Stephen Colbert on Trump v Epstein files: ‘Fighting tooth and cankle’
Late-night hosts reacted to Donald Trump signing a bill to release the Epstein files while still trying to distract from them.Stephen Colbert celebrated the impending release of all files related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.“After months of Trump fighting tooth and cankle to hold back the Republican party from doing the right thing, he just went ahead and gave up and signed the bill to release the Epstein files,” the Late Show host explained a day after Congress voted near unanimously to compel the justice department to make the files public within 30 days.“Even though Trump told Republicans to all vote for this, he was clearly furious that they did,” Colbert continued.Trump signed the bill after the White House issued a so-called photo lid, which shut down any on-camera opportunities.
“He signed it off camera, and he’ll sign anything on camera – executive orders, sneakers, lady parts, wall parts, a toddler,” he added over clips of Trump’s many strange autograph photo ops,“Trump is avoiding cameras,That’s like the Pillsbury doughboy avoiding nudity,“More proof that these files are making Trump soil his ample briefs?” On Wednesday night, Trump took to Truth Social with a “full, Unabomber-length manifesto” blaming Democrats,“Imagine, if you got that as a text,” said Colbert as he scrolled through the screed.
“Somewhere in that Apple terms and conditions-length screed, Trump tried to claim credit for the thing he desperately fought to stop,”As Trump put it: “As everyone knows, I asked Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, to pass this bill … Because of this request, the votes were almost unanimous in favor of passage,”“So you know, in a way, he won,” Colbert deadpanned,“It reminds me of Julius Caesar’s famous last words: ‘Great job, Brute!’”On Late Night, Seth Meyers also mocked Trump’s tome-length attempt to claim credit for the release of the files,“Don’t try that move where you say ‘and everyone knows … ’ in hopes that we’re all going to say, ‘Everyone? But I didn’t know.
Am I out of the loop?’” he laughed,“Everyone knows the opposite was true, because we saw it with our own eyes,You can try to get away with saying ‘As everyone knows, I have a huge penis,’ But don’t do it while you’re changing at the gym, because people are going to check,“Let’s not forget, the same guy who is now claiming he told the House and the Senate to pass a bill to release the Epstein files also claimed not long ago that those same files were fake,” Meyers added.
Moreover, Trump continued to pressure Republicans to back off the files this week, fuming that the attention on Epstein “deflects from the great job we’ve done”.“If there’s nothing bad in the Epstein files for you, then why would it deflect from the great job you’ve done?” Meyers wondered.“That just sounds even more suspicious.That’s like if your spouse asked to look at your phone, and you respond, ‘I don’t want my DMs on Instagram to distract from how great our marriage is.’”The Epstein files, capturing the public’s attention at a time when grocery prices are soaring in part due to Trump’s tariffs, represents “the greatest test yet of Trump’s nearly mystical ability to lie his way out of any problem”, said Meyers.
“He can lie about corruption or climate change or healthcare or fake wars that he fake solved, but he can’t lie about numbers people see with their own eyes every day at the grocery store.“Trump is learning the same hard truth that Joe Biden and the Democrats learned last year: you can’t Jedi mind-trick people into thinking the economy is better than what they feel in their lives every day.”After ripping Trump for once again attempting to get him fired, Jimmy Kimmel then poked fun at the president being snubbed from Dick Cheney’s funeral.“All you need to know about what an explosively unstable disaster this man is for this country, is that Dick Cheney – Dick Cheney – voted for not just a liberal Democrat, a Black female liberal Democrat, over him, his fellow conservative Republican,” he said.“That’s it! You don’t need to know anything else to know what a garden hose full of diarrhea this presidency has been.
”Kimmel also touched on Trump’s Truth Social manifesto on the Epstein files.“He signed the bill and then posted this giant run-on sentence taking credit for the fact that the bill got passed.It wouldn’t have passed without him! Another legislative triumph.”The justice department now has 30 days to release the files, “which will make for a very merry Christmas indeed”, said Kimmel.“I have a prediction for the next 30 days.
I think we’re going to see Trump do some of the craziest shit yet.I think he’s taking it up to a level 11 in the next 30 days.He’s already started.”Kimmel pointed to a group of six Democratic lawmakers, all of whom served in the military or the intelligence community, who grew so concerned about Trump’s handling of the armed forces that they made a video reminding troops that they are not legally required to follow illegal orders.Trump, of course, took to Truth Social again, calling the video “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!!” that was “punishable by DEATH!”“He all-capped his pants on this one,” Kimmel laughed.
