--- title: Stephen Colbert Tried an Intervention to Get Trump to Resign description: The 'Late Show' host Colbert had a message for Donald Trump: "Your friend Vladimir, he's not really your friend, OK?" canonical: https://time.com/5344142/stephen-colbert-trump-resign/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-20T15:05:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T09:35:03.884Z og:title: Stephen Colbert Tried an Intervention to Get Trump to Resign og:description: The 'Late Show' host has a message for the president og:url: https://time.com/5344142/stephen-colbert-trump-resign/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67ffb3f284c1480a/698935d3929fadd1eabf11f0/screen-shot-2018-07-20-at-10-45-22-am.png?branch=production&width=1081&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1081 og:image:height: 608 og:image:alt: colbert-intervention og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert Tried an Intervention to Get Trump to Resign twitter:description: The 'Late Show' host has a message for the president twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67ffb3f284c1480a/698935d3929fadd1eabf11f0/screen-shot-2018-07-20-at-10-45-22-am.png?branch=production&width=1081&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Finally Staged an Intervention to Try to Get Trump to Resign > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e79f6873-c103-4768-9a84-ecdecfaedde8&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Both Trump and Putin Just Denied Russian Meddling in the 2016 Election. Here's What They Said [Watch (HLS stream): Both Trump and Putin Just Denied Russian Meddling in the 2016 Election. Here's What They Said](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cWwhbNrF.m3u8) (2:38)  _Published 2018-07-16. Trump resisted when asked Monday to condemn Russian meddling in the election. Instead, he complained about a Democratic National Committee computer server and emails belonging to Hillary Clinton, the Democrat he defeated to win the presidency._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 20, 2018 3:05 PM UTC Trump resisted when asked Monday to condemn Russian meddling in the election. Instead, he complained about a Democratic National Committee computer server and emails belonging to Hillary Clinton, the Democrat he defeated to win the presidency.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 20, 2018 3:05 PM UTC Leave it to [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/5340570/stephen-colbert-trump-putin/) to make his best attempt at an intervention speech urging [President Trump](http://time.com/5340877/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-summit/) to let go of his post as the U.S. head of state. The _Late Show_ host, who has been [on a roll lately](http://time.com/5341912/colbert-trump-double-negative/) with his political satire, tried out the cinematic version of a staged intervention for his studio audience on Thursday night, presenting a monologue that cut to the heart of his feelings. “Sir, you’re here because we love our country very much and you are in it,” Colbert joked in the faux intervention statement, addressing Trump. “And we need you to hear some things. When you [attack NATO](http://time.com/5336416/trump-nato-summit-putin-russia-germany/), I feel like I’m being attacked. And your [friend Vladimir](http://time.com/5339793/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-russia-election-meddling/), he’s not really your friend, OK?” Colbert continued: “So instead of [sucking up](http://time.com/5343659/trump-sanders-bolton-putin-white-house/) to dictators, we want you to find a safer hobby, like volcano parkour. Or shark dentistry. Or heroine. We’ve got a facility waiting for you. You can go there any time and we’ll pay for it. [Paul Manafort](http://time.com/5313625/paul-manafort-jail-witness-tampering/)‘s already there.” (Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, is currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of obstruction of justice.) While it’s highly unlikely Trump will ever hear this particular intervention, it’s just as certain that Colbert will continue to make his views on the President’s fitness for office [quite clear.](http://time.com/5323300/colbert-fallon-last-night/) > [](https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/1020152924851204096) ## Transcript [00:00] Once again president Trump mentioned the issue of [00:04] the so called interference of Russia when the American [00:07] elections. And I had to literate things [00:12] I said several times including during out personal [00:15] context that the Russian state has never interfered and [00:18] it's not going to interfere Into internal American affairs, [00:22] including election process. During today's meeting, I [00:25] addressed directly with President Putin the issue of [00:27] Russian interference in our elections. I felt this was [00:32] a message best delivered in person, spent a great [00:36] deal of time talking about it. And President Putin [00:40] may very well want to address it and very [00:45] strongly. Because he feels very strongly about it and he [00:47] has an interesting idea. To say it one time again and I [00:50] say it all the time, there was no collusion. I didn't even [00:54] know the President. There was nobody to collude with. [00:59] There was no collusion with the campaign and every [01:01] time you hear these you know all of these twelve and [01:03] fourteen and frankly they admit these [01:07] are not people involved in the campaign. But to the [01:11] average reader maybe it does. It [01:15] doesn't. I think that the probe is a disaster [01:19] for our country. I think it's kept us apart. It's kept us [01:23] separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody [01:27] knows it. People are being brought out to the floor. So [01:32] far, that I know, virtually none of it related to the [01:35] campaign. And they're gonna have to try really hard to [01:37] find somebody that did relate to the campaign. It was [01:40] a clean campaign. Zero collusion. And it has had [01:44] a negative impact upon the relationship of the two [01:48] largest nuclear powers in the world. We have 90 % of [01:53] nuclear power between the two countries. It's [01:56] ridiculous, it's ridiculous what's going on with the [01:59] probe. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5344142/stephen-colbert-trump-resign/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5344142/stephen-colbert-trump-resign/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Finally Staged an Intervention to Try to Get Trump to Resign","datePublished":"2018-07-20T15:05:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T09:35:03.884Z","description":"\"Your friend Vladimir, he's not really your friend, OK?\"","url":"https://time.com/5344142/stephen-colbert-trump-resign/","keywords":["Newsfeed"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67ffb3f284c1480a/698935d3929fadd1eabf11f0/screen-shot-2018-07-20-at-10-45-22-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt67ffb3f284c1480a/698935d3929fadd1eabf11f0/screen-shot-2018-07-20-at-10-45-22-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"colbert-intervention","caption":"","creditText":"Twitter","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5344142/stephen-colbert-trump-resign/","name":"Stephen Colbert Finally Staged an Intervention to Try to Get Trump to Resign"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Both Trump and Putin Just Denied Russian Meddling in the 2016 Election. 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