“By every metric, we are more divided than ever as a nation,” a sober Stephen Colbert told his Showtime audience at the end of a televised election special on Tuesday night. “Both sides are terrified of the other side.”
Colbert’s whole moving monologue is worth watching from beginning to end—even though it was broadcast before the election had been officially called for Donald Trump early Wednesday morning—for its seemingly improvised portrait of a deeply partisan nation, and the comedian’s plea for post-election harmony.
“They designed an election that was meant to confuse us and bore us a little bit,” Colbert said, lamenting a time before social media seemed to divide friends and families along party lines. “But now politics is everywhere and that takes up precious brain space we could be using to remember all the things we actually have in common.”
The he added: “Now, please. Get out there. Kiss a Democrat. Go hug a Republican.”
