--- title: Stephen Colbert Is Convinced This Is Trump’s Driving Force description: Colbert believes the president isn't signing a resolution to fund the government thanks to advice from his top advisor: the television. canonical: https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-21T15:30:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:18:11.938Z og:title: Stephen Colbert Is Convinced This Is Trump’s Driving Force og:description: Is this President's top advisor? og:url: https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8a1a838fb745d06/6989403486f68eda9e6ead34/screen-shot-2018-11-29-at-10-14-46-am.png?branch=production&width=1104&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1104 og:image:height: 621 og:image:alt: Stephen-Colbert-Trump-Christmas-Carol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert Is Convinced This Is Trump’s Driving Force twitter:description: Is this President's top advisor? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8a1a838fb745d06/6989403486f68eda9e6ead34/screen-shot-2018-11-29-at-10-14-46-am.png?branch=production&width=1104&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Is Convinced This Is the Driving Force Behind Trump > 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=f0b9d451-43b7-4553-9fda-08ab73538cea&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Defends Move to Risk Government Shutdown [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Defends Move to Risk Government Shutdown](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zOyBN1DX.m3u8) (1:08)  _Published 2018-12-21. Bowing to President Donald Trump’s demands for a border wall, House Republicans started rewriting a last-minute and short-term spending bill to keep parts of the government open beyond Friday’s deadline._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 21, 2018 3:30 PM UTC Bowing to President Donald Trump’s demands for a border wall, House Republicans started rewriting a last-minute and short-term spending bill to keep parts of the government open beyond Friday’s deadline. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 21, 2018 3:30 PM UTC As a government [shutdown looms](http://time.com/5486379/house-funding-trump-border-wall-shutdown/), Stephen Colbert is taking nothing for granted anymore. “Yesterday I was confident that America would still have a government, but I underestimated what a wedge we have in the White House,” said Colbert, adding: “I say ‘wedge’ because it’s the simplest of tools.” At one point yesterday, the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and the White House were on board with a national spending plan that would have kept the federal government open for business. But it did not meet the President’s demand for the $5 billion [Trump](http://time.com/5485660/syria-trump-isis-assad/) wanted for his border wall. At one point Trump backed off on this demand saying that he had [other ways](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/white-house-signals-its-backing-down-in-shutdown-dispute-will-find-other-ways-to-fund-border-wall/2018/12/18/159994dc-02d9-11e9-9122-82e98f91ee6f%5Fstory.html) of getting the funding for the wall, which Colbert joked was “putting a lot of pressure on Eric and Don Jr.’s lemonade stand.” Then, according to Colbert, Trump started to get heat from “the fourth branch of government: Fox News.” After showing a montage of Fox News pundits denouncing Trump’s budget approval as caving to the Democrats. Colbert joked that when Trump saw that, he had to fight back. “Oh no! The TV’s mad at me!,” Colbert said in an imitation of [Trump](http://time.com/5486290/jim-mattis-retiring-trump-confirms/). “I’m sorry TV please forgive me, you’re my only friend.” According to Colbert, the voices on the television spurred Trump into action and he is now threatening a shutdown (and [building the case that the the Democrats](http://time.com/5486572/trump-tweets-shutdown/) are to blame for it). Watch Stephen Colbert’s parody below. ## Transcript [00:00] I've made my position very clear. Any measure that [00:03] funds the government must include border security, [00:06] has to, not for political purposes, but for [00:10] our country, for the safety of our community. It is the [00:14] solemn promise to protect and defend the United [00:17] States of America And it is our secret obligation. [00:22] We have no choice. We the democrats had to continue [00:25] to oppose what the security no matter how many [00:28] innocent people get hurt or die. Ridiculously [00:34] and dangerously certain people on open borders [00:38] Which allow potentially massive crime. Our nation has [00:42] spent trillions of dollars and sacrificed thousands of [00:45] brave young lives defending the borders of foreign [00:48] nations. I am asking Congress to defend the border of [00:52] our nation for a tiny fraction, tiny fraction [00:56] of the cost. Essential to border security is a powerful, [01:01] physical barrier. Walls work, whether [01:05] we like it or not, they work better than anything. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Is Convinced This Is the Driving Force Behind Trump","datePublished":"2018-12-21T15:30:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:18:11.938Z","description":"Is the President top advisor his television?","url":"https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/","keywords":["Newsfeed","stephen colbert","the late show","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8a1a838fb745d06/6989403486f68eda9e6ead34/screen-shot-2018-11-29-at-10-14-46-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb8a1a838fb745d06/6989403486f68eda9e6ead34/screen-shot-2018-11-29-at-10-14-46-am.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stephen-Colbert-Trump-Christmas-Carol","caption":"","creditText":"CBS/The Late Show With Stephen Colbert","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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/","name":"Stephen Colbert Is Convinced This Is the Driving Force Behind Trump"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Defends Move to Risk Government Shutdown","description":"Bowing to President Donald Trump’s demands for a border wall, House Republicans started rewriting a last-minute and short-term spending bill to keep parts of the government open beyond Friday’s deadline.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/zOyBN1DX/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-12-21T00:14:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zOyBN1DX.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/","duration":"PT1M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5486658/stephen-colbert-monologue-last-night/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```