John hickenlooper. Who wants to trade . Become a primarymon trading card master. Yayy get your primarymon playing cards today. Pow collect them all now, because most of them dont have the cash to make it to iowa. Announcer its the late show with Stephen Colbert. Tonight, make america debate again. Plus, stephen welcomes representative alexandria ocasiocortez. And musical guest incubus. 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 welcome oh, yes jon. Jon live lets do it. Audience Stephen StephenStephen Stephen stephen. Stephen hey thanks, everybody welcome. Welcome, one and all, to the late show. Please, have a seat, everybody. Thank you so much. Welcome to the late show. Im your host, Stephen Colbert. And we are live cheers and applause thats a live thats a Live Audience right there. It is just crackling with electricity in here because cheers and applause jon shake, rattle and roll. Stephen we are live after the first of two of democratic president ial debates. Im going to tell you all about it, if bill de blasio doesnt interrupt me. laughter tonight tonight, wednesday, was the undercard, pitting Elizabeth Warren, cory booker, and beto orourke against seven people angling for msnbc shows. laughter there were some challenges exciting night, but there were challenges. They talked over each other, there were some technical difficulties, but it was an excellent dress rehearsal for tomorrows actual debate. laughter very good. Very entertaining. Final preview. Final preview, we call that on broadway. Now, i tuned into nbc early tonight, and what i saw got me really got me excited about the debate format. Unfortunately, that was ellens game of games. Though, that giant boot would have been welcome during any one of bill de blasios interruptions. cheers and applause now, the biggest early moment was a linguistic surprise from beto orourke. This economy has got to work for everyone, and right now, we know that it isnt. And its going to take all of us coming together to make sure that it does. speaking spanish stephen im not entirely sure why he felt he had to do that. Hes either trying to lock up the hispanic vote or hes running for embarrassing dad at a mexican restaurant. laughter heres the thing applause donde esta whaa . Heres the crazy thing when beto was hablaing the espanol, this is true in the closed captioning, it just said speaking Foreign Language. I really like that really got through really penetrated Foreign Language . Can we get a look at nbcs closed captioning guy . Yeah, makes sense. laughter applause and cory booker was not having it. Check out the sideeye he gave beto. Damn that was going to be my thing. But the moderators werent ready to take speaks Foreign Language as an answer. Thats time, sir. Ill give you ten seconds to answer if you want to answer the direct question would you support a 70 individual marginal tax rate . Yes, no, or pass . Stephen as beto um. No hablo ingles. laughter right after beto, Julian Castro had a chance to speak. You know, i grew up with a mother who raised my brother, joaquin, and me as a single parent. And i know what its like. Stephen as castro . To actually speak spanish. cheers and applause the former congressman from maryland had a chance for a rebuttal. Congressman delaney, do you agree . Stephen and, congressman, keep in mind, this is the only time we will be calling on you. So if you speak spanish, or even pig latin, i would eakspay it yay ownay. laughter delaney tried to stand out from the crowd. You know, im very different than everyone else here on the stage. Stephen as delaney unlike the others, im just doing this on a dare from my brotherinlaw. Jokes on you, rick pay up im on stage. Washington governor jay inslee spoke about the massive wealth gap for american workers. It is not right that the c. E. O. Of mcdonalds makes 2,100 times more than the people slinging hash at mcdonalds. Stephen as inslee you know, the workers slinging hash on the flattop, with two sunnysides on rye. Hi, im jay inslee, and i have never stepped inside a mcdonalds. cheers and applause with adam eve on a raft. Amy klobuchar tried to set herself apart from trump. The president literally went on tv, on fox, and said that peoples heads would spin when theyd see how much he would bring down pharmaceutical prices. Instead, 2,500 drugs have gone up in double digits since he came into office. Instead, he gave 100 billion in giveaways to the pharma companies. For the rest of us, for the rest of america, thats what we call at home all foam and no beer. Stephen if thats a metaphor you frequently use, senator, then, as we say back in south carolina, im a shrimp sandwich in a thunderstorm. laughter every candidate every candidate lit up, when it came to the subject of health care. To stay the way it is, because its not working for families, but it sure as heck is working for its time for us to make families come first. It should not be an option in the United States of america for any Insurance Company to deny a woman coverage for their exercise of their right of choice. Stephen nothing like interrupting a woman to tell everyone that you care about the rights of women. Thank you, governor. Thank you cheers and applause thank you. About 35 minutes into the debate, as the candidates were talking about the tragedy at the border, trump finally weighed in tweeting, boring humanitarian catastrophes that i directly caused . Been there. Literally done that and when the topic turned to the border crisis, booker took betos spanish and raised him mucho mas. speaking spanish stephen oh, snap it is it is on it is on it is a espanoloff or, as they say it in spanish, grupo de idiotas. cheers and applause i hope i said that right. I dont i dont speak Foreign Language. By the way, guys, theres so much spanish on stage, ice is closing in. Get out of there then, telemundo anchor jose balart called beto on his los talking points. speaking spanish stephen as beto . Uh, that was not one of the phrases i memorized, sir. laughter you are speaking you are speaking a Foreign Language, i believe. And there were some strong words from either tim ryan or ryan tim, i cant really remember. If you go to Guantanamo Bay, there are terrorists that are held that get Better Health care than those kids that have tried to cross the border into the United States. Stephen yes, lets send those kids to Guantanamo Bay wait, no. No, i take that back two new moderators took over at half time, Rachel Maddow and chuck todd, which raised the question is it possible this debate will eventually have more hosts than candidates . Then complete and utter chaos. Many of you are calling for a restoration of an assault weapons ban. But even if implemented, there will still be hundreds of millions of guns in this country. Should there be a role for the federal government everybodys mics are on. I think we have a i heard that, too. Thats okay. I think we have a little mic issue in the back. Control room, we have we have the audience audio. Stephen im sorry, as i was saying, obviously, this is a deeply sensitive and tragic issue, and now it appears that a bunch of stray dogs have wandered on to the stage. The dogs are now humping bill de blasios leg. Control room control room were hearing the humping can we turn off the mic that we for some reason put on bill de blasios leg . Thank you very much but they got that fixed and they kept going, but not really. But, even if its put in place there are still going to be perhaps hundreds of millions of guns still on the streets. Is there a role for the federal government in order to to play in order to get these guns off the streets . speaking in background whats happening . We are hearing our colleagues audio. If the control room could turn off the mics . laughter yeah, if the control room could turn off the mics of our previous moderators. You know, we prepared for everything. Guess what, guys. We did not prepare for this. Stephen wow, that is really embarrassing to have a live show where you dont know whose mics are on and whose mics are off while youre doing your show. speaking in background in the background people are talking about the thing youre trying to ask questions about the entire time that youre talking, people behind you are just talking on their microphones the entire time. And, jon. Jon you got to get some stephen jon, jon, jon, jon. Im trying to do the monologue. Your mic is on. This is live. Jon yeah, i know it is. Its going great, i think. I was really just trying to see if you wanted to get something to eat after this. laughter stephen yeah, chinese would be great. Once all of that cleared up, maddow asked jay inslee about his Central Campaign topic Climate Change. Were here in miami, which is already experiencing serious flooding on sunny days as a result of sea level rise. Does your plan save miami . Yes. laughter stephen that is the biggest softball a president ial candidate can hope for. I dont care what anyone says, i believe the people of this great city should not drown no, i i dont applause and while they were talking Climate Change, john delaney did his best to yank the spotlight over to his corner. I introduced the only bipartisan carbon tax bill 30 seconds. Stephen and thats why i lost my congressional seat, rachel. Cards on the table, guys. I need this job. Im sorry i said i wouldnt cry. I just. cheers and applause then, congresswoman from hawaii, tulsi gabbard, and tim ryan got into it over National Security. The reality of it is if the United States isnt engaged, the taliban will grow. We have got to have some presence there the taliban was there long before we came in. Theyll be there long before we leave. Exact they were. We cannot keep u. S. Deploying to afghanistan thinking were going to somehow squash this taliban that have been there. I didnt say squash them. I didnt stay squash them. When we werent in there, they started flying planes into our buildings. So im just saying right now the taliban didnt attack us on 9 11. Al qaeda did. Thats why i and so many other people joined the military to go after al qaeda, not the taliban. Stephen tulsi, tim, please, dont fight youre both not going to be president please, just cheers and applause tim ryan identified what he thought was the biggest threat but had a confusing explanation why. China, without a question, theyre wiping us around the world. laughter stephen and the award for best clip that sounds like it should have been bleeped goes to. Tim ryan for the weird thing about china wiping us. cheers and applause congratulations. Then it was time for closing statements, and it did not go great for john delaney. Its time now for closing statements. Each candidate has 45 seconds. We want to begin with former congressman delaney. Im closing now . laughter stephen oh oh, joking now . Its not easy to be hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. Bravo, sir. And castro closed with the nights biggest bilingual zinger. And on january 20, 2021, well say adios to donald trump. Stephen strong words. cheers and applause strong words. Powerful statement. I got to say, a very powerful statement. If only beto orourke would translate what that means. laughter weve got a great show for you tonight, everybody. For reaction to tonights debate i will be joined by alexandria ocasiocortez. And then meanwhile. Stick around band playing cheers and applause paul hey, did you know that now at sprint you can trade in your iphone 6s or newer in any condition, seriously any condition, and get the brilliant iphone xr for just 0 a month . Well, now you know. Trade up. For people with hearing loss, visit sprintrelay. Com. Steady the elbow. Shoot me one . Ahh boom shaka laka. Feisty. Ahh i am totally blind. And non24 can throw my days and nights out of sync, keeping me from the things i love to do. Talk to your doctor, and call 8442142424. Delivered to your door try tso you can do more. Very. Feels so good feels so good feels so good target