Earlier this week, Sean Hannity introduced a new segment with this lead in:
At the end of that first protest in 1765 the Sons of Liberty hung two tax collectors in effigy from the branches of elm and from that day forward it became known as the Liberty Tree...Therefore, in the spirit of our founding fathers, with our liberties once again threatened, we introduce our own Liberty Tree. Now as you can see, our tree is built upon the roots of life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, and freedom. They support the trunk of the tree which is made of we the people. And the trunk supports the branches and the fruits of our liberty represented by the apples. It is those apples, the fruits of our liberty, that this administration is now picking clean.
We hope he's not implying he wants to hang members of the IRS from the tree in his mind, but one never knows with Mr. Hannity. You can see the full segment here.
Well, of course, this was perfect fodder for Colbert. The late-night host claimed that this infringed on a similar idea he had "the freedom fungus." He then went on to praise Hannity for having his liberty tree built on a root of liberty: "That's like building a stadium...on another stadium." It got even stranger when Hannity explained what fruit this tree bore.
WATCH: