Bill Clinton was the latest big name politician to appear on Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Clinton was, as ever, a charming rascal, whether discussing his wife's presidential run and appearance on SNL ("That Val woman was wonderful," Colbert said oh Hillary. Clinton responded, "Made me want to take a drink with her."), or the other presidential candidates.
His most fascinating commentary came on the subject of Donald Trump, whom Clinton called a "master brander" and "the most interesting character out there." He offered his take on Trump's politically incorrect appeal: "Because he says something that overrides the ideological differences," Clinton explained. "If you look at the first debate, a lot of those guys were competing for who could be the most politically correct on the answers. Trump says, 'OK, I've supported Democrats, I've supported Republicans. Yeah, I used to be friends with Bill Clinton, who cares? I run things, and I build things. And you need somebody who'll go in there and fix it. And if they don't let me fix it, I'll just get them out of the way.'"
Even so, Clinton thinks Trump's blustery campaign may run out of steam soon enough: "It may have a short half-life his campaign— I can't tell yet. But he is a master brander and there is a macho appeal to saying, 'I'm just sick of nothing happening, I make things happen, vote for me.'"
Colbert also asked him whether or not the rumor that Clinton nudged Trump into the presidential race was true: "I get credit for doing a lot of things I didn't do like that," Clinton said. "I had a very pleasant conversation with him and it wasn't about running for office. So I missed a chance."
