Announcer its the late show with Stephen Colbert dems the break week 2020 candidates, gone but not forgotten, except the ones we forgot. Tonight taunts and prayers. Plus stephen welcomes mayor Pete Buttigieg and Patton Oswalt. 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, hi there cheers and applause fantastic. Very nice, very nice. How lovely. How lovely to be with all of you. No place i would rather be in the world than with you people right now. Welcome to the late show. Im your host, Stephen Colbert. cheers and applause stephen so here we are. Here we are. Trump was not removed from office, which we never really thought he would be. So what now . Wither the republic. Some people fear that now there is going to be nothing to hold him back. Trump unleashed, off the rail. A, thats not a leash. It is just a really long tie. laughter and b, there were never rails, not even those little bumpers they put in for kids to bowl nothing. So trumps not going to change. And this morning, trump began his toxic victory shamble at the most appropriate place for vengeance, the National Prayer breakfast. laughter you know what they say the Prayer Breakfast is the angriest meal of the day. Trump, clearly humbled by his impeachment, began with a very contrite fist pump. He really seems to, you know, like that. He wants to cherish that moment, make it last forever. Lets give that to him. Jimmy, can we loop that, please . laughter yes, there he is. cheers and applause there he is. He is really, really just milking the moment. laughter now, before things do not reuse that footage for your own filthy purposes, do not. Now, before things got started, trump continued his gloating by holding up a newspaper with the headline acquitted. This is an historic moment. I mean, it will be remembered like harry Truman Holding up the paper saying suck it, dewey. The keynote speaker of the breakfast was a man named arthur brooks, who had an Important Message of forgiveness. My friends, that is the theme of this breakfast today, love your enemies. Stephen what a beautiful sentiment. And so appropriate, following the divisive impeachment. The president immediately followed that with this arthur, i dont know if i agree with you. But i dont know if arthur is going to like what i am going to say. Stephen sorry, im a little hoarse right now, but when im around so many christians, the demon just pops out, you know. laughter factus sum sicut homo sine adjutorio inter motuuos liber. So not a lot of love and forgiveness at the Prayer Breakfast, specifically toward utah senator mitt romney, seen here after one chocolate milk. laughter romney was the only republican who voted to convict trump, and he justified his decision by citing his oath to god. Trump also attacked nancy pelosi, who has said she prays for him, and here is his twofer attack. I dont like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong. Nor do i like people who say, i pray for you, when they know that that is not so. Stephen wait, how can how can he know what someone is really praying . Oh, no did he get the russians to hack god laughter but. laughter just had a mental image, because thats not good for anybody. God has seen all the peepee tapes. laughter now, even when the prompter told trump to talk about his friends, he couldnt help but bring up his enemies. For this cherished tradition are a lot of friends in the audience, that and the enemies and the allies. And we have them all. We have allies, we have enemies, sometimes the allies with enemies, but we just dont know it. laughter stephen okay, that sounds a little paranoid, but trump says he is a christian, and he is just echoing the lords words at the last suupper. Truly, i tell you, one of you will betray me, and its mitt iscariot. Get him then trump forgot about the prayer thing all together and Just Launched the ramble on the mount. Our unemployment numbers are the best in the history of our country. Women, best in 71 years. Sorry, well have you there soon. Soon it will be historic. We have to apologize to the women. Stephen yes, you do have to apologize to the women. cheers and applause usually, that is part of the settlement. laughter now, trumps performance was so inappropriate, that even fox news summed it up as trump slams opponents at National Prayer breakfast. That is the worst president ial headline since nixon drop kicks baby panda at the national zoo. Now, trumps pity party made another pit stop. Shortly after noon today, in the east room of the white house. Trump claimed that everybody had it in for him from the very beginning. We had the witch hunt. It started from the day we came down the elevator. Stephen it wasnt an elevator laughter every one knows it was an escalator. For petes sake. You were riding on it you were on the damn ha ha. Weve got you now, mr. President. The whole thing was a weird event. It just it was when you watched it, you werent sure what to make of it. You couldnt pin down exactly what the thing was. And, evidently, the president agreed. And tis really nowsnferen. Its not a speech. It is not anything. laughter this, this aint no party this aint no disco this aint no foolin around the point is im a psycho killer and im burning down the house cheers and applause its like during wartime. Its like during wartime. Since this is a white house event in the formal east room, trump was at his most president ial. First one through, russia, russia, russia. It