Last night, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert had a special guest: Stephen Colbert.
On the first day of the Republican National Committee’s convention, Colbert brought back the character he used to play on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report — an unapologetic conservative — for a surprise appearance and to reprise one of his classic segments, "The Word."
On Monday, the word was "Trumpiness."
Colbert, the character, and Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, are two peas in a pod: "We are both TV personalities and decided to run for president," Colbert said, to the caption, "Both started as a joke."
But Colbert had a better way to frame Trumpiness — with a word he invented years ago: truthiness.
"Truthiness was from the gut, but Trumpiness clearly comes from much further down the gastrointestinal tract," Colbert said.
In a concise and telling characterization of the Trump phenomenon that has swept the United States, Colbert deconstructed the Trump supporter psyche:
These legitimately angry voters don’t need a leader to say things that are true or feel true. They need a leader to feel things that feel feels.
That is why I think Donald Trump is a leader for our times: an emotional megaphone for voters full of rage about a government that achieves nothing, an economic system that leaves them behind, and a politics that elects people unfit for the job. And if you don’t share their feeling that you don't recognize your country anymore, trust me, if Trump wins, you will.
