CBS’s Stephen Colbert and NBC’s Seth Meyers struggled to cope with Colorado having a bad day before the Supreme Court as it struggled to defend its decision to kick Donald Trump off its primary ballot on the Thursday editions of The Late Show and Late Night, respectively.
Colbert struggled with the fact that even the Court’s liberals appeared to be underwhelmed by Colorado’s arguments, “All of the justices, all nine, seemed skeptical that one state could do this on their own. Here's Elena Kagan.”
He then played a soundbite of Kagan wondering where states get the authority to declare a candidate engaged in a federal insurrection, “This question of whether a former president is disqualified for insurrection to be president again is, just say it, it sounds awfully national to me.”
For Colbert, a state adding to Article II’s eligibility standards and disqualifying a candidate is the exact same thing as a state’s voters simply voting for their preferred candidate, as he sarcastically ranted, “Yes, it's a national decision. Can you imagine if one single state was allowed to decide who gets to be president? Today it's Colorado, next time it could be Florida! I'm sorry, they what? No, they didn't. President Gore would never allow that to happen!”
At least Colbert managed to concede that skepticism of Colorado’s argument is not confined to the Court’s conservatives because the same could not be said for Meyers. About an hour later, “During today's hearing, the justices seemed supportive of Trump and very skeptical of throwing him off the ballot, which was expected given that Trump appointed three of the justices on the Court and another three are staunch conservatives, like Clarence Thomas, who is somehow still involved in this case despite the fact that his wife, Ginni Thomas, played a role in the January 6th coup attempt.”
After playing some old clips of MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Michael Smerconish on Ginni Thomas’s post-2020 election behavior, Meyers demanded that, “Clarence Thomas recuse himself from this.”
Later in his diatribe, Meyers would repeat himself, “Seriously, how is it possible that Thomas has not recused himself from this case? His spouse was directly involved.”
Ultimately, Colbert and Meyers prepared for this case by entering their echo chambers that told them that the case against Trump was so obvious that only a hack could say otherwise. Thursday’s arguments proved just the opposite and they don’t know how to cope.
Here is a transcript for the February 8-taped shows:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2/8/2024
11:44 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: All of the justices, all nine, seemed skeptical that one state could do this on their own. Here's Elena Kagan.
ELENA KAGAN: I think that the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States. In other words, you know, this question of whether a former president is disqualified for insurrection to be president again is, just say it, it sounds awfully national to me.
COLBERT: Yes, it's a national decision. Can you imagine if one single state was allowed to decide who gets to be president? Today it's Colorado, next time it could be Florida! I'm sorry, they what? No, they didn't. President Gore would never allow that to happen!
***
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
2/9/2024
12:42 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: During today's hearing the justices seemed supportive of Trump and very skeptical of throwing him off the ballot, which was expected given that Trump appointed three of the justices on the Court and another three are staunch conservatives, like Clarence Thomas, who is somehow still involved in this case despite the fact that his wife, Ginni Thomas, played a role in the January 6th coup attempt. In fact, she personally lobbied state lawmakers in Wisconsin and Arizona to overturn the election results and repeatedly texted Trump's chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, about some truly unhinged conspiracy theories.
CHRIS HAYES [APRIL 1, 2022]: The Washington Post obtained copies of messages that had been turned over to the January 6th Committee revealing that Ginni Thomas sent former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows a barrage of texts in the weeks after the 2020 election, urging him to try to overturn the results.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH [MARCH 26, 2022]: Right after the election, she quoted to Meadows the language then circulating on pro-Trump sites. Quote, “Biden crime family and ballot fraud co-conspirators, elected officials, bureaucrats, social media censorship mongers, fake stream media reporters, et cetera, are being arrested and detained for ballot fraud right now and over coming days, and will be living in barges off Gitmo to face military tribunals for sedition,” adding, "I hope this is true."
MEYERS: Not only should Clarence Thomas recuse himself from this Ginni Thomas should recuse herself from texting on her phone. “Ginni, what are you smiling at over there?”
"Oh, just writing something funny about Gitmo.” She thought the quote, “Biden crime family” was being arrested for ballot fraud and would be detained on barges off Guantanamo Bay -- here my question: why couldn't the Biden crime family just be detained on land?
Why do they have to be on water? Is the idea here that Biden could never escape because he can't swim. I mean, look, if you surrounded Trump with a one-foot-wide moat, I think he would die there.
But Biden definitely strikes me as one of those old guys who spends hours doing laps at the Y with his little paddle board and swim cap. He's there at 6:00 A.M. sharp, swims for an hour, and then spends another two hours air drying his junk in the locker room.
You know those old guys who just love to hang out in the locker room completely naked while they do other stuff. Sometimes I swear I've seen a bunch of naked 80-year-olds in a semicircle doing their weekly book club in there.
Then they just finish and use their balls as a bookmark. Seriously, how is it possible that Thomas has not recused himself from this case? His spouse was directly involved. It'd be like if I told a joke in my monologue about a Florida woman who tried to smuggle meth onto a flight inside of a pet snake but didn't tell you that woman was my wife and the meth was mine now you know why I talk so fast.
