As a late-night host, Stephen Colbert joked Tuesday that he’s not one to “editorialize” the news. But after getting wind of Mark Meadows’ text messages to 34 members of Congress scheming efforts to overturn the 2020 election, he couldn’t help himself.
“These members of Congress who communicated with Meadows were — and it’s not my place to editorialize — stupid, evil traitors who were trying to do crimes against democracy for which they should be punished with decades of jail time,” Colbert said, railing on Meadows, South Carolina representative Ralph Norman and others.
In a report released Monday, Talking Points Memo, a website dedicated to breaking news and analysis, revealed that it had obtained Meadows’ text messages relating to the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol after he was forced to hand them over to the House Select Committee. That’s where we learned that he had been in contact with 34 U.S. representatives in hopes of drumming up a plan to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory in 2020 and hand the presidency back to Donald Trump.
“That is unbelievable! Thirty-four people — wanted to talk to Mark Meadows,” Colbert quipped of the news.
After emphasizing that these actions deserve jail time for former White House Chief of Staff Meadows and other politicians involved, the “Late Show” host zeroed in on South Carolina’s Norman, who, in a memorable typo, said that it was time to invoke “Marshall Law.”
“One of the worst of the baddies is South Carolina representative Ralph Norman. Norman wrote to Meadows, ‘Mark, we’re at a point of no return in saving our republic. Our last hope is invoking Marshall Law.’ OK,” Colbert said, “invoking ‘Marshall Law’ means this congressman was calling for military involvement in a coup — again, put him in jail. Also: Put him through spellcheck because it’s ‘martial law’ with a T. ‘Marshall Law’ is the new CBS drama starring Eminem as Judge Marshall Mathers. Which reminds me: Watch ‘Marshall Law’ on CBS, Saturdays, 1:45 p.m. right after all-new episodes of ‘The Enforcenator.’”
Watch Colbert’s full “Late Show” monologue in the video above.
