Melania Trump is trying to make the corrective rounds to Donald Trump’s 2005 taped mistake — and, more generally, to his massive mistake of a campaign. One night after appearing in an interview with Anderson Cooper, the First-Lady hopeful — okay, fine, the parody version of the First-Lady hopeful — went on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to vouch for her husband’s character. Thankfully, Colbert didn’t give the real Melania a cushy late night platform to make her husband seem virtuous or make his verbal (and apparently not always verbal) violations seem innocuous.
When [the real] Melania Trump spoke to Anderson Cooper, she’d said that her husband was “egged on” by Billy Bush “to say dirty and bad stuff.”
“Now I know why they’re on a bus — it’s easier to throw Billy underneath it,” Colbert said in response during the 7+ minute Melania segment. “If Billy Bush can manipulate Donald Trump… just imagine what impact Billy will have once Trump has the nuclear launch codes.”
Colbert noted the element of surprise of seeing Melania speak publicly at all, as she’s been keeping a very low profile since she “plagiarized Michelle Obama” at the Republican National Convention.
And from there, Colbert welcomed “Melania Trump,” or Laura Benanti’s impersonation of her, back to his show. “He explained it was locker room talk. I did not know this, but when American women gather to sport, they always brag of grabbing women by the Billy Bush,” she said.
The bit goes on for way too long, but it has its funny moments. Watch: