The release of Omarosa Manigault-Newman’s new book Unhinged has reignited the somehow still-raging debate over whether or not President Donald Trump is a “racist.” The issue made its way to the White House Press Room this week, where Sarah Huckabee Sanders couldn’t “guarantee” that there is not a tape of Trump saying the “N-word” and cited the fact that the Clintons attended his third wedding as evidence that he’s not a bigot.
“Yeah, he can’t be a racist. Some of his best friends are people who have black friends,” Stephen Colbert joked in his monologue Wednesday night. But rather than just take his press secretary’s word for it, the Late Show host said, “Take it from Trump’s biggest defender.”
With that, Colbert cut to an alarmingly long montage of Trump declaring that he is the “least racist person” who exists. Paraphrasing Shakespeare, the host said, “You can tell somebody’s not something when they protest exactly the right amount.”
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To make his point, Colbert imagined Hannibal Lecter walking around his neighborhood telling everyone, “Just wanted to say, I don’t eat people. In fact, I am the least people-eating person ever.”
In various interviews over the past few days, Omarosa has insisted that she had no idea Trump was a “racist” before he hired her to be a member of his administration, despite knowing him for nearly 15 years. Maybe, Colbert said, it was because she never saw the interview Trump gave with Bryant Gumbel in 1989.
“A well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white in terms of the job market,” Trump can be seen telling Gumbel in the clip. He added that if were starting out in business then, he would have “loved to be a well-educated black.”
“Yes, I would love if you were a well-educated black man, too,” Colbert replied. As Barack Obama’s photo appeared on screen, he added, “Specifically, this one.”
