Stephen Colbert, the late-night host, criticized Donald Trump while prompting his audience to express their disapproval of the president following the White House’s decision to replace a portrait of Joe Biden with an autopen image.
‘Trump always, always has an ulterior motive, and it’s always being a jerk,’ Colbert said on his show Thursday night.
‘Because take a look at the video the White House released,’ the host continued, as a clip played showing a series of presidential portraits.
‘There’s Obama and there’s Trump, and oh, hardy-har-har, it’s Biden as an autopen.’
The image was hung in the covered walkway leading from the White House’s main residence to the West Wing.
‘The Presidential Walk of Fame,’ with its gold-lettered title, displays headshots of former presidents, but notably features Biden as an autopen signing the Democrat’s name instead.
The image references Trump’s accusation that Biden had ceded his decision-making near the end of his term in office.
As the clip played, Colbert’s audience loudly booed, leading the host to respond: ‘I know, that’s so childish.’
‘Trump always, always has an ulterior motive, and it’s always being a jerk,’ Stephen Colbert said on his show Thursday night
A portrait of Joe Biden was swapped for an autopen photo in the passage connecting the White House’s main residence to the West Wing.
‘Obviously, this is pathetic,’ Colbert continued. ‘Joe Biden is in full retirement. He’s not out there attacking Trump.’
Colbert remarked: ‘Trump continues to be upset about everyone knowing that Biden won in 2020. He’s fixated on Joe’s autopen, despite having acknowledged his own use of autopens.’
While Trump admitted that his administration used autopens, he specified they were for signing letters to citizens, not legislation.
The fascination with the autopen, also used by past presidents like Barack Obama, was spotlighted after the conservative Oversight Project exposed Biden’s frequent use of it.
‘Crooked Joe Biden got us into a real mess with Russia and everything else he did, frankly. But he didn’t know about it and he, generally speaking, signed it with autopen. So how would he know? That autopen is a big deal,’ Trump said in a speech at the Department of Justice in May.
‘When my people come up’ to have Trump sign an executive order, ‘you don’t use autopen,’ he said.
‘Number one – it’s disrespectful to the office. Number two – maybe it’s not even valid because who’s getting him to sign? He had no idea what the hell he was doing.’
The use of an autopen allows for a mechanical device to sign documents rather than an individual taking pen to paper or transmitting an original e-signature. It has been used by presidents and lawmakers for decades.
The autopen image references Trump’s accusation that Joe Biden had ceded his decision-making near the end of his term in office
Colbert’s audience booed at the administration’s actions, with Colbert agreeing saying: ‘I know, that’s so childish’
Trump has admitted his administration has used the autopen, though the president clarified it was not used to sign legislation, but to add his signature to letters to Americans
The first president to use a version of an autopen was Thomas Jefferson. The third US president began using it 1804 and called it the ‘finest invention of the present age,’ according to the National Museum of American History.
The modern version of the machine was first used by Harry Truman, America’s 33rd president.
Obama was the first president to use it to sign legislation.
In July, CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, just days after the host blasted the network’s $16million settlement with Trump as a ‘big fat bribe.’
Colbert’s show, which began in 2015, is set to come to an end in May 2026.
‘We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time,’ executives said. ‘We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and his broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late-night television.’
Trump later denied rumors he was the reason Colbert’s show was axed.
‘Everybody is saying that I was solely responsible for the firing of Stephen Colbert from CBS, Late Night. That is not true,’ he argued.
‘The reason he was fired was a pure lack of TALENT, and the fact that this deficiency was costing CBS $50 Million Dollars a year in losses — And it was only going to get WORSE!’
