Stephen Colbert went off on Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso Thursday night, calling out the GOP lawmaker for his sudden tough stance on Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — the very same man Barrasso helped confirm earlier this year.
“This is Wyoming Republican senator and physician John Barrasso, who this year voted to confirm Kennedy,” Colbert began, showing a clip of Barrasso at the hearing confidently saying, “I support vaccines. I’m a doctor. Vaccines work.”
But then Colbert zeroed in, raising his voice at the camera: “Then why did you vote for the anti-vax guy?!” The audience erupted in cheers, and when it died down, Colbert didn’t hold back. “Look, I’m no doctor, but your results are in and you just tested positive for bulls–t.”
Colbert wasn’t just throwing shade at Barrasso’s flip-flop — he highlighted how chaotic Kennedy’s leadership has become. “Earlier this year, Kennedy fired 17 members of the vaccine advisory panel, and yesterday he said he plans to add seven new members to that panel,” Colbert explained.
And those new members? According to Colbert, they sound more like a lineup from a conspiracy theory than a scientific advisory board. “Why do all those descriptions start out promising and end up crazy?” he asked. “We’ll also be adding Dr. Bethany Smith, a pulmonologist who believes that asthma can be cured by human sacrifice.”
The madness continued when Colbert played a clip from Senator Elizabeth Warren grilling Kennedy over why he fired former CDC Director Susan Monarez less than a month into her tenure. Kennedy’s reason? “I asked her, ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ and she said ‘No.’”
Colbert couldn’t resist: “OK, then why did you believe her? She just told you she’s untrustworthy.”
Watch Colbert’s entire monologue below:
