--- description: "What I do respect is that he knows it is an emotional appeal" title: Here's What Stephen Colbert Says Is Donald Trump's 'Saving Grace' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4e5525f58869f82/698876be2dce01cfb49e7197/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's What Stephen Colbert Says Is Donald Trump's 'Saving Grace' by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 23, 2015 5:58 PM CUT  Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network.John Paul Filo—CBS/Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 23, 2015 5:58 PM CUT Stephen Colbert has made a living making jokes at Donald Trump’s expense, but he has recently admitted that one good thing has come out of billionaire’s candidacy: it reveals the power of the voters. [In a clip released on Wednesday](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/stephen-colbert-on-the-one-saving-grace-of-donald-trumps-2016-election-bid/ "undefined"), the late-night show host tells _CBS News_ John Dickerson that while he personally finds Trump’s views distasteful, he is encouraged by the fact that despite party elders wanting Trump out of the game, the people have “have decided that he is not going to” leave. “I may disagree with anything that he’s saying and think that his proposals are a little…well, more than a little shocking,” said Colbert on _Face the Nation_. “But there is something really hopeful about the fact that, well, 36 percent of the likely voters want him so the people in the machine don’t get to say otherwise. That’s the one saving grace, I think, of his candidacy.” In the interview, which will air Sunday, Colbert also praised Trump’s “very appealing” brand of populism. “What I do respect is that he knows it is an emotional appeal,” Colbert added in a clip . “And it might be emotional appeals that I can’t respect. But he knows that you have to appeal to the voter. And that’s why, I may be wrong – I made a big deal about there’s no way he’s gonna win.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4160175/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4160175/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-2/"},"headline":"Here's What Stephen Colbert Says Is Donald Trump's 'Saving Grace'","datePublished":"2015-12-23T17:58:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:36:52.089Z","description":"He says Trump reveals the power of the voter","url":"https://time.com/4160175/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-2/","keywords":["celebrities","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4e5525f58869f82/698876be2dce01cfb49e7197/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta4e5525f58869f82/698876be2dce01cfb49e7197/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network.","caption":"Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network.","creditText":"John Paul Filo—CBS/Getty Images","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":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4160175/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-2/","name":"Here's What Stephen Colbert Says Is Donald Trump's 'Saving Grace'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Late Night Highlight: Jon Stewart Channels His Inner Donald Trump To Support The Zadroga Act","description":"Jon Stewart is doing everything he can to draw attention to the Zadroga Act, even rubbing Cheetos dust on his face and pretending to be Donald Trump.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4OV9TDKn/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-11T13:35:25.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4OV9TDKn.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4160175/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-2/","duration":"PT52S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4160175/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-2/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```