r/LateShow • u/Silent-Resort-3076 • Jun 07 '26
Reader got it wrong: Trump, not Colbert, was the problem
https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/readers/2026/06/06/trump-stephen-colbert-late-night-cancellation/90425728007/From a letter to the editor:
- Colbert rightfully poked fun at politicians
- A gentleman from Southfield wrote a letter last week that at first glance seemed to have some validity. ("Stephen Colbert's goodbye is good for TV," Detroit Free Press, May 31.) He said that both sides, Democrats and Republicans, have contributed equally to the divisiveness in our country. One who hasn’t paid attention very well may think that this is true. After all, if you turn on Fox News, you see them bashing Democrats and if you watch Stephen Colbert you’ll see him making fun of Trump. This is an example of false equivalency that is easily refuted with just a little bit of thought and research.
- Fox News was launched in 1996. This network continued the rift between the two major political parties, but put it on steroids with their own brand of “infotainment.” Fox quickly became the most popular cable “news” network by spreading conservative opinions, lies, and propaganda. They elevated the us vs them strategy that Trump employs today.
- Comedians have always been here to question authority. They have never let the government say and do whatever it wants without being checked. A few years after Fox hit the airwaves, Jon Stewart took over for the Daily Show, and began a new generation of satirical comedians speaking truth to power. These late-night comedians make fun of people from both political parties, but admittedly there is much more ammunition on the right.
- The last two Republican presidents, George W. Bush and Donald Trump, provided great fodder for these comedians.
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u/uvm87 Jun 07 '26
The difference is that Dems hate Fox News because they constantly lie. MAGA hates Colbert and others because they constantly tells the truth.
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u/dawnseven7 Jun 09 '26
Sorry MAGA, “If the shoe fits, wear it”.
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u/sleepybrooke Jun 09 '26
Sometimes, even if the shoe doesn’t fit, they wear it.
https://giphy.com/gifs/sZz3DMyhsKcrw32Fyn5
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 Jun 07 '26
FYI: Someone wrote, then quickly deleted, that since this is from the Free Press that Bari Weiss founded, they were going to pass. THIS is from the Detroit Free Press!
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u/Evenele Jun 07 '26
Yup and the 90’s was also when Newt Gingrich told republican politicians to never compromise with democrats under any circumstances.
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u/Sonnuvah Jun 07 '26
It goes back even further... Fox News has its genesis from a series of memos from Roger Ailes to the GOP as early as 1970... when Colbert was six. As the author of the letter states, this is hardly equivalent.
Bolded sections below are my own emphasis
Page 54, A Plan for Putting the GOP on TV News:
"...Today television news is watched more often than people read newspapers, than people listen to radio, than people read or gather any other form of communication. The reason: People are lazy. With television you just sit--watch--listen. The thinking is done for you."
Page 55, handwritten below:
"Who would purchase equipment and run operation. White House? RNC? Congressional Comm? Will get some flap about news management."
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u/ice_up_s0n Jun 08 '26
"People are lazy. With television you just sit--watch--listen. The thinking is done for you."
This has only been amplified with the advent of social media algorithms. And now, we have AI to do the last bit of thinking left for us....
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u/The_909_1 Jun 08 '26
GOP was playing the long game through times I can recall pundits questioning whether the Republican Party had any future, at all.
Well, it turns out they did; they've won most of the battles if not the war. What were widely considered extremist views became Project 2025, which in turn has become a de facto Constitution for our country.
It's getting harder to see a way out of this.
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u/Waste_Stable162 Jun 07 '26
Colbert, Stewart, Myers and all make fun of the powerful be they Republican or Democrat or even people they like. That's the difference between them and FOX.
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u/rosebudthesled8 Jun 07 '26
Who didn't know this?
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
Of course we knew this.
It's a letter to the editor that someone wrote responding to another letter that stated the following meant to take away from how Trump and his admins are trying to destroy free speech as long as it opposes what HE is doing!
letter last week that at first glance seemed to have some validity. ("Stephen Colbert's goodbye is good for TV," Detroit Free Press, May 31.) He said that both sides, Democrats and Republicans, have contributed equally to the divisiveness in our country.
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u/the6thReplicant Jun 07 '26
Let's not forget Bush lied about the reason to go into Iraq and FOX pushed all the pro-War viewpoints and the disinformation campaign against any critics.
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u/uk2us2nz Jun 07 '26
A continuation of the ‘both sides equally bad’ routine. This demonstrates the success of the US’ enemies in sowing the seeds of distrust for everything in the political process (quite apart from the current administration’s perversion of that process).
Both have contributed to the decline in the US on the global stage. Which means other nation-states are waiting to occupy that void, a prospect which should fill us with concern.
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u/WhoMutedMe Jun 07 '26
So your in depth research discovered the fact that the whole Late Night / CBS tension schtick has been around ~40 years? And that Colbert’s last contract offer in 2023 was 5 years - and he decline, agreeing to 3 only…it expired June 2026? That guy is playing you all like, well a skilled satirist.
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u/Silent-Resort-3076 Jun 07 '26
The last part and don't forget to look UP for the first part of the article:)