--- title: Colbert on What Ambulances Look Like Under Trump Health Care description: No one will need ambulances under Trumpcare, says Stephen Colbert canonical: https://time.com/4770596/stephen-colbert-on-trumpcare-ambulance/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-09T15:25:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:43:24.994Z og:title: Colbert Shows What Ambulances May Look Like Under Trumpcare og:description: No one needs ambulances, right? og:url: https://time.com/4770596/stephen-colbert-on-trumpcare-ambulance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt586653669873aa1c/6988cc91656a3ff6e3bcfe81/colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: Colbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colbert Shows What Ambulances May Look Like Under Trumpcare twitter:description: No one needs ambulances, right? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt586653669873aa1c/6988cc91656a3ff6e3bcfe81/colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Is Now Comparing Trump to This Car Crusher 'It’s Huge, it’s Loud, it Destroys Everything In Its Way' > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=a925fccb-170f-495a-b1a3-2d3b7efa30ae&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 9, 2017 3:25 PM UTC  by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker May 9, 2017 3:25 PM UTC The Republicans are doing their best to [repeal and replace Obamacare](http://time.com/4771820/jimmy-kimmel-newt-gingrich-health-care/?xid=homepage) in favor of the American Health Care Act, and according to Stephen Colbert: “The Democrats are fighting back the only way they know how—through the power of visual arts.” At least that’s how [Colbert](http://time.com/4768689/stephen-colbert-god-trump-religious-liberty-executive-order/?xid=homepage) is interpreting the campaign ad recently released by Virginia Representative Tom Perriello, who is running for governor of Virginia. During his _The Late Show_ monologue on Monday night, Colbert took a look at Perriello’s ad where he explains his support for Obamacare and desire to stop [Trump](http://time.com/4768752/atamanuik-trump-andrew-jackson-civil-war/?xid=homepage) while standing in front of a giant machine crushing an ambulance into a metallic pancake. “It seems like a waste of a perfectly good ambulance,” quipped Colbert, “until you realize that without health care we won’t need them anymore.” Colbert went on to argue that Periello’s visually dramatic ad could backfire on him, because “the real star” of the ad is the crushing machine, according to Colbert, “It’s huge, it’s loud, it destroys everything in its way. It could be our next [president](http://time.com/4768947/ellen-degeneres-on-trump/?xid=homepage).” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4770596/stephen-colbert-on-trumpcare-ambulance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4770596/stephen-colbert-on-trumpcare-ambulance/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Is Now Comparing Trump to This Car Crusher 'It’s Huge, it’s Loud, it Destroys Everything In Its Way'","datePublished":"2017-05-09T15:25:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:43:24.994Z","description":"No one needs ambulances, right?","url":"https://time.com/4770596/stephen-colbert-on-trumpcare-ambulance/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","stephen colbert","Late Night Television","late show with stephen colbert"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt586653669873aa1c/6988cc91656a3ff6e3bcfe81/colbert.jpg?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/blt586653669873aa1c/6988cc91656a3ff6e3bcfe81/colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Colbert","caption":"","creditText":"","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/4770596/stephen-colbert-on-trumpcare-ambulance/","name":"Stephen Colbert Is Now Comparing Trump to This Car Crusher 'It’s Huge, it’s Loud, it Destroys Everything In Its Way'"}}]}] ```