Liberal CBS host Stephen Colbert is quickly becoming the home of choice for 2020 Democrats announcing they are running for president. On Tuesday’s Late Show, Colbert went so far as to hold hands with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand as he excitedly wondered, “So I'm just curious: Do you have anything you would like to announce?”

There were no tough questions. Quite a contrast to when the host grilled actor Kevin Hart last week about years-old politically incorrect comments, telling the movie star “It’s my show, I’ll do whatever the f**k I want.”

On Tuesday, however, after Gillibrand announced an exploratory committee to run for president, Colbert compared the current president to an arsonist: “Can we all agree that the world's on fire?... And America right now is interviewing for new fire chiefs? Because the present fire chief likes to play with matches.”

The most embarrassing part came when the CBS host gave Gillibrand a gift basket of presents. He even offered what looks like an official campaign donation: “We have — and this is the most important thing — this is an actual plane ticket to take you to Michigan to campaign there!”

Last week, Colbert tossed softballs to another 2020 Democratic contender, Senator Kamala Harris. He gushed, “What makes you happy? Where does your hope come from?”

In comparison, the liberal host grilled someone who wasn’t a politician, demanding more contrition from Hart for old comments about gays. Colbert hammered Hart for not being contrite enough, despite repeatedly apologizing. “Anything else you want to say about it,” he pressed.

The irritated actor replied, “You can do what you want” as far as bringing it up yet again. Colbert shot back, “It’s my show, I’ll do whatever the f**k I want.” Colbert continued lecturing, “Is there anything about the way you handled this situation over the last month that you would go back and change if you had a time machine?”

After Hart concluded he was “done” apologizing, Colbert harangued, “I’ve found that it’s not over until the audience is over it. Not when I’m over it. So do you have a sense that the audience is over it?”

Hart explained, “Here is the difference. You can continue to live to please others or you can have a position when you know that you literally done what you can to try and please.... You have to make a decision to say I’m done trying to please.”

If only Colbert pressed 2020 Democratic contenders the same way he does an actor for old jokes.

A partial transcript of the Gillibrand interview is below: