The Circus creators Mark Halperin and John Heilemann joined Stephen Colbert on Wednesday’s Late Show for the first time since their election night appearance on Colbert’s live Showtime special.
During that show, Halperin said of Trump’s election win, “Outside of the Civil War, World War II and including 9/11, this may be the most cataclysmic event our country has seen.”
“So?” Colbert asked on Wednesday. “I might have understated it,” joked Halperin.
Halperin said that he doesn’t want to minimize the loss of life in 9/11 and the wars. He said he’s traveled around the country talking to people, some of whom are hopeful and some of whom say this is the worst thing that has happened to them in their lives.
Heilemann spoke about how they couldn’t pass up an opportunity for a second season of their Showtime show now that Trump is in office. The new season will focus on the administration’s first 100 days.
Colbert asked him what he thought of the notion some people have that the Trump White House is a mess behind the scenes, or that it’s trying to distract people with chaos. “Have you noticed what’s going on in front of the scenes?” said Heilemann. “That’s the image they are trying to project. Imagine what is going on in the private spaces.”
Halperin added the caveat that all administrations are chaos at the beginning and said Trump thrives in a chaotic environment. They spoke about the implications of Trump making a wiretap claim against Obama without any evidence, and Halperin said he now daydreams about what Nixon and JFK would have done if they had Twitter.
“Do you think the health care plan, this form of it, is going to pass?” asked Colbert. Halperin thinks there is a chance it will succeed, but Heilemann disagrees. Heilemann said, “I think it’s very unlikely that Obamacare is going anywhere.”
In his monologue, Colbert joked about the GOP’s replacement bill for the Affordable Care Act. He called Republicans the George R.R. Martins of health care.
“Just like in Game of Thrones, a lot of your favorite characters are going to die without warning,” he joked.
Colbert also mentioned that Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak keeps coming up in conversation regarding the Trump administration. He Photoshopped Kislyak into famous pictures and television shows, joking that maybe that’s why he seems so familiar.
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