Did Stephen Colbert Softball Donald Trump?

On Tuesday, The Late Show welcomed Donald Trump. New host Stephen Colbert has spent a lot of time and energy having fun at Trump’s expense at his old gig The Colbert Report. So what would happen when the two met face to face?

Well, according to CNN‘s Raul Reyes, Colbert “shamefully caved to Trump“. But is that a fair assessment?

Among the topics discussed by the two were how Trump was financing his own campaign. Trump claimed he would not let lobbyists and special interest groups influence him with donations. When Colbert asked him to name some politicians he himself had “bought,” Trump balked. He instead explained how politicians tended to be far more receptive to those who had financially helped them get elected or, on the other hand, gave the cold shoulder to those who had not.

Trump was critical of politicians of both stripes for the harm he felt they have done America. Colbert’s questions about whether Trump felt Americans themselves were to blame seemed designed to elicit an easy answer. Trump, not surprisingly, said no. Some of Trump’s more specific criticisms included the war in Iraq. Trump was quite adamant in his belief that Iran would soon take over Iraq; and that ISIS had already seized parts of it. That, he said, had allowed them to obtain oil, which in turn was making them rich. Trump also came out against the Iran nuclear deal, and Colbert chose to joke about autographing a book for his next guest Ernest Moniz, who was involved in brokering the deal, rather than push the issue.

On immigration, ‘The Donald” remained steadfast in his belief that there must be a wall along the Mexican border and that all illegal immigrants in the country must be deported. Trump did make it clear there would be a “beautiful, big, fat door” in the wall of those entering legally. When Stephen asked how Trump would get Mexico to pay for the wall, Trump pointed to the $45 billion trade deficit with Mexico while Colbert made jokes about Spanish speaking receptionists. Donald’s claim the wall would cost only $5-7 billion and be “very easy” to build went unquestioned. Trump referenced The Great Wall of China, 13,000 miles long, and said the US/Mexico wall would only need to be 1,000 miles long. Trump claimed it would stop crime, and stop the drug trade. Colbert’s biggest contribution was lamp shading the idea by suggesting there be two walls, and between them a flaming moat filled with fireproof crocodiles.

Even Stephen himself admitted he was tossing up a “meatball” when he asked Trump if President Obama was born in the United States. Trump refused to confirm it and tried to change the subject claiming “I don’t talk about that any more.”

The remainder of the interview was taken up by Stephen quizzing his guest on whether a series of quotes were from Trump or Colbert’s ultra-right character from “The Colbert Report.” Trump aced the quiz, not even falling for a trick question, a quote from Charles Manson.

Not every critic was hard on Colbert. Ben Schreckinger of Politico felt Colbert bested Trump and that Donald, whose usual mode is to attack, ended up in a subdued, agreeable mode.

The big question perhaps, is why should we expect Stephen Colbert to ask hard hitting questions? He’s a talk show host, not a journalist. His years on Comedy Central were a very different environment from The Late Show. Here, Stephen is a host, not a character, and treating guests well gets them to come back. And Donald’s visit was quite a boon to Colbert. People used to talk about the Colbert Bump. Perhaps now they should be talking about the Trump Bump, as the Trump interview brought Stephen his best ratings since his debut episode.

On several occasions, Colbert apologized to Trump for his past material. Trump claimed he had nothing to apologize for. When it comes to being a talk show host, not a reporter, neither does Stephen.

[Image by Fredrick M Brown/Getty Images]