From the time that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert premiered, the late-night show's host has regularly commented on Donald Trump's biggest scandals. One recent example of that involved Colbert labeling one of Trump's social media posts "insane," but "factually accurate." It also seems very clear that until Colbert's show ends, he will continue to call the President's actions out regularly.
Since Colbert so regularly expresses concern about the things that Trump does, it can be easy for his comments about the President to fly under the radar. Despite that, Colbert occasionally says things about Trump's actions that appear to show that the talk show host is a lot more bothered by a specific scandal involving the President. The fact that Colbert recently labeled the outcome of one of Trump's most recent scandals "so deeply unsettling" seems to be a perfect example of that.
Stephen Colbert called the White House's East Wing being demolished "so deeply unsettling"
In October 2025, work towards the construction of Donald Trump's planned ballroom on the grounds of the White House began. That process started with a significant part of the White House's East Wing being demolished. Since the East Wing was initially built in 1902, and then it was greatly expanded in 1942, it had been a huge part of one of the most famous buildings in the history of the world. After images and videos of the East Wing's demolition spread online, Trump's decision to tear down part of the White House created a sizable scandal.
On Oct. 21, 2025, the YouTube channel for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert uploaded footage of the show's host reacting to the East Wing demolition. That video began with Colbert expressing that, after so many scandals, it was harder for people to be shocked by Trump's decisions. However, Colbert commented that sometimes Trump does something so scandalous that the outrage becomes renewed.
“At this point, after two terms, what, what, nine months into this, you'd think, we'd think it would be impossible for us to be shocked by Donald Trump. But give the man credit. Every so often, he takes the time to attach the electrodes to our nipples. And... And-and then it feels like the first time.”
At that point, Colbert brought up the demolition of the East Wing as an example of a Trump scandal that breaks through. After making a joke about Trump not getting the security deposit back when he leaves office, the Late Show host called for an image of the East Wing's demolition to be brought up onscreen. It was at that point that Colbert labeled the image that showed that part of the White House was gone to be "so deeply unsettling" to see.
"Case in point, yesterday, as part of his White House ballroom project, he sent out a backhoe to rip off a chunk of the East Wing. That is it. We are not giving him the security deposit back. Yvonne, can we see that picture again? That is deeply... That is so deeply unsettling."
After making that remark, Colbert went on to make a funny comparison about how wrong it felt to see part of the White House was gone, and then he called Trump out for going back on his word.
"It's like being a kid and seeing your teacher at the grocery store... for sale in the meat department. We're-we're just, as I said, we're just nine months into Trump's turn, and he's going Hulk smash on the White House. Last time, it took him at least four years to bring a demo crew to the Capitol. This is happening after Trump specifically promised his ballroom construction wouldn't touch the existing White House. Here he is talking about it this summer. ‘It won't interfere with the current building. It won't be... it'll be, uh, uh, near it, but not touching it. And pays total respect to the existing building, which I'm the biggest fan of. It's my favorite place. I love it’. So that was a lie. At this point, should we even believe that this is gonna end up being a ballroom? It could just as easily end up being a combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell.”
To Stephen Colbert's point, it is very strange to see images of the White House with the East Wing mostly gone. After all, it almost looks like the current state of the White House could be the result of some kind of attack. Still, it will be interesting to see how the White House looks once the construction of Trump's ballroom is completed.