We will get to the truth. Next, is hillary really just a scooby doo villain wearing a mask . We wont know for sure until we pull off her face . And finally, is hillary secretly doing the bidding of the Stranger Things 2 shadow monster that possesses her. Spoiler aalert. Any questions . Oh, and anybody that asks a question will be subject to special counsel investigation. Im watching you. Its the late show with Stephen Colbert. Tonight, sessions in the hot seat. Plus stephen welcomes tyler Perry Anthony atamanuik and john avlon featuring jon batiste and stay human. And now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, its Stephen Colbert cheers and applause stephen hey how are you . cheers and applause stephen thank you very much. Welcome to the late show. Please, have a seat, everybody. Youre too kind. Now, information, now, folks. Welcome to the late show. Im your host, Stephen Colbert. Folks, donald trump has been gone for 12 days. cheers and applause a lot of donald trump fans here tonight. You know what they say while the cats away, the mice have to testify before congress. laughter in this case, it was attorney general and secretary of mischief, Jeff Sessions. Sessions testimony to the House Judiciary Committee covered a wide range of issues, and sessions had the same answer for a lot of them. I dont recall. I dont recall. I dont recall it. I do not recall. I dont recall it. I had not recalled. laughter stephen not a great memory. In fact, just to remember those answers, he had to write them on his hand. laughter applause so no surprise, sessions memory was a hot topic at the hearing. In your testimony today, you have stated i dont recall at least 20 times. Is that fair to say . I have no idea. laughter applause cheers and applause . Stephen its a fair answer, i guess. I guess its im im starting to get a little worried here. Is something wrong with Jeff Sessions . Did he get hit by a big coconut on his way into the chamber . And even when sessions could remember something, he couldnt actually remember it, like the meeting he attended where Trump CampaignForeign Policy adviser and guy who knows a guy, george papadopoulous, presented a plan to collude with the russians. I would like to address recent news reports regarding meetings during the campaign attended by George Papadopoulos and carter page, among others. Frankly, i had no recollection of this meeting until i saw these news reports. Stephen and once someone reports on what i said, i will recall that as well. laughter i think. I do believe. Now, now laughter so now sessions does remember the meeting, sort of. I do now recall that the march 2016 meeting at the trump hotel that mr. Papadopoulos attended, but i have no clear recollection of the details of what he said at that meeting. Stephen i do now recall oops, and now ive forgotten it again. Poof, its gone. Ed where you go ed where you go there were so many meetings about collusion, ive got the collusion confusion. laughter its like brain fever with the vapors at the same time. I do believe. Is this on . Is this i hope its not. But then, the memories came flooding back. After reading his account, and to the best of my recollection, i believe that i wanted to make clear to him that he was not authorized to represent the campaign with the russian government, or any other foreign government, for that matter. Stephen so sessions has no recollection of meeting him, no recollection of what he said or who else was there with him. All he remembers is that sessions did the right thing. Im sorry, fellas, the ole dogs memory is kinda hazy wait its comin back to me. I looked him right in the eye and said the thing with the least legal liability. Good day, sir good day, sir cheers and applause im sorry. Im sorry. I have to keep testifying . I did not realize that. I apologize to the entire committee. So, they didnt talk about russia. They did talk about russia. Honest people can disagree also, Jeff Sessions. But one thing the campaign has been consistent and adamant about they had absolutely no contact with wikileaks. Its an insulting question. And you can take that to the bank, because i think thats where they met with wikileaks. Because you see, we just found out there was secret correspondence between donald trump jr. And wikileaks. Now, to be fair, don jr. Might have thought he was on wikipedia. laughter do they actually make the cheesecakes at the factory, or what . And, send. laughter apparently, trump jr. Exchanged direct messages on twitter with wikileaks during the course of the 2016 race. The damning d. M. Comes from october 2016, when wikileaks wrote, hey, donald, great to see you and your dad talking about our publications. Theres many Great Stories the press are missing, and were sure some of your follows will find it. By the way, we just