Late-night comedy shows became a comedic therapy session on Wednesday as their hosts suffered a collective meltdown following former President Donald Trump’s victorious return to the White House. After Trump clinched the required 270 electoral votes, the reaction from these TV elites was a mix of horror and disbelief, as if their worst nightmare had come true. CBS “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert expressed his deep disillusionment, saying he was “questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of humanity.” Sure, Colbert, because nothing says “goodness” quite like a tantrum on national television. Colbert then rolled out a sticker joke, lamenting his lost faith in democracy: “Today, I wore my ‘I am questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of humanity’ sticker.” If that doesn’t scream mature response to an election, what does?
The king of Hollywood wailing didn’t stop there. Colbert just couldn’t resist poking fun at anyone who dared suggest Trump gives him material. “No one tells the guy who cleans the bathroom, ‘Wow, you must love it when someone has explosive diarrhea. There’s so much material for you to work with!’” A bit tasteless, but hey, no one said liberals had a monopoly on class.
Over on ABC, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host Jimmy Kimmel decided to handle things like a true role model—by letting his kids curse out the election results. Kimmel proudly explained how he handed his kids a “30-second free curse” card to vent about Trump’s win. Because nothing says good parenting like teaching your kids to throw a verbal fit over democracy in action.
Meanwhile, Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” had its own group therapy session with co-host Desi Lydic comparing America’s re-election of Trump to “getting back with her dirtbag ex.” She also admitted to being too “depressed and very, very hungover” to uplift the crowd. It’s almost as if late-night hosts are more devastated by Trump winning than by, say, actual crises that matter to most Americans.
And it got even more absurd. “Daily Show” correspondent Josh Johnson chimed in with a bizarre analogy: “You ever go to the clinic thinking you have herpes… and then you find out you do have herpes?” Yes, that’s right; they’re equating an election to a health scare.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Chieng humorously encouraged anyone upset by Trump’s win to grab a foreign passport and head back to where they came from—an irony lost on the crowd, considering most viewers tuning in just wanted a laugh, not a lecture.
What’s painfully clear from all this is that the so-called “comedy” elite are proving, yet again, that they’re out of touch with the very people they claim to entertain. The overblown theatrics and hand-wringing only reinforce one thing: They can’t handle the fact that the people spoke, and they chose Trump. The more these hosts and their out-of-touch ilk continue these televised tantrums, the more they prove why the heartland of America turned out in droves for Trump.
