’s tantrum

Stephen Colbert examined how both presidential candidates have responded to the election process

In an ideal world, the winner of the presidential election would have been announced on Tuesday night and the country would have some idea of what the future will look like. But nothing about 2020 has been ideal and the country was told that this was going to take some time. As Stephen Colbert explained, this led to two very different reactions from President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Colbert spent election night on Showtime hosting a special that featured the Late Show reacting to results as they came in. On Tuesday night, it looked like President Trump was on the path to reelection. But then the mail-in and absentee ballots starting adding up and the tide turned in Vice president Biden’s favor.

It led President Trump to challenge the legitimacy of the election as he has for months. The Late Show has documented the president’s efforts to subvert the election process and cast doubt over mail-in ballots. So it some ways, President Trump’s message wasn’t a surprise but his rhetoric early on Wednesday morning still shocked some people.

Meanwhile, Vice President Biden urged patience and called for every vote to be counted. While confident that things will wind up in his favor, he was careful not to declare victory.

These two contrasting approaches to the election were the subject of Stephen Colbert’s monologue on Wednesday night. The Late Show returned to CBS and tried to offer some explanation of what’s going on:

Stephen Colbert echoed calls for patience while mocking President Trump’s response

According to Stephen Colbert, the pandemic has taught the country a valuable lesson in patience. The health crisis changed how we do everything including the time it takes to complete anything. The Late Show host says the same goes for the election even if it means the process gets drawn out and we don’t know the winner right away.

Unless you’re President Trump, that is. Colbert is quite amused by the president declaring himself the winner in several states while accusing Democrats of stealing the election from him. It may be another instance of President Trump projecting as many predicted that the incumbent would do whatever it took to remain in power.

And while the idea of someone stealing the election is a serious matter, Colbert doesn’t sound too worried about it. He appears confidence that when the democratic process plays out, it will be clear that Joe Biden will be the next president. In the meantime, he delivered a scathing description of a desperate President Trump, saying:

"A power grab by a terrified strongman in the dead of night. Classic. If there’s anything 2 a.m. is known for, it’s desperate moves by sad little men who are afraid to go home feeling like a loser."

What did you think of Stephen Colbert’s monologue? Share your thoughts in the comment section below and keep checking Last Night On for more from late night television.