released Podesta Emails part 4. Don jr. Did not respond to the message, but just 15 minutes after receiving it, his dad tweeted, very little pickup by the Dishonest Media of incredible information provided by wikileaks. So dishonest rigged system laughter applause now, i cant i i i i i. I cant prove that donald trump jr. Called his father, but like they say, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, the duck is colluding with the russians. laughter applause and wikileaks even contacted don jr. Twice on election night. First, when hillary was still expected to win, they wrote, hi, don, if your father loses, we think it is much more interesting if he does not concede and spends time challenging the media. Then after midnight, when it was clear trump won, they just wrote, wow. laughter thats right. Not congratulations. Just wow. laughter thats like telling the bride at the wedding, holy crap, derrick, huh . Well see what happens. Dob jr. Is not the only one implicated because when we got their very first message he emailed steve bannon, kellyanne conway, Jared Kushner that wikileaks made contact. Dear everyone wikileaks is going to help us take down hillary. Make sure to keep it secret, dont put it in an email like this one. And, send. Oh, shoot i forgot to ask about the cheesecake factory. Too risky. Too risky. cheers and applause and in keeping with don jr. s strategy of not knowing when to shut up, yesterday, after the story broke, he tweeted out the full conversations, saying, here is the entire chain of messages with wikileaks, with my whopping three responses, which one of the congressional committees has chosen to selectively leak. How ironic that defense doesnt work. Your honor, heres the photos of my victims body with a whopping three stab wounds. I rest my case. How ironic. applause meanwhile jon got no case. Stephen meanwhile, for everybody in the trump camp, daddys home. Because President Trump is finally back from his 12day trip to asia, and according to him, the trip was a huge success, bragging to reporters, a lot of people said its almost physically impossible for someone to go through 12 days. Layoff laug laughter really . You know there are people who live in asia forever, right . laughter well, thats bigger than 12. 12 12 is more 12 is more or less. 12 is less than forever. And trump isnt the only one giving him rave reviews. So is his staff, noting that the president remained attentive during lengthy diplomatic rituals, including an hourplus tour of a museum in beijings forbidden city. Yes, our president successfully completed the rigors of a fourthgrade field trip. laughter applause yes, he did so well cheers and applause did so well general kelley general kelley actually gave him 20 minutes of ipad time on the ride home. Now, there were a couple of times when his energy dipped, including during a lengthy interpretive hiphop performance in manila. I cannot blame him for that. I almost fell asleep in the middle of that sentence. Also, i just want ot say if that hiphop performance in manila was not called manila ice, we should bomb them. Weve got a great show for you tonight. cheers and applause tyler perry is here. But when we return, roy moore is too creepy for cinnabon. Stick around. All smartphones are more or less the same, right . But this is the moto z. Hello moto. Can your phone turn into a projector . Because a 70 inch projection beats any phone screen. And they might be bragging about portrait mode. But can your phone go beyond and transform into a real 360 camera . Its time to reinvent your smartphone. Its time to move on. Moto mods on the new moto z, from motorola. Get 200 off a moto z2 force edition. At p60 million meals soto pets in need. Ng that definitely feels good with your support, we provide meals for pet shelters and food banks to feed hungry pets across the country. This holiday season, buy any bag of dog or cat food at petsmart. Any brand, any size and well give a meal to a pet in need. 60 million meals thats so much food. Petsmart for the love of pets. [ [ all ] by simon anbees funkel ] [ all ] bees the volkswagen atlas. With easyaccess 3rd row. Lifes as big as you make it. Made with 100 ribeye beef, fresh spring mix and provalone cheese on a potato bun. R im inviting the whole industry to try it. Of course ill protect their identities. Like this. Try my first ever ribeye burgers. Introducing fast foods first made with 100 ribeye beef, fresh spring mix and provolone cheese on an artisan potato bun. Yep, nailed it come try my new ribeye burgers. Only at jack in the box. band playing cheers and applause Stephen Jon Batiste and stay human, everybody, right there. Jon, good to see you. Oh, ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, what a lovely evening we have in store for you tonight. Its going to be so nice. Folks, i just want you if youre following the news, if youre not following the news, if im the one breaking this news to you, i want to you brace yourselves, alabama lovers. Because there have been more developments in the scandal surrounding Alabama Senate candidate and man demonstrating how tall you must be to date him, roy moore. laughter if you like that one, this is going to be a long four minutes. laughter five five now five women have accused moore of Sexual Misconduct against them when they were toons. And now weve learned that in the 80s, when he was a local assistant district attorney, moore was banned from an alabama Shopping Mall for bothering teenage girls. The only place in the mall that girls were safe was the forever 21, because that is way too old for ray moore. Jon oh, my goodness cheers and applause . Stephen now, one one alabama are the recalls, itd seem like every friday or saturday night, youd see him Walking Around the mall, like the kids did. Well, he wasnt Walking Around exactly like the kids did, because he wasnt looking over his shoulder for roy moore. laughter hey, mr. D. A. According to reports, when at the mall, moore was usually alone, and welldressed in slacks and a buttondown shirt. Well, thats just roy moores approach to romance put on your finest slacks and go afoodcourtin. laughter jon oh oh oh Stephen Moore even went to the mall to get into the holiday spirit. One woman recalls that she was 14 and working as santas helper at the gadsden mall in 1977 when moore first spoke with her and told her she looked pretty. Two years later, when she was 16, he asked her out on dates. He hit on one of santas elves . Well, a true evangelical, hes putting the christ back in christmas. Jon wow wow cheers and applause i hear the sleigh bells ringing and it wasnt just the mall. One alabama journalist claims that moore was also banned from the y. M. C. A. For his inappropriate behavior of soliciting sex from young girls. And dont forget, he did that while he was assissssstant d. A. The assisssstant d. A. A. Im up there sing. I dont hear any back track over there. I know we didnt rehearse it, but come on i dont want to distract from the main story here, which is that Senate Candidate roy moore was banned from a Shopping Mall for sleazing on young girls. Thats nuts, but it does kind of explain this commercial i found. Take a look. Looking for a mall that has it all . Then come on down to the gadsden mall. Youll find appliances, housewears, mens and womens fashions and now row roy moore now the only thing that is going to sneak up and grab you is savings. Come visit Christmas Village to see santa and his elves who are armed with tasers. Please, teenagers, just come back. Theres plenty of parking. And in the case of roy moore sightings, plenty of roy moore alert stations. Roy Moore Roy Moore roy moore the gadsden mall. Just off route 759. The only place you have to you worry about roy moore is the rest of alabama. Stephen well be right back rest of alabama. Stephen well be right back with tyler perry. Stick around hey google, good morning. Good morning, claire. Its 72 and sunny. Dont forget to wear some sunscreen. Oh, thats nice. Itll also read you the news, look up traffic, and tell you your first meeting is at 9am. And you know how sometimes youre in bed and you cant get out of it until you hear that one song that ok, playing your get out of bed playlist. nants ingonyama lion king song plays yeah, it can do that too. Its Google Home Mini and the rest of the google home family. Hi, i need your help. Ive been trying to find a knee specialist. But nobody has an opening for months you cant always control your feelings. Oh, i found one innetwork next tuesday. But unitedhealthcare can help you control your care. Thanks, stephanie. Unitedhealthcare fortified. Tored. Replenished. Emerge everyday with emergenc packed with b vitamins, antioxidants, electrolytes plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. Why not feel this good everyday . Emerge and see. Now it just needs a tv we can just order one on target. Com and pick it up in the store. Easy you got this . Can you add a vacuum to that order . Order online at target. Com and pick up in store. band playing cheers and applause stephen hey, everybody welcome back ladies and gentlemen, my first guest this evening is an actor and filmmaker who has built a creative empire, starting with his beloved character, madea. Please welcome tyler perry. cheers and applause stephen you know, i forget every time i see you im lucky enough to see you a few times eye forget how damn tall you are. Im a pretty tall guy. Stephen what do you weigh in at . 66. Stephen what . 