Jon Stewart helped crush CNN’s “Crossfire” in 2004, telling the hosts that their angry rhetoric was “hurting America.”

Two decades later, Stewart’s protégé, Stephen Colbert, did just that with a combination of “fake news,” divisive monologues, and comic jabs at political enemies.

Colbert’s “Late Show” signs off for good on CBS on May 21, to be replaced by a cheaper alternative — “Comics Unleashed.”

The legacy media may be mourning Colbert’s exit, but many viewers see through the 62-year-old former Comedy Central star.

Colbert fumbled his 2015 handoff from CBS superstar David Letterman, a host who put entertainment first, always, even though he had his own partisan views.

Colbert was coming off his Comedy Central showcase, “The Colbert Report,” a sly satire of Bill O’Reilly-style pundits, and needed time to adjust to a staid late-night format.

That’s reasonable. Even Conan O’Brien wasn’t a late-night standout from the jump.

Colbert found his footing by doing what many of his late-night peers would eventually do: Savaging President Donald Trump.

That model worked wonders, to a point. It pushed him past longtime NBC rival “The Tonight Show” in the ratings, and cemented his brand as “Resistance Theater.”

That was a blessing and a sizable curse. His monologues became “clapter” affairs — gags intended to elicit applause, not peals of laughter. He also began ignoring Democrats behaving badly, a pattern that would soon set like cement.

He hit his hack stride during the Russia collusion hoax. He called President Trump Putin’s [bleep] holster — a line both offensive and, more importantly, inaccurate.

That line of attack dragged on for months, piggybacking on specious headlines attempting to tie Trump’s 2016 electoral win to Mother Russia.

Few comics leaned harder into the collusion lie than Colbert. And when wave after wave of revelations disproved the connection, Colbert didn’t apologize. He just found other dubious stories to hang around the president’s neck.

Later, as the US government passed draconian rules regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Colbert proved a useful idiot in two dramatic ways. He mocked everyday Americans pummeled by the lockdowns, all while cashing million-dollar checks from the luxury of his home.

He also cranked out one of the most embarrassing sketches ever aired on late-night TV — The Vax Scene, an attempt to encourage coronavirus vaccination. “Dancing Vaccine Needles,” anyone?

Colbert’s defenders claim he spoke truth to power, making presidents pay for their mistakes. Except Colbert did little of that when Democrats held the White House.

Over the years, Colbert ignored Rep. Eric Swalwell’s fall from grace; the Hunter Biden laptop scandal (and coverup); the “Twitter Files” censorship scandal; the shocking rise in antisemitism on college campuses (and elsewhere); and many, many more stories that made the left look bad.

Instead, Colbert parroted the widely debunked “very fine people” hoax against President Trump and turned “The Late Show” into a forum to promote progressive politicians. When the woke mob targeted Dr. Seuss, Colbert even chuckled over the icon’s cancellation.

You’d think a late-night comedian would stand up for free speech. He would — for the Jimmy Kimmels of the world. Not for people on the other side.

His biggest mistake came with not letting the world know about President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. Colbert even saw Biden up close at a mid-2024 campaign rally and said nothing.

His post-debate attack on President Biden in 2024 (“Biden debated as well as Abraham Lincoln — if you dug him up right now”) marked the moment Colbert couldn’t hide the truth any longer.

He’s no George Carlin, Richard Pryor or Lenny Bruce.

The liberal media hangs on Colbert’s every syllable, repeating his gags as if they weren’t prefab talking points.

And the next time a reporter labels Colbert as a “progressive,” it may very well be the first time.

Colbert deserves credit for surviving in the late-night landscape, a terrain that has rejected more than a few A-list stars (Chevy Chase, Joan Rivers and more). The biggest surprise is why CBS clung to Colbert while losing $40 million a year.

Wouldn’t an annual check to the DNC have been easier?

Christian Toto is the founder of HollywoodInToto.com and host of The Hollywood in Toto Podcast.

---

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters