The episode focuses on the Republican primary heading into Super Tuesday, weighing whether Donald Trump’s momentum and delegate math make his nomination effectively inevitable and what options rivals and party elites might have to stop or accommodate him despite ideological mismatches within the GOP. It then turns to the Supreme Court in its first sitting after Justice Scalia’s death, using a Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure case to explore the exclusionary rule, policing realities, and the political fight over whether Senate Republicans should consider President Obama’s replacement nominee. Finally, the hosts revisit the Apple–FBI encryption dispute, debating whether courts can compel a private company to help unlock phones, what that means for privacy and law enforcement going forward...

The article argues that blaming television and the broader news media for Donald Trump’s rise is a misguided explanation for a complex political phenomenon driven primarily by voter choice. It contends that Trump’s extensive coverage reflects his availability and the news value of interviewing candidates, which serves democracy better than reliance on short political ads. The author dismisses claims that networks “gifted” Trump airtime by bending interview preferences and notes that journalists have extensively fact-checked him for months through mainstream reporting and dedicated fact-checking outlets. Ultimately, the piece says many voters either tolerate or support Trump despite knowing he lies, and that responsibility for his success cannot be shifted onto journalism.

The article traces how Paul Manafort, a long-time Republican strategist and lobbyist known for working discreetly for powerful interests including foreign strongmen, rose from convention and campaign management into a key leadership role inside Donald Trump’s 2016 operation. It links Manafort’s work for Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych to his value for Trump, arguing that his real mandate quickly expanded beyond delegate counting into shaping budgets, messaging, and overall campaign discipline. It also recounts Manafort’s connections to Trump through Roy Cohn and Roger Stone, and describes how Manafort and Stone helped pioneer a “double-breasted” model that paired electing politicians with lobbying the officials they helped put in power. An early example of Trump’s ties to this network was his ...

Drawing on Plato’s argument in The Republic that tyranny can arise from democracy at its most permissive and egalitarian, the author describes a “late-stage” democracy in which authority and expertise are scorned, social hierarchies collapse, and citizens grow fragmented and resentful of elites. In Plato’s account, such conditions create an opening for an elite-backed demagogue who attacks the rich, channels popular anger, and offers relief from democratic disorder, leading people to surrender freedom for a promise of control. The author sees unsettling parallels in the rise of Donald Trump and worries that American democracy’s historic vulnerability to demagoguery is reemerging. While praising the Constitution’s original anti-populist firewalls, the piece argues that expanded suffrage, pr...

Stephen Colbert talks with Megyn Kelly about her public clash with Donald Trump and why she chose to sit down with him for a televised “clear the air” interview alongside other guests. Kelly says the central focus is Trump’s temperament and sense of responsibility as a would-be leader, especially how his words affect women and marginalized groups, and whether he can show restraint given his influence. They also discuss Trump’s self-image as a “counterpuncher,” Kelly’s view of journalism as holding politicians accountable, and the personal toll and unexpected positives of the backlash she faced from his supporters.

Tony Schwartz, who ghostwrote Donald Trump’s 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal, says he feels deep remorse for helping craft the public image that later supported Trump’s presidential run. After watching Trump cite the book as proof of his leadership and seemingly claim authorship, Schwartz concluded that Trump’s self-mythologizing and willingness to lie were central traits, and he came to view him as dangerously impulsive and self-centered. He broke decades of silence because he feared the consequences of a Trump presidency, arguing that Trump lacks a consistent ideology and is driven mainly by personality. The article also recounts how the book originated as a publishing project pushed by media executives and how Schwartz, despite misgivings and an earlier critical profile of Trump, ac...

Donald Trump appointed Omarosa Manigault, his former Apprentice protégé, to lead his campaign’s outreach to Black voters despite polling showing he has exceptionally low support among African Americans, including reported zero percent in some swing-state surveys. Omarosa disputed the polling and claimed to have identified hundreds of Black supporters at pro-Trump events, praising his plans for the community. Other Black Apprentice alumni have publicly denounced Trump for rhetoric they describe as racist and hateful, and Trump has responded by attacking them. The article notes that Trump’s positions on issues affecting Black communities are inconsistent, mixing occasional calls for reform with opposition to Black Lives Matter.

Stephen Colbert riffs on Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia by highlighting rumors of financial entanglements with Russian oligarchs and replaying interviews where Trump and his campaign struggle to reconcile claims about Putin and Ukraine. The segment centers on Trump’s shifting statements about whether he has a “relationship” with Putin, using past clips to underscore contradictions and evasive definitions. Colbert closes by noting a blunt on-air critique from Fareed Zakaria and framing Trump’s messaging as incoherent flip-flopping.

The episode focuses on Donald Trump’s attempt to walk back birtherism while, the hosts argue, layering new falsehoods about Hillary Clinton’s role in it, and they discuss how journalists should handle accountability, fact-checking, and the media dynamics that let such claims spread. They broaden the critique to Trump’s conspiratorial mindset, insinuations that flirt with political violence, and reported self-dealing through his foundation, while also comparing the “performance” of Trumpism to a kind of destructive cultural spectacle. The conversation closes with the state of the polls and what to watch for in the first Clinton-Trump debate, including moderation and fact-checking, gender dynamics, and Clinton’s risks around seeming evasive given her long history of scrutiny.

The episode focuses on the escalating turmoil around Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, including a wave of new sexual assault allegations, his attacks on Republican leaders like Paul Ryan and John McCain, and how these developments deepen the GOP’s strategic and moral dilemma about whether to stand by him or break away. The hosts discuss what Trump’s rhetoric and fear-based messaging reveal about voter anger, resentment, and economic dislocation, pushing back on overly simplistic characterizations of his supporters while arguing he amplifies people’s worst impulses. They also assess the likely electoral fallout—polling shifts, down-ballot implications for Republicans, and the practical governance risks of a Trump presidency, including his apparent lack of policy discipline and the dif...

Stephen Colbert processes the shock and anxiety following Donald Trump’s election, describing nationwide protests, the sleepless mood in New York, and the uneasy reality of accepting the outcome even while encouraging people to keep speaking up. He riffs on what a unified Republican government could mean for rights and institutions, jokes about the polling failures and the Electoral College, and tackles how adults are trying to explain the moment to children while urging basic decency and civic responsibility rather than escapism like moving to Canada. Throughout, the episode uses satire—including a mock conversation with “God”—to channel grief, disbelief, and coping strategies in the wake of the election.

The episode focuses on Donald Trump’s sprawling global business interests and why his reliance on licensing the Trump name creates pervasive, hard-to-audit conflicts of interest that could distort foreign policy and undermine U.S. anti-corruption credibility. The guests debate whether any meaningful mitigation is possible short of full divestment, criticizing proposals like handing control to family members and warning that even “best practices” would still allow foreign actors to buy influence through deals tied to the Trump brand. They also argue that the most realistic check would have to come from congressional oversight, with particular attention to Republican leadership’s willingness to impose accountability.

Stephen Colbert jokes about Donald Trump’s post-election rally remarks, including his complaints about political correctness and being named Time’s “Person of the Year,” then pivots to Trump’s reported plan to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State and Tillerson’s ties to Vladimir Putin. The episode’s central focus is the CIA’s assessment that Russian hackers interfered in the election to help Trump, the resulting calls for a bipartisan Senate investigation, and the uncertainty over what consequences would even be possible. Colbert also mocks the Trump team’s attempt to discredit the CIA by invoking past intelligence failures and closes with a meta bit about his prompter seemingly being “hacked” with pro-Russia lines.