Television personality Stephen Colbert once again hit out at President Donald Trump ahead of the No Kings protests on Saturday Oct. 18.
The No Kings protests have kick off all across the country, in opposition to what organizers call Trump’s “crackdowns on First Amendment rights.”
The night before, during the Oct. 17 episode of CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the 61-year-old late-night TV host called out the president’s “abuse of authoritarian power.”
Colbert made sure his viewers and audience members knew about the protests, saying, “In response to all of this obvious abuse of authoritarian power by the administration, this weekend, ladies and gentleman, there’ll be 2,500 rallies across the United States under the banner of the No Kings protest. Alright? Saturday!”
He added, “Check your local listings. No Kings, yes. It’s No Kings or as Republicans are calling it-,” before cutting to a clip of Rep. Mike Johnson at a press conference referring to the rallies as “This Hate-America rally, that they have coming up for October 18.”
Another clip was shown of Rep. Tom Emmer, saying, “This is about one thing and one thing only; a Hate-America rally.”
Colbert jumped in the exclaim, “Hate America! It’s No Kings. America does not like kings. There are only three good kings in America. Gayle, Stephen, and Burger. So mad.”
He concluded, “If you’re no fan of kings, you can scan this QR code right there to find a march near you.”
Colbert’s comments on the No Kings protests come after he criticized Trump’s latest building plans this week, calling his proposed $200 million White House ballroom a “big dumb vanity project.”
The Late Show host addressed the plans during his show, where he also reacted to Trump’s announcement of a separate arch that would be built in Washington, D.C.
Trump recently unveiled plans for both projects, beginning with the ballroom, which is already under construction on the East Wing of the White House.
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Colbert’s audience began to boo when he brought up the projects, but he stopped them.
“No, it’s actually lovely,” he said. “It’s actually a set of two arches, and I’m told we have the architectural rendering.”
He then displayed an image of Trump’s proposed monument before adding, “Announcing your own triumphal arch is textbook dictator.”
Trump, however, has dismissed the backlash, describing the project at the White House as part of a broader effort to “modernize and beautify” the executive residence.
Colbert ended his segment by mocking the scale of Trump’s ambitions. “Big dumb vanity project,” he repeated. “Announcing your own triumphal arch is textbook dictator.”
The No Kings protest organizers previously said in a press conference that millions of Americans are expected to join more than 2,600 demonstrations happening nationwide to protest what they called “authoritarian power grabs” by the Trump administration.
The leaders insisted that the rallies would be peaceful and lawful, demonstrating unity in defense of democracy, in contrast to what they described as “lawless actions” by the federal government.
Now, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to show their support for the movement.