Stephen Colbert was as stunned as anyone when President Biden actually did drop out of the 2024 presidential race but, according to the late night host, it was actually a pretty logical decision, at least for future purposes.
“I mean this is shocking, but this makes sense! It’ll give him time to rest up for 2028,” Colbert joked on Monday night.
Speaking more seriously — though not by much — Colbert applauded Biden’s decision, saying it puts the president ” in league with history’s most selfless leaders.” Of course, those leaders included “Sex and the City” star Kim Catrall, who Colbert joked “stepped down as Samantha after Pelosi showed her the polls.”
But the late night host did literally salute Biden, taking extra delight in the fact that, once again, major news from Biden happened to have some relation to ice cream. For those unaware, Biden announced he’d be dropping out of the race on National Ice Cream Day.
From there, Colbert looked ahead to Kamala Harris’ campaign, feeling admittedly baffled by the idea of having hope again.
“What is this? What is this strange feeling? It’s like my blood is flowing again” he marveled. “For the for the first time in months, I don’t want to build a little pillow fort and crawl in there with a hoagie and a tub of frosting. Is this — is this excitement? Is this hope? Is there any way to physically embody this feeling?”
There was indeed, as a clip of Harris dancing at an event with children began playing, and Colbert danced along with it, even shimmying at one point.
“This is the dance of a man who finally has something new to talk about after five years,” he said.
You can watch Stephen Colbert’s full monologue in the video above.
