NICE WORK CBS! Banning the Steven Colbert Interview with James Talarico, Got Them Way More Views

He’s at it again! Wannabe dictator Donald Trump has dictated to his Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to further erode the protections of the Constitution’s First Amendment for freedom of the press. It is just his latest attempt to shape the media into the propaganda arm of his Reich House operation.

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Stephen Colbert & Trump Baby

Three weeks ago Trump’s crony FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, announced that he was considering a plan to alter the long-standing rules regarding “Equal Time” on television. It was a blatant attempt to put an end to criticism of Trump from TV talk show hosts and their guests. Since the Equal Time rules were implemented there have been exceptions for newsworthy interviews on both news and entertainment programs. But Trump’s childish and emotional insecurity has resulted in his seeking to stifle his critics by any means necessary.

SEE THIS: Trump’s FCC Threatens to Change ‘Equal Time’ Rules to Suppress the Free Speech of Trump Critics

On Monday night’s episode of “Late Night with Stephen Colbert,” Colbert revealed that the executives at CBS had prohibited him from airing an interview with James Talarico, a Democratic Senate candidate from Texas. However, Colbert, whose number one show has already been canceled and will end it’s ten year long run in May, was not taking this censorship quietly. He delivered a smackdown of CBS and the FCC that was both troubling and hilarious. What follows are some choice excerpts followed by the video…

“You know who is not one of my guests tonight? That’s Texas State Representative James Talarico. He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast. I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly does not want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this. […]

“Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because he said some of them were motivated by partisan purposes. Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC. So, FCC YOU! Because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself.” […]

“[Trump] wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV because all Trump does is watch TV. He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diapers. So, it’s no surprise that two of the people most affected by this threat are me and my friend Jimmy Kimmel.”

After Colbert’s righteous rant, he told the audience that, while the network would not allow him to broadcast the Talarico interview, there was nothing stopping him from posting it on his YouTube page. And therefore…

There is, however, a surprisingly happy ending to this story. The goal of CBS and their masters in the Trump regime was to stifle any and all voices who were less than worshipful of Dear Leader Trump. But the result of their censorship was to drive more people to this interview than would otherwise have even heard that it existed. Note the numbers…

For Colbert’s FCC rant…

  • YouTube: 2.3 Million views
  • Facebook: 2.8 million views

For Colbert’s James Talarico interview…

  • YouTube: 2.6 Million views
  • Facebook: 1.8 million views.

Millions more views were racked up on other social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. In total, it was far more than the average audience for Colbert’s show, which in early February of 2026 was about 2.3 million viewers nightly.

So CBS, at the urging of the Trump regime, has succeeded in helping Colbert and Talarico to draw a much bigger audience than they would have if there were no improper government interference. So thanks for that.

Although, it is still outrageously unacceptable for the government to interfere at all. And particularly in such a partisan manner wherein they deliberately put pressure on late night talk shows that have been critical of Trump, while openly admitting that conservative talk radio would not be subject to similar muzzling.

The American people are not going to stand for this sort of censorship and tyranny. And the more that Trump and his comrades try to force it down our throats, the more they will lose and bury their own electoral prospects in the upcoming midterms and beyond.

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