Colbert Grieves for America after Trump Assassination Attempt

CBS's Stephen Colbert expressed grief and horror after the assassination attempt against former President Trump on Saturday.

In a somber opening monologue on CBS's "The Late Show" Monday night, host Stephen Colbert expressed profound grief for America after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

Colbert deviated from his typical format to address the harrowing event, describing the "horror" of learning that an attendee at Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania had been killed.

Colbert Grieves for America after Trump Assassination Attempt

"My immediate reaction when I saw this on Saturday was horror at what was unfolding, relief that Donald Trump had lived and, frankly, grief for my beautiful country," Colbert said.

The late-night host lamented the near-tragedy, noting that Trump narrowly escaped being killed just minutes into his speech. He condemned the violence, emphasizing that violence has no place in democratic discourse.

Colbert Grieves for America after Trump Assassination Attempt

"I could just as easily start the show moaning on the floor, because how many times do we need to learn the lesson that violence has no role in our politics, that the entire objective of a democracy is to fight out our differences with — as the saying goes — a ballot, not a bullet," Colbert said.

Colbert shared his personal experience witnessing assassinations in America's past, including the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 and the shooting of Steve Scalise in 2017. He drew parallels between these tragedies and the recent attempt on Trump's life.

Colbert Grieves for America after Trump Assassination Attempt

"That violence is with us still — from the shooting of a GOP baseball practice that seriously injured Steve Scalise, to the plot to kidnap and kill Governor Gretchen Whitmer, to the hammer attack that nearly killed Paul Pelosi, to the horrors of Jan. 6, to this most recent attack," he said.

Colbert expressed hope that the attack would prompt Americans to lower the temperature of their political discourse, but acknowledged the uncertainty of such a change.

"In the wake of this attack on Saturday, many Americans on both sides of the aisle, from President Biden to Speaker Johnson, are calling on all this to change how we see each other, how we treat each other, how we talk to each other," he said. "That may or may not happen."

Colbert concluded by re-emphasizing the urgency of rejecting political violence and protecting American democracy.

"Political violence must be rejected in all its forms – it is both morally wrong and a poison to democracy. We must all condemn it and repudiate it and do everything in our power to stop it," he said.