Stephen Colbert went right in for it during the opening minutes of The Late Show on Monday night. "It's as if there's a national script that we have learned, and I think by accepting the script, we tacitly accept that the script will end the same way every time, with nothing changing, except for the loved ones and the families of the victims, for whom nothing will ever be the same."

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Like many of his colleagues, Colbert took a moment to address the horrors of this past weekend. But after a few words of reflection, encouragement, and hope, most other late night hosts continued with their entertaining programming. Colbert, by coincidence, had booked right wing blowhard Bill O'Reilly on his show Monday night, and instead of discussing the current presidential election—as was likely planned—the two engaged in a tense, powerful conversation about the Orlando shooting.

Sitting down across from Colbert, O'Reilly immediately framed the mass shooting as not a tragedy, but a battle in a war against "Islamic jihadists." But Colbert countered immediately, turning the conversation away from Trump's rhetoric, and told O'Reilly that the problem "is easy access to high capacity, rapid-firing weaponry."

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In response, O'Reilly cited Chicago's tough gun laws and high murder rate, adding "you cannot patrol 24/7 criminals and terrorists who have access to guns." Interestingly enough, the two found common ground during the conversation, with O'Reilly admitting that the government needs to dictate which guns should be banned in the United States, namely high-capacity rifles.

While the interview stayed tame, especially compared to O'Reilly's Late Show appearance in May, things got tense as the conversation moved toward discussing war against Islamic extremism. O'Reilly believes that declaring war would give the U.S. government the authority to have detained someone like Mateen before he committed a crime. His goal is to "annihilate the enemy." But when is this war over, Colbert asked?

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"The war is over when the level of terrorism goes down, the refugees can return home, and you have a basic handle on the situation," O'Reilly said.

As we've learned, it's not that easy.

What is easy, is understanding what Trump is doing with his presidential campaign. After the shooting in Orlando, The Orange One took a self-congratulatory tone in his response, as Colbert pointed out to O'Reilly. "That's not political behavior, that's grandstanding," he said.

Surprisingly, O'Reilly agreed. And while O'Reilly didn't decry Trump's pathetic behavior, he did make the his alleged intentions clear.

"He wants to be president, and he's using this terrorism issue to bolster his popularity," O'Reilly said.

If Trump knows how to do anything, it's exploit and manipulate to his advantage, no matter the moral and ethical consequences.

And while most of O'Reilly's responses focus on reactionary warmongering, this was the most important conversation to take place on late night TV on Monday. While most political programs turn into circular shouting matches, there's a mutual respect between Colbert and O'Reilly. This conversation, while tense and frustrating, is important discourse that many people watching a late-night variety show might not be used to. It's easy to watch someone crack jokes to take your mind off the horrors in our country. It's not easy to engage in mature political conversation. We're lucky Stephen Colbert is willing to take a risk on that.

Matt Miller Culture Editor Matt is the Culture Editor at Esquire where he covers music, movies, books, and TV—with an emphasis on all things Star Wars, Marvel, and Game of Thrones.

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