“No big deal though, just the president of the United States musing about Congress-people being executed.”
Starmer accuses ‘spineless’ Farage of failure to tackle racism in Reform party
Nigel Farage has been accused of being “spineless” by the prime minister and a “coward” by Dulwich college contemporaries over his response to allegations of racism.Keir Starmer said the Reform UK leader had “questions to answer” about alleged comments and chants as a teenager that include songs about the Holocaust, and accusations of bullying towards minority ethnic schoolboys.He added that Farage had a “track record” when it came to racism, pointing to his failure to discipline his fellow Reform MP Sarah Pochin after she complained about the number of black and brown people she saw in adverts.Speaking to reporters on the way to the G20 summit in Johannesburg, Starmer said: “He needs to explain the comments, or alleged comments that were made, and he needs to do that as soon as possible. He hasn’t got a good track record in relation to this because Sarah Pochin, his MP, made some clearly racist comments and Nigel Farage has done absolutely nothing about it
UK politics: Reeves ‘not even sure what the popular path is’ on the budget – as it happened
The UK cannot continue to “muddle through” and must take “a different path” on the economy, the chancellor has said.Ahead of her second budget on 26 November, Rachel Reeves told the Times that the country could not continue on its current trajectory. But she admitted she was “not even sure any more what the popular path is” amid calls for a wealth tax from some politicians and heavy tax and spending cuts from others.In the interview published on Friday, Reeves said:I’m not even sure any more what the popular path is.There are lots of people who say cut taxes and the economy will grow, but what spending would they cut? Borrowing is too high, but you can’t cut it overnight
Reform UK’s former Wales leader jailed for taking bribes for pro-Russia speeches
Reform UK’s former leader in Wales Nathan Gill has been jailed for 10 and a half years for taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia when he was an MEP.Gill, a key member of the Ukip and Brexit party groups led by Nigel Farage in the European parliament, had pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.Police believe Gill received the equivalent of at least £30,000 and could have got even more from Oleg Voloshyn, a former Ukrainian MP and alleged Russian asset. He remains under investigation but is now believed to be in Moscow.Immediately after Gill was jailed, the defence minister Al Carns called on Farage’s party to launch a thorough investigation to guarantee that pro-Russia links were rooted out of Reform
Rachel Reeves sick of people ‘mansplaining’ how to be chancellor
Rachel Reeves has said she is sick of people “mansplaining” how to be chancellor to her as she prepares to deliver her budget next week.Reeves made the comments in an interview with the Times in which she spoke of the pressure of being the UK’s first female chancellor and the subject of constant political attacks.She said it motivated her “a bit” to show she was making the right decisions to those “boys who now write newspaper columns” or describe her as “Rachel from accounts”.“I recognise that I’ve got a target on me,” she said in the interview with Tom Baldwin, a journalist and former Labour communications adviser to Ed Miliband.“You can see that in the media; they’re going for me all the time
Lib Dems to force vote on creating new customs union with EU
The Liberal Democrats are forcing a vote in parliament on creating a new customs union to put pressure on Labour MPs to take a more pro-EU stance.Ed Davey’s party is writing to all Labour MPs urging them to back a new bill in favour of a customs union with the EU, believing this is the best way to boost growth and raise revenue, rather than tax rises.The bill, tabled by Al Pinkerton, the Lib Dem spokesperson on Europe, will be voted on by MPs in early December, two weeks after the budget. It is largely symbolic and not likely to pass because it does not have government support.However, the Lib Dems are hoping to demonstrate support among pro-EU MPs for the idea of a new customs union
Labour MPs urge Reeves to drop private finance plans for NHS buildings
Rachel Reeves has been urged by 40 Labour MPs to drop plans to fund NHS buildings with private finance initiatives (PFI) that would saddle the health service with debt.The Labour MPs, including Cat Eccles, Clive Lewis and Rebecca Long-Bailey, pressed the chancellor to commit to investment in the NHS without the use of private capital and warned that a return to the New Labour era of private funding for public projects would be damaging for trust in the government.“We are asking you to learn from the mistakes of the past. We must reject the notion that private finance can be used to build public services in a way that can be to the long-term benefit of the public,” they said in their letter. “We ask you to please drop any plans for new private finance in the NHS from the autumn budget and any future policy
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