Los Angeles Times

Stephen Colbert gets a new way to satirize Trump with 'Our Cartoon President'

PASADENA, Calif. - When Stephen Colbert was about 8, he wrote a letter to President Richard Nixon about an issue very dear to his heart.

"I said, 'My name is Stephen Colbert and I believe we should have a continental flag. Can we at least have a conversation about this?'" the host of "The Late Show" recalled during a recent trip to the West Coast. "We have national flags and state flags, why don't we have a continental flag?"

In return, Colbert received a book of photos of Nixon with children, "which you don't picture," he says. (Sadly, he no longer has the book.) A similar letter to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau yielded no response, while a gracious staffer for Mexican President Luis Echeverria wrote back to say the idea had been floated at a recent cabinet meeting and "there was a lot of excitement" around it.

Forty-five years later, the nerdy youngster - or, as Colbert prefers to put it, "civically engaged" - who once

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times3 min read
Commentary: USC’s ‘Security Risk’ Rationale To Thwart Peaceful Protest Is Not Justified
During Vietnam War protests, the Nixon administration called them “outside agitators.” Now my university’s provost prefers “participants — many of whom do not appear to be affiliated with USC.” Beyond Andrew Guzman’s misdemeanor of wordiness, the pla
Los Angeles Times3 min readAmerican Government
LZ Granderson: Arizona's Indictment Of Trump Allies Follows A Sordid, Racist History
I've lived and/or worked in 10 states scattered across the country. Arizona was and remains the most complicated. The same state that elected the first openly gay mayor of a large U.S. city is also the state that did not want a federal holiday for Ma
Los Angeles Times3 min readInternational Relations
USC Protests Remain Peaceful Saturday Night After Campus Is Closed; LAPD Calls Off Tactical Alert
Tensions rose on the University of Southern California campus Saturday after pro-Palestinian protesters returned with tents and reestablished an encampment in Alumni Park, where 93 people were arrested on Wednesday. They beat drums and put up banners

Related Books & Audiobooks