was all bull bleep . Stephen wow. I know i would like to point out that for you people at home, we had to bleep that last word, because cbs has Higher Standards than the president of the united states. cheers and applause we cant we cant i cant we cant we cant broadcast stuff like that. That is why the network had to change the title of the new hit sitcom bob bleep abishola. laughter and. People at home are like, i would watch that. Even though even though impeachment is over, he couldnt resist talking about the ukrainian phone call. Think of it, the phone call. A very good phone call. I know bad phone calls. Stephen oh, im sure you do, mr. President. laughter they always start with, i swear ive never met her before. And they end with, okay, where do i send the check . Then trump complimented applause cheers and applause sure, why not . Why not . Jon the people vote. Stephen big fans of nondisclosure agreements here tonight. Then trump complimented one of his biggest defenders in congress. When i first got to know him, jim jordan, when i first got to know jim i said, huh, never wears a jacket. What the hell is going on . He is obviously very proud of his body. laughter stephen jim, jim, whats that like . I havent seen my junk since 1986. cheers and applause can you is everything good . Trump kept talking about jim jordans record, maybe even more than jim jordan would like him to. All right, this guy. So at the n. C. A. A. Meeting a couple of years ago when he was in college, wrestling champion, n. C. A. A. Thats a big deal. That means, in all of college, you are the champ. You are the best. His record was ridiculous. Nobody could beat him. Stephen yes, jim wrestled hard and hit the showers. Ca it just google jim jordan, wrestling and showers. you will learn everything you need to know about jim. Weve got a great show for you tonight. Mayor Pete Buttigieg is here. Stick around. Its historic. cheers and applause remind me to call petsmart for ralphies appointment. 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My first guest tonight is the former mayor of south bend, indiana, who just made history at the iowa caucus. Please welcome mayor Pete Buttigieg. cheers and applause cheers and applause stephen mr. Mayor, thank you so much for coming back. cheers and applause thank you. Stephen good to see you again. Thanks for having me. cheers and applause thank you. Stephen how have you been . laughter not bad. Stephen it has been its been an extraordinary fall and winter so far. Yeah. Stephen we have talked three times. This is the third time that we have spoken, and one of the things i always like about talking to you is that you actually answer questions that are posed to you. I dont actually hear stump speach when i ask questions, people ask you, who have you been impressed with . And i go, there is this guy, Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of south bend, indiana. That guy is running. I say yes. When you first came on, people didnt know who you were. I was thinking, almost exactly a year ago, my book was coming out. You were very kind to me, but i had this sense that maybe you were a little skeptical of my chances of coming anywhere near the american presidency. Stephen a little bit, a little bit. South bend is a lovely place. It is, yeah. Stephen you won last time with, like, 8,000 votes, or something. It is not the same scale that we imagine that a National Candidate succeeding on. Of course. Stephen and one of th things i said to you at the time was, you know, one hopeful sign i see in america is that the third or fourth thing i learned about you was that you were a gay man. I learned Everything Else first. And now i think it bears noting that you are the first l. G. B. T. Q. Person to win delegates in any president ial contest. cheers and applause what does that mean . What does that say to you . cheers and applause and i will let them have their moment. What does that mean to you personally . And what do you think that means about america . Well, what it means to me personally is that, you know, the very same thing that i thought might mean i would never get to serve, in uniform or in office. It turns out to be talk about good having a sense of humor it turns out to be part of how i have had a chance to make a difference. I didnt set out to be the gay candidate or the gay president , but i also was open to who i am. And my hope more broadly, is that, you know, i know there are a lot of people, a lot of young people wondering if they fit, feeling like maybe they dont belong in their communities, maybe even questioning if they belong in their own families. And, hopefully, this is one significant bit of proof that they belong after all, and they belong in this country. cheers and applause stephen we know you best everybody on your posters and everything, it says mayor pete. Yeah. Stephen if you end up becoming the 46th president of the united states, will it be president mayor pete . laughter doesnt exactly roll off the tongue. Technically, i guess it would technically have to be president former mayor pete. P maybe just pete. T. Stephen do you know this is being taped on wednesday for thursday night, thats when i asked my producer, what is the latest we know do you know what the latest results are from the great, if confused, state of iowa . laughter so the last i checked, by the measue of state delegates equivalents, we are on track