Stephen Colbert became visibly emotional while condemning President Donald Trump's response to the election on "The Late Show."

"We're taping this just a little while after Donald Trump walked into the White House briefing room and tried to poison American democracy," he said on Thursday's show.

Colbert changed his monologue in response to Trump's remarks. The late-night host said Trump's troubling comments were also why he was dressed in black, "because Donald Trump tried really hard to kill something tonight."

With millions of votes yet to be counted, the president accused Democrats of "trying to steal an election" Thursday without providing any evidence to support his claim. As of Thursday night, former Vice President Joe Biden had received 264 electoral votes and Trump had 214, according to the Associated Press.

"The president came out into the White House briefing room and lied for 15 minutes, just nonsensical stuff about illegal vote dumps and corrupt election officials and secret Democratic counting cabals and, I don't know, long-form birth certificates, probably," Colbert said. "It's all the same. And if you did not know that Joe Biden was gettin' close to 270 (electoral votes), Donald Trump just provided all the proof you will ever need."

Biden responded to Trump's remarks shortly after the president spoke at the White House.

"No one is going to take our democracy away from us," he tweeted. "Not now, not ever. America has come too far, fought too many battles, and endured too much to let that happen."

Colbert, 56, called Trump's actions predictable and cued up a clip from 2016, when then-candidate Trump said he would accept the results of that election ... if he won.

"The guy does not have another gear," the "Late Show" host said. "Get a new act."

"So we all knew he would do this," Colbert said, sighing and looking down before pausing and tearing up. "What I didn't know is that it would hurt so much. I didn't expect this to break my heart. For him to cast a dark shadow on our most sacred right from the briefing room in the White House — our house, not his. That is devastating."

"This is heartbreaking for the same reason that I didn't want him to get COVID," Colbert said. "Certainly why I want him to survive. Because he's the president of the United States. That office means something and that office should have some shred of decency."

The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Georgia, where votes were still being counted, as well as Michigan, where Biden won. The campaign also requested a recount in Wisconsin, another state where Biden won. The lawsuits were dismissed Thursday in Georgia and Michigan.

Colbert called on one particular group of officials to take an unpredictable stand in the face of Trump's "predictable" behavior.

"Republicans have to speak up," he said. "All of them."

"For evil to succeed, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing," he said, paraphrasing John Stuart Mill (via John F. Kennedy).

Calling Trump a fascist, he said Republicans should not wait to take the temperature of public opinion before speaking up.

Stephen Rips Up The Monologue And Starts Over After Trump's Heartbreaking Thursday Night Lie Fest youtu.be

AMY KUPERINSKY, NJ.COM-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE |NOV 06, 2020

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Nov. 7, 2020

Voices4America Post Script. I heard about Stephen Colbert’s emotional reaction to Trump’s disgusting anti-American attack on our election on Thursday night. If you missed Colbert, here is your chance to catch-up. Feel free to share! #DemocracyWorthTheFight