Stephen Colbert based a segment on Holocaust denier Arthur Jones’ run for an Illinois congressional seat on Chicago Sun-Times reporting on his late-night talk show Tuesday night.
In the segment “Midterms 2018: Profiles in Discourage,” Colbert discussed Jones, who he described as the “guy who’s really not pulling off that hat.”
“Jones is going to be the Republican candidate for Congress in a suburb of Chicago, and that’s big news because he is an actual Nazi,” Colbert said.
The Sun-Times first broke the story in early February that Jones was poised to become the Republican nominee for an Illinois congressional seat representing parts of Chicago and nearby suburbs because he is running unopposed. The primary is March 20.
“Wow, we finally found the one Chicagoan who thought Michael Jordan’s mustache was a good idea,” Colbert quipped. Colbert, a Northwestern University graduate, has his own ties to Chicago.
“Jones is running for Illinois’ 3rd District this November, but this isn’t Jones’ first racist rodeo,” Colbert said.
“No, he’s been unsuccessfully running for elected office since the 1970s. He has been running for office for almost 50 years. You’ve really got to admire . . . anybody else but this guy, he’s a Nazi.”
The audience broke into applause and Colbert said, “that is the rare anti-admiration clapping.”
“So, what’s the Republicans’ excuse for having an actual Nazi candidate?” Colbert continued, then cited a Sun-Times article reporting that the Republicans “didn’t bother to muster a credible candidate because the district is so Democratic.
“That’s how the Nazis get ya,” Colbert said.