Donald Trump sidesteps Stephen Colbert’s birther question during Late Show

“I was just going to say the same thing – I was going to say, ‘Better luck next time, ‘” Trump exclaimed.

While Colbert has spent the first weeks of his new television show mocking Trump, he thanked the candidate for the material he provides him. Trump respectfully declined to do so. “You’re setting the world on fire right now”, Colbert said with a presumably undetected sense of urgency.

Yet Trump completely dodged the question – essentially walking back from previous controversies in which he drew national attention by demanding Obama release his birth certificate, earning Trump the “birther” moniker.

“I’m talking about our country and how it’s run“, Warren said. “Not only for being here, but for running for president“, Colbert told Trump. Anyone who was hoping for a hard-hitting campaign-ending interview – which, based on twitter, is a shocking number of people- will be sorely disappointed. Colbert would read a quote and Trump had to guess which of the two said it. A sample quote: “I apologize for being flawless”.

Tuesday’s spot on CBS’s “The Late Show” marked the second time the traveling political theater of Trump’s campaign made an appearance on the late-night talk circuit. “We have to have a wall”. Colbert asked Trump to sign a copy of his bestseller “The Art of the Deal” for his next guest, Secretary of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz, who is among the chief architects of the Iranian nuclear deal that Trump has chastised.

“You know you really well”, Colbert said. Colbert asked. “Have you checked the newspapers lately?” In fact, Colbert’s subtle jabs at Trump, who, to his credit, laughed them off easily , were still pretty biting, and I personally appreciated that Colbert did attempt to talk about some of the issues that Trump has taken an “interesting” stance on, such as immigration. From the moment Colbert informed the audience that Trump would be appearing through the post-interview comments Colbert continued to make after Trump left the stage, the atmosphere was comfortably amicable.

Trump skittered sideways, implying again that he continues to believe in the discredited notion that the president is a foreigner, and thus constitutionally unfit for the job.