Stephen Colbert is sensing a pattern with Donald Trump’s lawsuit-fueled attacks on American media outlets. And in his monologue on Wednesday’s “The Late Show,” he suggested that in the end, Trump is even going to sue if the famous Pennsylvania groundhog predicts the end of winter wrongly.
What got him to that joke is that after ABC caved and settled Trump’s defamation lawsuit rather than defend ABC News, the incoming president is now suing a newspaper and a famous pollster for incorrectly predicting he would lose in Iowa based on polling data.
“Remember that Iowa poll that came out right before the election that showed Trump losing the state by three to four points to the nice lady who didn’t do the crimes? Well, Trump remembers, because yesterday, we found out that Trump is suing Iowa pollster Ann Seltzer and the Des Moines Register newspaper for that poll claiming they were seeking accountability for brazen election interference,” Colbert said.
“You won!” He continued. “So now it’s interference just to get a prediction wrong? Well, in that case, Punxsutawney Phil, you better lawyer up buttercup.
Punxsutawney Phil is of course the famous groundhog in question. Every year the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania holds a ceremony where said groundhog predicts the end of winter based on whether or not he sees his shadow. The town has been holding this fun (and weird) ceremony formally since 1886 — and while obviously, obviously it’s not the same little rodent, the official lore holds that because Phil drank the “elixir of life,” he’s been blessed with nigh immortality and has lived to make these predictions ever since.
Of course, the reason the majority of people today know anything about Punxsutawney Phil is the 1993 romantic comedy/fantasy classic “Groundhog Day,” directed by Harold Ramis and starring Bill Murray. That film is about an arrogant, snobbish Pittsburgh weatherman (Murray) who gets trapped in a time loop while covering Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction event, and is forced to relive Groundhog Day over and over — at least 414 times, and possibly as many as 11,000 — until, basically, he has enough character development to break the cycle.
As a result of the film’s enduring impact, these days the term “Groundhog Day” is as likely to mean “trapped and forced to do the same infuriating thing again and again, seemingly forever” as it does “cute rodent predicts the seasons.”
And hey, speaking of, Donald Trump is about to be president again.
Watch the full monologue from Wednesday’s episode of “The Late Show” below: