Before grilling billionaire Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer over effectively buying his way onto the debate stage, The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert addressed the most important news of the day in his monologue.
“Let’s start off the evening on a positive note: Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. A beautiful day to celebrate, a beautiful message to remember,” he announced.
Then, the late-night comic pivoted to first lady Melania Trump’s MLK Day tweet honoring the late civil rights hero.
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“Melania’s tweet was short and sweet. ‘Together we honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. #MLKDay,’” said Colbert. “She really relates to Dr. King’s message—especially the part about wanting to be ‘free at last.’” With a grin, he added, “It’s what I heard.”
“The oddest thing about that tweet was the graphic she used, which just said ‘MLK Day.’ Timely…and factual,” offered Colbert. “And I’m being told we have a preview of the first lady’s tweet for tomorrow: Together we honor—Tuesday, January 21.’ Again, so truthful.”
With that, he went into the other thing that happened once on MLK Day: Trump’s inauguration—you know, that poorly-attended, terribly tacky soiree.
“In addition to this being MLK Day, it’s also the third anniversary of Trump’s inauguration,” said Colbert. “I think we all remember where we were when we weren’t there.”
He then blew a kiss to the crowd.
