Trump's populism

Stephen Colbert: I find Donald Trump's populism 'very appealing'

By Nolan D. McCaskill

Stephen Colbert finds Donald Trump's populism "very appealing," the “Late Show” host and comedian says in a new interview.

“There’s a populism to Trump that I found very appealing,” Colbert told CBS’ John Dickerson in an interview set to air Sunday on “Face the Nation.” “The party elders would like him to go away, but the people have decided that he is not going to.”

“I may disagree with anything that he's saying and think that his proposals are a little... well, more than a little shocking. 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,” Colbert continued, referencing a figure from a recent CBS/New York Times poll. “That's the one saving grace, I think, of his candidacy.”

“There sounded like there's a little bit of Trump respect in you for his ability to channel the populist,” Dickerson responded.

“What I do respect is that he knows it is an emotional appeal," Colbert said. “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."

Trump holds a double-digit lead over his nearest Republican rival in a CNN/ORC national poll released Wednesday. The billionaire businessman has 39 percent support, while second-place Ted Cruz trails at just 18 percent.

Colbert, in an October show, blasted Trump as an “egomaniacal billionaire” before declaring “you’re not gonna be president, all right?” But Colbert wasn’t the only one to suggest that, Dickerson pointed out.

“Yeah, again, I don't know anything about politics,” Colbert conceded.

“Yeah, but you do know about the country,” Dickerson rebutted. “You have a sense of where the country is. You have a sense. And I wonder how you get that now.”

"That's one of the reasons I stopped the old show is that I had a sense where the country is," said Colbert, who hosted his own show on Comedy Central before replacing David Letterman on CBS this year. “I think people don't really want constant divisiveness. I really don't think they want that. And that's what I was aping. And I thought, ‘Ah, I can't really drink that cup anymore, ‘cause I don't think people really want to hear it.’”