Stephen Colbert Makes Fun of Trump’s Ex-Aides Turning On Him, Calling Him ‘A Bit of a Red Flag’

On the latest episode of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert ridiculed former president Donald Trump—something he loves to do.

Colbert referred readers to a recent news report that quoted sixteen former Trump advisers who all delivered the unvarnished word that the former president should never take office again. He began the set by using the same strategy that pro-Trump Republicans sometimes do, claiming that a new group of 'anti-Trump radicals' had emerged and they were warning against Trump's reelection, per HuffPost.

“We hear a lot of warnings from a large group of anti-Trump radicals, they’re called people who have worked with him,” cracked the Late Show host. Colbert described their warning as “a little bit of a red flag.”

“It’s like a Hinge profile that says, ‘A funny thing about me is that all my exes testified against me at the sentencing,’” he joked. 

The report that Colbert quoted in his set has many rattled. The Washington Post spoke to sixteen former officials of the Trump administration who have all come out and said they believe the former president is unqualified to run for public office again. Particularly, one person, Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly, says he doesn't understand why there is still a significant number of people who would vote for the former president.

Colbert may have been correct to describe this as "a little bit of a red flag," given that no president in history has attracted as many vocal detractors from inside his own party, according to The Post. A number of Trump's detractors are presently employed by other politicians, including his former vice president, attorneys, counselors to the military, members of the Cabinet, economic advisers, and campaign staffers.

Every president is periodically chastised by members of his own administration. This is something that Barack Obama and George W. Bush have both experienced. Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley says what makes Trump unique is the sheer number of close former aides who have come out against him and the intensity of their charges. “You can get paid for a Washington insider book that dishes dirt; there’s been a corrosion of loyalty towards presidents. It wasn’t always that way,” Brinkley said. “And you have a lot of people who want to be decontaminated from Trump because he’s become a symbol of authoritarianism.”

Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesperson, defended his boss, calling everyone else 'disgusting charlatans.' He said, slamming the critics, “These media wh***s are always looking for their next grift — whether it’s book deals or cable news contracts — because they know their entire worth as human beings revolve around talking about President Trump. They clearly don’t own any mirrors because if they did, they would not be able to look at themselves every day knowing what they’re doing is hurting the country. These charlatans are disgusting and should be wholly ignored.”