Whenever a nightly talk show program takes a break, there's bound to be a plethora of major news the host misses. In the United States, it's unfortunately not unusual for a mass shooting to happen during that time off.
Although The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took a break last week, Colbert dedicated part of his air time to the Parkland, Florida school shooting, which left 17 dead last week. Colbert's spotlight follows former colleague John Oliver's praise for the shooting's survivors and their activism over the weekend.
Colbert called out the disappointing, lackluster responses by lawmakers, particularly Florida Congressional Senator Marco Rubio.
"As long as we're being clear and honest, Senator, as a lawmaker, your position is, 'the laws are useless! everyone into the the thunder dom,'" Colbert exclaimed. "Then why do we need you? It seems like a house plant would do a better job and would probably need a little less water." He then played a clip of the many times Rubio has drank water in between his speeches.
"But there is one group that does give me hope we can do something to protect the children," Colbert added just before a round of a applause. "And sadly, it's the children: the students from Parkland, Florida."
Parkland student survivors have taken their voices to Twitter. They've called out Tomi Lahren for her lack of nuance and empathy around the recent shooting. They've also called out Donald Trump—who blamed the FBI's investigation on Russia for the tragedy—and other legislators on national television.
"These students saw their leaders doing nothing and said, 'hold my root beer,'" Colbert added.
According to The Sun Sentinel, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students watched lawmakers vote no on a bill to ban assault weapons in the Florida legislature on Tuesday. In response to their disappointment in legislators, students are calling for national walk-outs and mass demonstrations to protest insufficient lawmaking.
