Total Jerk
"No talent, no ratings, no life," the president writes after Stephen Colbert's final Late Show episode aired Thursday
Donald Trump predictably celebrated the demise of The Late Show on Thursday amid the president’s years-long campaign to cancel late-night shows that are critical of his administration.
“Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long!” Trump wrote on Truth Social about an hour after Stephen Colbert’s final show aired on the East Coast. “No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!”
White House spokesman David Ingle said earlier in the day, “Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck with no talent and terrible ratings, which is exactly why CBS canceled his show and is booting him off the airwaves.”
CBS has long cited The Late Show’s cost and ratings as the reason for its cancellation, though it’s long been reported that it was tied to Skydance’s massive CBS-Paramount merger that required government approval; The Late Show’s impending end was announced in July 2025, and the merger closed the next month in August.
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Bruce Springsteen suggested as much during his visit to The Late Show this week, telling the audience, “I am here in support tonight for Stephen, because you are the first guy in America who’s lost his show because we got a president who can’t take a joke and because [Skydance’s] Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want.”
With Colbert off the air, Trump will likely now double down on his efforts to have Jimmy Kimmel Live removed from broadcast television. “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on April 30. The president then claimed Kimmel “incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television,” and added, “People are angry. It better be soon!!!”