Stephen nails it. He frames the discussion about Trump's preoccupation with Russia as the incredibly unsettling news that it really is, and it should be evoking far more outrage and action by all Americans.
He points out that every one of Trump's 'victory' rallies are self-congratulatory exercises of his fragile, thin-skinned ego. Colbert noticed that Trump's latest Louisiana appearance harped on the fact that Time Magazine changed Man of the Year to Person of the Year, and his 'poorly educated' rally-goers find that to be too 'PC' for their liking and prefer MAN, of course. After all, Hillary Clinton is a woman.
Colbert's mention of Rex Tillerson, Trump's Secretary of State preference, drew loud boos from the audience, as no one is terribly thrilled with a Vladimir Putin pal and oil tycoon in charge of America's stature in world affairs. Russia is undoubtedly delighted by their efforts to shape U.S. elections and Tillerson is only the cherry on top of their windfall.
COLBERT: But of course, the big story today is that the C.I.A. has reported to the Senate that Russian hackers acted to aid Trump in the election.
So Trump was right. The election was rigged! Now this huge surprise is no surprise because back in October, we know the C.I.A. told the White House Russian hackers were involved. but they didn't release the report because they didn't want to sway a presidential election. That's the F.B.I.'s job.
The C.I.A.'s proof is that Russia hacked both the D.N.C. and the R.N.C. but did not release whatever information they got from the Republicans because nothing in the RNC emails was as bad as what Trump was saying out loud. Apparently, Russia's goal was to "undercut confidence in the integrity of the vote." Well, it didn't work. I still have complete confidence in the vote. It's my faith in humanity that's been shattered.
The prompter operator, "Johnny Cowboy" (↑ pictured) replaced the monologue with curiously worded praise for Putin and Mother Russia. "Johnny" throws in old 1980's references for the stereotypical symbols of freedom that defecting Russians once craved, like blue jeans, Coca-Cola, Superbowl and Disney World.
