The last time CBS’s Stephen Colbert welcomed former Vice President Kamala Harris to The Late Show, the two had a grand old time drinking beers and looking forward to her presidency. On Thursday, the mood was very different. Harris is now a failed presidential candidate, and Colbert is an outgoing host, but for the next ten months, he is still the host of Late Night DNC, and therefore he invited Harris to promote her new book and say “I told you so” about the “absolute barbarian” that supposedly is President Trump.
Colbert simultaneously gushed and mourned over Harris’s diagnosis of the current reality, “I have to say as someone who is very qualified for the presidency, a senator, attorney general of California, a vice president of the United States, and then a very hopeful and dynamic presidential candidate for the 107 days you had to run, to hear you say that it’s broken, to hear you say that our systems aren’t strong enough is harrowing.”
According to Harris, such a description is obvious, “Well, but it’s also evident, isn’t it?” Colbert agreed, “I mean, there’s almost no curse word bad enough.”
Later in the interview, Colbert tried to remember happier times, “I will always treasure your debate with Trump. That was one of the greatest. That was one of the greatest rhetorical performances I’ve ever seen. You smoked him like a ham. I want to remind everybody, you warned everyone about the future under our present president. You said he would prosecute his political enemies, he would cut Medicaid and Medicare, he would ignore court orders, he would alienate our allies, he would give massive tax cuts to the rich.”
He then opened up the floor, “I know you’re not here to say, ‘I told you so,” but would you like to?”
Harris somehow managed to argue that the state of democracy is even worse than her predictions, “Let me just say this. You are correct that I did predict a lot of it. But Stephen, what I did not predict was the capitulation. I didn’t predict that… I didn’t see that. I didn’t see that coming, and perhaps it’s naive of me, someone who has seen a lot that most people haven’t seen. But I believe that on some level, there should be many who consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy who just capitulated, and I didn’t see that coming.”
In the extended interview posted on the show’s YouTube page, Colbert further longed for better days:
It’s so easy to forget now because the national mood is so grim in many ways and people are so shocked by the abuses and the abhorrent corruption and the violence against neighbors here happening in the United States by our government and the free rein being given by Congress and the Supreme Court to this president that just less than a year ago, things were very joyful. There was, there was actually a lot of hope associated with your campaign, and there was a lot, there was a lot of promise that we might actually not only keep this absolute barbarian out of the White House but also we might actually make progress as a country with the type of people that we wanted to see in office and a younger, more vital, revived political consciousness in America.
Harris would give one of her characteristically long and rambling answers that included, “What I look back at is, as I said, how people. Realize the commonality and the collective strength and our collective love of our country. We love our country, and the thing about that experience is exactly what propels me to think about this moment and the future and not look back too much, which is those same people, they’re still here.”
This is the kind of interview Colbert routinely does with his Democratic guests, which occurs at a rate above his fellow late night hosts. Democracy will survive without The Late Show just as it has survived Harris’s defeat.
Here is a transcript for the July 31-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
8/1/2025
12:04 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: Well, I’ve got to say, I want to talk about the book but to go back to what you just said, is that, I have to say as someone who is very qualified for the presidency, a senator, attorney general of California, a vice president of the United States, and then a very hopeful and dynamic presidential candidate for the 107 days you had to run, to hear you say that it’s broken, to hear you say that our systems aren’t strong enough is harrowing.
KAMALA HARRIS: Well, but it’s also evident, isn’t it? And it is.
COLBERT: No, it is. It is harrowing.
HARRIS: And it is. I mean—
COLBERT: I mean, there’s almost no curse word bad enough.
HARRIS: But it doesn’t mean we give up. But it doesn’t mean we give up. That’s not my point.
…
COLBERT: I will always treasure your debate with Trump. That was one of the greatest. That was one of the greatest rhetorical performances I’ve ever seen. You smoked him like a ham. I want to remind everybody, you warned everyone about the future under our present president. You said he would prosecute his political enemies, he would cut Medicaid and Medicare, he would ignore court orders, he would alienate our allies, he would give massive tax cuts to the rich. I know you’re not here to say, “I told you so,” but would you like to?
HARRIS: Let me just say this. You are correct that I did predict a lot of it. But Stephen, what I did not predict was the capitulation. I didn’t predict that.
COLBERT: That people would rollover for this president.
HARRIS: I didn’t see that. I didn’t see that coming, and perhaps it’s naive of me, someone who has seen a lot that most people haven’t seen. But I believe that on some level, there should be many who consider themselves to be guardians of our system and our democracy who just capitulated, and I didn’t see that coming.
***
CBS YouTube The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
7/31/2025
STEPHEN COLBERT: I mean, just hearing you describe that reminds me of something that it’s so easy to forget now because the national mood is so grim in many ways and people are so shocked by the abuses and the abhorrent corruption and the violence against neighbors—
KAMALA HARRIS: Understandable.
COLBERT: —Here happening in the United States by our government—
HARRIS: Yeah.
COLBERT: — and the free rein being given by Congress and the Supreme Court to this president that just less than a year ago, things were very joyful. There was, there was actually a lot of hope associated with your campaign, and there was a lot, there was a lot of promise that we might actually not only keep this absolute barbarian out of the White House—
HARRIS: Yeah.
COLBERT: — but also we might actually make progress as a country with the type of people that we wanted to see in office and a younger, more vital—
HARRIS: Yeah.
COLBERT: —revived political consciousness in America. What do you think of when you look back at that time and that feeling?
HARRIS: What I look back at is, as I said, how people. Realize the commonality and the collective strength and our collective love of our country. We love our country, and the thing about that experience is exactly what propels me to think about this moment and the future and not look back too much, which is those same people, they’re still here.
They still know joy in their hearts, they still know how to have a sense of optimism and faith in the future and to believe and to fight for that and that hasn’t gone away and I just think it’s really important that we never let a circumstance, situation, or person defeat our spirit. You, you can’t let that happen. You can’t give up your belief in what can be and what can be better and in spite of the—you know, I talked about it the day after the election.
And again, I talk about in the book, that was a rough bleeping day for me and it was important to me in my speech that I gave that day the next day after the election. To remind people to not give up.
I’m, I am so aware of the joy that was there and the hope and the enthusiasm, and I just think that we have to remember it was not just a candidate that gave that. It came from the people who naturally have that and we and this election cannot take that away but let’s be clear eyed about it. Right? And let’s be clear eyed about what’s going on and that’s why you know people are taking to the streets, and people are organizing, and people are talking with each other, and they’re talking about the issues and they’re and articulating what we know is wrong and what it should be and so let’s just not be defeated, right? Let’s not be defeated.