run and done. drum roll and the record for longestlasting aa battery goes to. cymbal crash energizer ultimate lithium. Guinness World Records title holder for longestlasting aa battery. only tylenol® rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. They release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. Tylenol®. For fast pain relief. A lot of folks ask me why their dishwasher doesnt get everything clean. I tell them, it may be your detergent. Thats why more dishwasher brands recommend cascade platinum. Its speciallydesigned with the soaking, scrubbing and rinsing built right in. Cascade platinums unique actionpacs dissolve quickly. To remove stuckon food. For sparklingclean dishes, the first time. Choose the detergent that lets your dishwasher do the dishes cascade platinum. The number one recommended brand in north america. Do you love reeses pieces . Well have we got a deal for you. Were making reeses with pieces. Sorta like a buy one get one free inside the thing you just got. Not sorry. Reeses. band playing cheers and applause stephen hey, welcome back give it up for jon batiste and stay human right over there, everybody. Give it up for the band jon come on come on stephen jon, this is exciting. Jon come on, now stephen i love a live show. Jon oh, yeah, its great. Kinetic energy. Stephen its amazing. Jon live energy stephen great feeling. cheers and applause incredible feeling to do this. Heres the good news, this is a great feeling to do a live show. Its a ton of fun. Its very exciting. And we get to do it again tomorrow night. Well be live after tomorrow nights debate. Our guest will be Chris Christie tomorrow night. Well get a republican perspective on the democrats. But tonight, ladies and gentlemen, my first guest is the 29yearold superstar representative from the 14th district of new york, please welcome back to the late show, congresswoman alexandria ocasio cortez. applause hi oh, my gosh hi how exciting stephen its nice. Nice to have you back. Thank you stephen everywhere you go. Incredible oh, my gosh cheers and applause stephen i feel the same way. Well, congresswoman, first of all, thanks so much for being back here. Thank you. Audience aoc aoc aoc aoc stephen were Live Audience a. O. C. stephen cheers. Welcome back. Listen, happy debate night, first of all. Happy debate night. Stephen and what stood out to you tonight, other than there was a fair amount of spanish being spoken. There was, there was. Stephen now, as someone with puerto rican heritage, did that appeal to you . I loved it, because i represent the bronx, there was a lot of spanglish in the building. I thought it was humorous, sometimes, at times. Especially because sometimes the content of the question, i thought people were just going to start saying speaking spanish which means i will not give you an answer to your question. laughter but it was it was good. I thought it was a good gesture to the fact that we are a diverse country, so. Stephen well, what were some of the biggest moments to you . In your group text chains, whats blowing up . I think sometimes with the debate stage this big, it can kind of seem like a high school classroom, and so there are some folks that, like, didnt seem like they read the book, and then they got called on. laughter and then stephen anybody in particular . You know, you kind of like it depends on the question. And so so theyll answer the question or theyll get called on, and i dont think some candidates thought that they were going to get called on, on a certain question. And theyll be like, yes, the hero was courageous and the protagonist of the story. Stephen yes. laughter and moby dick was the whale. Yes, yes. Stephen people have been talking about leading up to this, people have been talking about how there are so many candidates on stage its kind of a combination of speed dating and a firsda. The first debate, who do you think gets, by the democratic voters, asked back for a second date here . I think Elizabeth Warren gets asked back. cheers and applause stephen i think so, too i think she knocked it out of the park. I think she knocked it out of the park. I think Julian Castro did a fantastic job tonight. applause stephen wow, your spanish accent is really good saying his name. You sounded like beto orourke, right there. Really perfect, perfect. I think both of them were great. I think there were some surprises, too. Stephen what about mayor de blasio . You know, i think he was good. He was i think what i have learned, too, going to d. C. Is that not everyone is accustomed to being a new yorker, and i have to work with iowans and minnesotans and stuff. And theyre like, hey, relax, take it down a bit and im like, what do you mean so but you know what . The country has worked with new yorkers. We have to atone, i think, for the one we have in the white house now. So we owe we owe the country good new yorkers. Stephen that would be nice. That would be nice. That would be nice. applause you know, there were underdogs tonight you were an underdog. Yeah. Stephen you know. Were any of the underdogs really surprise you tonight . What about tim ryan . What about john delaney . laughter and could you pick them out in a lineup if you had to . Uhm, i think that. A lot of laughter you know, sometimes youre an underdog until youre not. Stephen okay. So they could still break out. So, you know, theres always a chance, but. laughter ill be ill be honest. I really do think that this was a breakaway night, and i think that there was like, i think Elizabeth Warren really distinguished herself. I think Julian Castro really distinguished himself. I think cory booker did a great job in talking about criminal justice, and i think there were communities that got centered tonight. The Trans Community got centered tonight. The immigrant community got centered tonight. And i think that those that was an extraordinary moment as well. Stephen do you think the debate moderators brought up the subject