to be the firstplace winner in the iowa caucus. cheers and applause stephen do you know how much is reporting at this point . I think i believe it is over 80 . I think there is another 15 or so of the precincts to go. So we are still waiting on some of these verified results as we sit here speaking. Stephen but you actually did caucus. You went ahead and said yeah, im pretty sure we won. That is what historians call ballsy. laughter why Even Campaign in New Hampshire . Why not just declare victory there now . Can you name me as the winner of the emmys so i dont have to give congratulations to john oliver next september, right now . applause i could, but i dont know if it would go as well for you as iowa went for us. I mean, look, we were, obviously, waiting on the verified figures. But the thing about the caucuses its not like a secret ballot vote. People do it out in the open, high school gyms. Reporters are there. So we had observers and volunteers there. Stephen and they write the totals on the board. Exactly. We had seen enough to know, even with the final math which we are waiting for that there was no way that it could be anything but an extraordinary victory for this campaign. Stephen have you guys communicated with any of the other campaigns about our mutual frustration about what happened . Because you spent a year in iowa. Mostly. Stephen mostly, but on and off a year in iowa. Yeah. I mean, the last three weeks, we spent 55 events, working towarding this for years, bus tours, campaigning, there were debates. Stephen were you afraid it would end up being meaningless, all that effort . Nothing can change the fact of what that caucus meant. And what it meant are so many iowans who stood in front of their neighbors and friends and made this statement. But it is generally nice to get the results well, it would be like at the emmys if you had to wait a couple of days after the ceremony to find out who actually got it. Im sure very frustrating for everybody. Stephen it is pretty frustrating already. laughter now, okay, so lets talk about iowa. There is some criticism that it is not representative of the united states. Is a win if you are right and you get the majority of the delegates and are technically the winner of iowa, what does that mean nationally, winning in some place that is so demographically nondemonstrative of the rest of the country . There is no question that it will be as important in the future to compete in states that have greater racial diversity. For example, we will be in nevada soon, well be in South Carolina soon. But here is one of the reasons why that iowa success is so meaningful. I means that we were able to succeed in rural areas, in suburban areas and in urban areas, in counties that voted democratic the whole time. And many of those counties famously swung in a big way from voting for president obama to voting for trump. And if we want to beat donald trump, and i think we all at least most of us want to make sure that happens. cheers and applause you know, all of us candidates are going around the country saying pick me. Im the one to go toe to toe with this president. Im the one that can put together a big win. And the process of proving that began in iowa, and this is a great way to demonstrate that. Pgoing toe to toe with President Trump. Now that President Trump has been acquitted by the senate, does it change at all how you run against a president who has been acquitted of impeachment, found guilty in the eyes of even many republicans . A majority of americans wanted him removed. And, yet, he stays in office. You know, my biggest concern about the effect of this is a sense of exhaustion with everything, because we see the process in the senate it wasnt a real trial. They didnt have witnesses. Everybody knows that trials generally ought to have witnesses. The jurors, so to speak, many of the g. O. P. Senators made clear this was a foregone conclusion. And the worst thing that could happen if we give in to a sense of hopelessness or exhaustion and walk away from the whole process. But the best thing about the fact that it is 2020, we are living in an election year, is yeah, the senate was the jury in the impeachment, but we are the jury now. And we get the final verdict on the president and on the senate in the election. cheers and applause stephen did you watch what mitt romney said on the floor of the senate . I caught just a little bit of it, yeah. Stephen yeah, he seemed to be the lone voice within the Republican Party who believed that the oath required him to remove donald trump from office, or to vote to do so, at least. Have you spoken privately to any republicans about how they feel when the door is closed . G. O. P. Senators dont generally confide in me. laughter but but i know enough people who know enough people to know that mitt romney is not the only person in that chamber on the republican side who knows that what the president did was grievously wrong. And ,you know, i do think he deserves credit. I think he has been on the wrong side of a lot of issues, but i think he deserves credit for having followed his conscience on this and done the right thing in this case. And the fact that he is the only Senate Republican to do it, more than anything, that says a lot about what is happening in the senate g. O. P. Stephen mr. Mayor, we have to take a little bit of a break. Well be right back with more Pete Buttigieg. Stick aro