66. Stephen you dont seem that tall. Thanks a lot. I appreciate that. Which means madea is a big, ugly woman. Thats a big, tall, scary, ugly woman. Stephen just a lot of woman to love, thats all. Just a lot of woman to love. Okay, cool, okay. Stephen the last time we were together and weve been together at some fun things the hand in hand benefit. Thats right. Stephen after harvey hit houston, and before the other hurricanes even hit. Yeah. Stephen we did a benefit. And this was we got this picture here. Did we get this from you or did we have this in house . I dont think i had that picture. So maybe its in house. Stephen you and i were everybody was there, right . Yeah, yeah. Stephen and this was our little group. Our row. Stephen our little row there. It was cher. Billie crystal, Barbra Streisand, me and you right there. cheers and applause . Yup. But but but notice how im trying to lean in to get into the picture. Its like, look at me im here, too stephen these are owl pros. Look at this. No teeth. Look, no one is smiling with their teeth showing. Thats how the pros do it. I didnt notice that. That was a pretty intimidating row. Stephen it was. Did you talk to Barbra Streisand at all . I i did not. I was scared. Stephen i talked to her a little bit but i did not know what to say. Know what she noticed . She turned to me and said, notice which stars leave first. After the cameras went off, we answered the phones for another 15 minutes. And she said, some will leave before everybody else. Who left. Stephen im not going to say, because he might come back on the show. You were talking about this is when we were sitting there, i was so fascinated and so happy for you because you live in atlanta. And you were like how can i stay in atlanta because im growing my company so fast and you told me some really great news. You created your whole world out in atlanta. You took over a whole army base. Thats my new studio, and we have 12 sound stages there and hundreds of people working. Its very fantastic. Im very proud of it. cheers and applause . Stephen wow. Well, what do they call it tyler town . Tyler town. Yeah. You have to come down and see it. Stephen id love to. Bring the show down and come do it live there from atlanta. Wed love that. Stephen done condition, done, done. Stephen theyre telling me its not going to happen. Not going to happen . Stephen but ill say, absolutely, you betcha. Thats a tv yes. I love it, i love it it which means absolutely nothing. Stephen never going to happen. You presented at the c. M. A. , the Country Music awards. Yoi did not know that you were a Country Music fan. I love Country Music. Tim and faith and i were friends and we would see each other all the time down in the bahamas. And somebody said, you have to listen to some of the Country Music. You have to listen to the music. Its going to be really great if you sit there and youll love it. I dont recall, i dont recall, i dont recall thats what he was saying to me you. Stephen have a perfect bahamian accent by the way. Thank you very much. Stephen so you got hooked on tim mcgraw and faith hill. I listen to country and i love it, i love it. Stephen wow. Why does that surprise you . Stephen no, because there are not a lot of African American careful, careful. Stephen Country Music fans. Yes, thats right. Stephen there are not a lot growing up when i was a kid, charlie pride was the only African AmericanCountry Music artist. Great artist, but not a ton of African AmericanCountry Music fans. At the c. M. A. , it was me and hootie from the blow fish. Stephen a good man, from my home town, charleston, south carolina. You have a new book here. New book. Stephen youre such a busy man. Where do you its exhausting to even imagine the things youre doing at once. You have a new book called higher is waiting. What does that mean . Its not about drugs. Its about laughter no, no, its its an inspirational book, a spiritual book about, you know, all the things that ive been through in life. Its very personal. And as people read it, i want them to realize that higher is waiting for everybody. If you want to go higher in life, if you want to do better, if you want to do better if business or love whatever in faith. I wanted to put in the book the things that worked for me and i think it will inspire a lot of people. Thats what im looking forward to, for sure. applause stephen well, its got its got, like, every chapter pretty much every chapter ends with a passage from the bible. Yeah. Stephen is there one that is most meaningful or inspirational to you. I love a lot of them, but psalms 91 is the most powerful. Stephen im a little rusty on my psalms. Just being under the shadow of the awl mighty and him being there for you and protecting you, and the thousand may fall at your right hand, and 10,000 may fall at your side, but it wont come near you. It is encouraging to me and i hope it will be encouraging to a lot of people. Stephen thats very comforting to know. Yeah. applause . Especially and stephen has worked . Has that worked in your life . Do you really feel 10,000 fall to one side and the other . It hasnt been 10,000 or 1,000. If you look at the statistics from where i come from. I was supposed to be dead or in jail, just from where i came from in new orleans. Stephen so very some rough childhood. Rough childhood. So to make it out and then to have a story and to be able to put the story in the book and maybe have someone else pick it up and know they can make it, too, man, that makes me feel really good. applause stephen well, one of the things did you and im curious how this came about is that you built this in your backyard. Why can you build this in your backyard . That was for my sons christening. It looks like i built a church but its actually a set piece that we used. And we had i wanted him kristenthe way i was and the way my mother was in rural louisiana so we built a church that looked like those churches with Hardwood Floors and great singing and his godparns there and it was a beautiful moment. Stephen whats the difference between this and a church . I dont understand. That one if you huff and puff it will blow right over. No, it was townt next day. It was actually a tent that was made into a church. Stephen really. Do you mind if i ask who the god parents are . Oprah and sicily tyson. Stephen not bad. Hes got good godparents, lots to live up to. Stephen a lot of good presents on the birthday there. Thats right, thats right, big ones. Stephen i grew up in a family godparents did nothing for you. Im such a big family that my older brothers and sisters were my godparents. They were like, were not going to get you anything for your birthday. What do you think youre special . For sure. Stephen this is kind of an amazing part to play. Youre playing colin powell. Yeah. Stephen in whats the movie . Its called cheney. Stephen oh, cheney. This is the one who christian bale. Stephen so youre playing colin powell. Have you talked to him about playing this part . I tried to reach out to him. He hasnt called me back yet. Ive got a call in to him. But i think at this point i dont think if he wants to talk. Stephen he probably doesnt want to talk about those days much. No, but why would he . Stephen right. Yeah. Stephen because he said, i promise you, there are weapons of mass destruction and i stake my reputation on it. Yeah, yeah, well, see how that worked out. Stephen yeah. But ive been working on his ive been working on sounding like him and trying to get into character. Stephen do you have something you could share with us . I promise you that my reputation is on the line, and this is a weapon of mass destruction applause stephen i did not realiz realize i did not realize that colin powell was from the bahamas. laughter no, i think thats what people are worried about that im going to be madea as colin. But, no, im stephen it would be fun. No, it would not be fun. It would not be fun. It would not be fun. Stephen i have tha the anthrax. It was lovely to see you again. God bless you. Stephen im see you at the next party. For sure. Stephen higher is waiting is out today. Tyler perry, everybody well be right back with Anthony Atamanuik. 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Well, before it was even founded, a french teenager, bienville, scared away a british warship with just a story. And Great Stories kept coming. Like when the military came and built the boats to win the war. [warplane] some are tales told around crowded tables. [streetcar rumble] and others are performances fit for the stage. Stella cause for three hundred years, Great Stories have started the same way. One time, in new orleans. [crowd applause] band playing cheers and applause stephen hey, everybody welcome back to the show, everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, you know my next guest as the president from the president show on comedy central. Please welcome Anthony Atamanuik applause . How are you . Stephen right there. Nice to see you again. Thanks for coming back. Thanks for having me back. Stephen what do you have in your hand . I suspect i know what you have in your hand right there. One day i was doing a rewrite in my office your former office. Stephen you use the building we used to use for the colbert report. Its a nice office. Its a beautiful office. Theres a shower and everything. Stephen i remodeled that. Yourself. Stephen well. Sure. The tile work is good. Stephen thanks very much. I look up and i see this red thing, this loop. We have a sword that my executive producer gave me. Stephen you have a sword in your office . Yes, that says truth on one side and satire on the other. Stephen thats super pretentious. It is blame blame j. D. Amato. So he gave it to me. So it hangs over the bar stephen wait, you have a bar in your office i didnt have a bar in my office i got an espresso, too. Stephen what i can even say that. Stephen can you say anytime espresso . I dont know. Stephen i dont know, either. Yeah, i have an espresso. I have all kinds of wonderful things in there. Stephen wow. I have plants. I have a sofa. Stephen i had that. I have swords. I take the sword and put it up into the ceiling and down comes this wrist strong brace gllt its open rafters. Its open wood rafters and i used to sit there at my desk when i should have been working and shoot meas crist bracelets up i didnt work a lot. And ill put this on. There you go. Boy, i havent worn one of those in years. A wrist strong bracelet. Can i keep this . Yes, im clearing it all out. I have your mail. Stephen you have done what i havent seen others who portrait president for a living, you go out into the field as the president. Does that confuse people . Let me give a sense of the people throughout. Its a pretty damn good impression of the president. Yeah. applause what happens what happens oops. bleep . Thats okay. laughter what happens if you go outside what happens when you go outside . Do people ever mistake you for him . Oh, yeah, i mean, one thing ill say being him is that to be in him would be that most people laugh at you and point. Thats, like, his experience, im presuming. Because people from afar are just like, hahaha boo thats his whole life, i think. Stephen and they boo. People boo. Stephen do you think that theyre booing him or do they not enjoy your show . Oh, i think a mix of both. Stephen a mix of both . Okay . Were very popular. We were at the Queens Center mall we were at a mall filming on friday, this piece. And so im dressed as trump, and it was out in the field. We have security, and the securitys sort of like secret service. And im Walking Around, and in a moment, this i feel this, like, impact into i my head. Its very strong. And made like a like a even more hollow knock than that. laughter it turns out someone had hucked a jawbreaker at my head. Stephen like a candy, a big candy . A big candy. And i have a very lumpy head, so one of the lumps is legit, from that. Stephen why did this person think you were they thought i was trump. Or i provide a sense of catharsis for people, and i accept that. If you see this person who you sort of cant stand or they represent oppression or White Supremacy or all the other draconian awful things he represents, then youre most likely you can clap more for that. applause stephen huge fans of White Supremacy here. Yeah, clap more for White Supremacy. Come on give it up stephen its our turn give it up but, yeah, i think that people sort of see that, and even if its the icon of it, its a way for them to let it out. Thats like the interviews on our show are very similar. Theyre people having catharsis. I always tell the guests im a therapy dummy. So, like, at the beginning, have at me. Stephen yes, sure. Get out what you want. Stephen show me on my body where the president touched you. Touched you yes and i think we laughter applause . Stephen now you have the Christmas Special. Im a huge fan of Christmas Specials. Oh, i love them. Stephen its called i came up with christmas a president show christmas. Whats your idea of Donald Trumps idea of a Christmas Special . Oh, its a mix of hope, Crosby Bing Crosby specials, dean Martin Special s. Stephen i thought you meant actual hope. Oh, no, no, no despair laughter but we have singing. We have sort of, like, hamfisted sketches, like, you know, nativity sketches. , and some field pieces, Christmas Tree decorations, special guests bursting in and a lot of song. So its all those good things in a Christmas Special. Stephen we have a clip here, theres a clip here where peter gross is playing mike pence, right . Yes, yes, peter gross is mike pence. Stephen used to be a writer for me, great guy. Hes an incredible mike pence, and this is part of one of our remote pieces where trump has decide he doesnt like that santa gets so much attention, and he wants to be the focus. laughter . Stephen okay. Jim. Thats enough, fat ban. Im the one everyone is supposed to like and youre not gonna take that away from me should we go or. Shut up, mike youre going to get naked. Youre being very naughty. Ill show you something. Very, very naughty. You want to see naughty . I think it would be best if we sent him to guantanamo. Take him. Take it off. Nice and slow so i can see everything. That doesnt thats not part of it though. The slow part it is for me, mike. It is for me. cheers and applause stephen so its for the whole family . Oh, its for the whole family. Stephen its for the whole family. Anthony, good to see you again. Congratulations on the show. I came up with christmas a president show christmas premieres november 30 on comedy central. Anthony atamanuik, everybody well be right back with journalist john avalon. All smartphones are more or less the same, right . But this is the moto z. Hello moto. Can your phone turn into a projector . Because a 70 inch projection beats any phone screen. And they might be bragging about portrait mode. But can your phone go beyond and transform into a real 360 camera . Its time to reinvent your smartphone. Its time to move on. Moto mods on the new moto z, from motorola. Get 200 off a moto z2 force edition. Well, well, well youuuu ue topped steak twisted potatoes at applebees. Eatin good in the neighborhood. Awwwwww. Yummmm. Dennys new holiday pancakes are delicious. You guys can have some if you want. Order now at dennys. Com band playing cheers and applause stephen hey, there you go i was wondering where the camera was. Welcome back, everybody. My next guest is a cnn political analyst and the editor in chief of the daily beast. Please welcome john avlon applause . Stephen good to see you. Good to see you. Stephen now, good to see you. Now, i know its john avalon. I always want to throw the extra a in there. Everybody must want to do that. Its all good. It doesnt freak me out. Stephen people dont know weve known each other for years. We met through parents. Charleston, south carolina. Stephen charleston boy. Now you run the daily beast which has this odd distinction that i think it was the First Organization that was placed on trumps black list. How did you get on before he was ever president of the united states. cheers and applause . Yeah. Stephen how did how did you how did you get this singular honor . Well, it is a badge of honor. Its the right way to think about it. We had a reporter who was doing a great story called up and asked questions of his senior counsel and got a torrent of threats, you know. Im going to bankrupt you. Im going to put you out of business. Stephen from mr. Trump . From the aide to mr. Trump. Stephen oh, from the aide, okay. And we published the threats because thats how we roll. Stephen i like that oh, yeah. cheers and applause stephen thats free content. Exactly but i think that speaks a lot about sort of the stakes of journalism in the age of trump. I mean, these folks are fundamentally uncomfortable with People Holding power to account. But thats our job. Our job is to call a lie a lie, to say a fact is a fact. applause and i do i think that is, honest to god, why i think well lack back on this as the best time to be a journalist. Not because it was easy but because it was hard and our mission was clear. And thats what we need to do every day is wake up, and we need to call out the b. S. , and we need to make the important stories interesting. And we need to be the happy warriors who love confronting bullies, bigots, and hypocrites. cheers and applause stephen now, now, youve got a new book about our first president. Yes. Stephen its called washingtons farewell. And its about washingtons farewell address, which is just about the only really famous address associated with washington, except maybe christmas day, when he won, or valley forge, Something Like that. Yeah. Stephen this is the only one we talk about. And we dont even talk about it that much. It was the most famous speech in american history. It was more widely reprinted than the declaration of independence, and then it fell entirely out of favor. But whats crazy about this farewell address is that he wrote it as a memo to future generations, to us, about the forces he feared could destroy our democratic republic. Stephen and they are . Hyperpartisanship. Yup. Stephen excessive debt. Yup. Stephen and foreign powers influencing our election. Yeah. So its timely and timeless, people. Its ripped from the headlines. Stephen why why do you think it is so timely . How could washington, 200plus years ago, see that as a threat that would still be delivered today . Well, i think what we you know, we are not immune from the larger cycles of history. We simes forget that, and i think we run into trouble when we take our democracy for grant gld thats one of the tenets of american exceptionalism. Washington, the first found father, didnt believe that. He believed we needed to learn the lessons of history. Remember, democracy was seen as a suckers bet. No democracy had survived. It was our job, he said, to learn from exphft learn from experience. The reason he was so concerned about hyperpartisanship is, one, he was not a member of a Political Party as a matter of principle. The constitution by the way doesnt mention political parties. It mentioned freedom of speech and free press and journalists but not political parties. But he foresaw that they would become so selfinterested that these factions would fight