Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah celebrate American spirit of unity in the wake of Virginia shooting

The anti-Trump movement took a major setback on 14 June (Wednesday), when a left-wing activist opened fire on members of the Republican congressional baseball team as they were practicing on a field in Alexandria, Virginia. The attack left four people wounded, including Congressman Steve Scalise.

What ensued, however, was a united, bipartisan response from politicians from both, the Democratic and the Republican Party. A point that did not go unnoticed by talk show hosts Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah.

During the Wednesday episode of The Late Show, Colbert kicked off his monologue with a sombre mention of the incident. "Ladies and gentlemen, before we get started, I just want to take a moment to talk about the attack today in Alexandria, Virginia," he said.

"Once again, we're all shocked in mind and soul by a mass shooting, this time targeting, apparently, Republican congressmen, and I pray to God that everyone pulls through," he continued. "Violence of any kind is never justified and is the last refuge of the incompetent. Thankfully, none of the members or their staff or police were killed today."

The host, an extremely vocal critic of the Donald Trump government, went on to offer rare praise for the president and his response to the attack.

"Even in the horror of this day, there was reason to take heart in bipartisan responses like this," he said alongside clips of Nancy Pelosi and Paul Ryan's statements in the wake of the shooting.

"I just want to say thank you to the congressional leadership and to the president for responding to this act of terror in a way that gives us hope that whatever our differences, we will always be the United States of America."

Later in the show, Colbert's guest for the evening, The Daily Show host Trevor Noah also touched on the subject and commended the united front being displayed by politicians. "It was great to see people from both sides seeing this and uniting under the banner of 'human' and 'American' before anything else," he said. "That's one of the things that we're seeing less and less of in society today.

"Like Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi said today," Noah continued, "'We fight tooth and nail but we don't forget that we are people, we are friends, we are families, we are colleagues.'"

The South African comedian said it was up to politicians to make their constituents aware that while it was ok to fight, they should remember "that at your core, you are Americans".