Bill Clinton to Colbert: Donald Trump ‘The Most Interesting Character Out There’

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Bill Clinton visited The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night, and the host asked the former President who he liked for the 2016 Presidency, “and please try to be impartial here,” Colbert joked. “The lady I saw singing on Saturday Night Live,” shot back Clinton, referring to Hillary Clinton’s bartender sketch with Kate McKinnon. “That Val, she was wonderful,” said Colbert.

Asked why Donald trump is doing so well in the polls, Clinton said, “Because he’s the most interesting character out there. He’s a master brander… It may have a short half-life, his campaign — I cant tell yet–but there’s a certain macho appeal to saying… ‘I make things happen, vote for me,’” said Clinton.

Pressed to explain the popularity of Bernie Sanders, his wife’s chief Democratic competition, Clinton said that Sanders appeals to voters who “are really hacked off, who feel the game is rigged against them… A lot of people believe that the Republicans,” he explained. “Reward the people that go furthest to the right, so the Democrats would be even more effective if they moved further to the left.”

Colbert also asked Clinton, “Did you call Donald Trump and ask him to run?”
“I get a lot of credit for a lot of things I didn’t do,” said Clinton, smiling. He acknowledged that, near the start of Trump’s campaign, he did speak with The Donald on the phone. “We had a very pleasant conversation, and it wasn’t about running for office.”

One segment of Clinton’s Late Show appearance was given over to Clinton’s post-President project, the Clinton Global Initiative. The former President talked at windy length about international partnerships between governments and corporations around the world that his group — which he refers to as “CGI” — helps to generate.

But it was the election chat in the second segment that got the audience stirred up. Asked by Colbert if it didn’t make a kind of sense for one party to control “all three branches of the government, so at least something can get done,” Clinton responded, “It depends on what it is that gets done.” He went on to bad-mouth “the second president Bush,” who Clinton said had a Republican congress and ran the economy into the ground. There were cheers from the audience. Clinton also said that this election was very important beyond which party came into office, offering one key example: “The next President will make between one and three appointments to the Supreme Court.”

Colbert’s tone throughout was respectful but pushy — he knew Clinton has a tendency to gas on and on, and Colbert had to keep the talk moving along. He corrected the former President only once. Talking about the evils of super-PACS, Clinton said, “I know you had one as a joke,” referring to Colbert’s “Making A Better Tomorrow Tomorrow” PAC. Colbert shot back, “It was a joke with $1.4 million, sir.”

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs on CBS weeknights at 11:35 p.m.