all the time, create a deadlocked and dysfunctional democracy, and that could open the door to a demagogue with authoritarian ambitions. That is a problem that is bigger than any any one era we may live in. And thats why we have got to learn our history. Civic Education Matters and we have to apply it with a sense of real responsibility. Same thing with foreign powers meddling in our elections. Washington had to deal with that, with the french who kept trying to undermine his government when he refused to throw in with them. The french revolution had already revealed itself to be this monstrous new type of tyranny, and he didnt want to say, were with them. Jefferson and madison disagree. Its a fight between the first founding fathers, but they were trying to undermine his government. So Vladimir Putin didnt make up this playbook all by himself but we have to be smart and wise about it and confront it cleareyed. Stephen washington established what our modern perception of the presidency is. Yeah. Stephen and one of not just political but of moral leadership. Is there is there some aspect of trumps presidency that is washingtonian. To be charitable . To be charitable. In the spirit of charity, ill say that both men probably believe in peace through strength. I think that is a virtue that probably bridges them. But look at the personal virtues that washington brought to the office intentionally honesty, integrity, humility, a lifetime of commitment to Public Service, a belief in principled compromise and moderation as a source of strength and a governing virtue. These arent anywhere on the menu right now, folks. laughter and thats a problem. Thats a problem. You cant just take the bully pulpit literalry and then run off and do your own thing. He was such essentially a most man. I think in some ways what donald trump is, is sort of a nightmare image of what democracy could have become as opposed to folks stephen this is your charitable laughter this is the charitable part interview right now. A nightmare image of what democracy im on board i bought a ticket in first class on the train youre on right now. But i would just applause look, i do think someone who didnt have a demonstrated commitment to Public Service coming in and trying to divide people, right. The calling card of the demagogue is always us against them. And washington warned against those folks, you know, because its the easiest thing in the world to do. You can destroy in a minute. Building takes time and it takes commitment and thats part of washingtons warning to us is whenever the siren song of folks he called pretend patriots would try to divide americans against one another, he said, dont trust them. We need to be focused on this Eternal Truth our independence as a nation is inseparable from our interdependence as a people. That was his core bit of wisdom. When any party tries to say they represent the bible and the american flag, look sideways at that because those things belong to all of us and we need to stay united on what unites us not divides us. applause and you know what we also need . Sorry. We need a new generation of washingtonians to follow that model. We need folks who put country above party and really focus on these eternal virtue s. Stephen we got to know you. Yeah. Stephen those of us those of us who talk about what is going on in politics, we got to know you because you were a speechwriter for jawl ofteny. Republican . Independent. Stephen that is a modern word for used tieb republican. Im an independent. Im a centrist. I do not throw in for this my team versus your team tribalism stuff at all. Stephen well, i hope that team wins. Washingtons farewell is in what if Home Security was different . What if it looked different . What if the measure of working, was that you never had to think about it. What if it was so easy to use, you actually used it. [alarm] you have 3 minutes to exit. What if it gave you time, and what you really need from Home Security. A sense of security. Hi, were alaska airlines. And our california game is stepping up. With our low fares, your san jose startup wont have to pony up for a quick flight to an la meetup. And you might even get an upgrade on your next trip to palm springs. Over 90 daily nonstops. From san diego on up. Alaska airlines. Thats how we fly. And now, step up to alaska premium class, with upgrades starting at just 15. The late show, everybody. Tune in tomorrow when my guests will be jordan peele, now stick around for james corden and his guests, emmy rossum and january jones. Good night captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by Media Access Group at wgbh access. Wgbh. Org are you ready yall to have some fun feel the love tonight dont you worry bout where it is you come from itll be all right its the late, late show