How Deep Does this Now Go into That Later? Firing Colbert on The Late Show and Stealing Our Freedoms from Us

May 21st was the last night of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show on CBS. The show was terminated due to pressure on CBS by DT. The reason: in the words of the Guardian, Colbert had a unique ability to “provide a nightly antidote for millions of viewers discombobulated at the end of another day in DT’s dystopia.” He directly mocked the president, using humor to relieve viewer’s anxiety and bring clarity when the world seemed too cruel and insane for many of us to pay attention. And DT is too insecure to allow anyone to criticize let alone mock him. This final act in the not-so funny drama of Colbert’s hosting the Late Show began on July 14, 2025.

 

In 2024, an interview of then Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris was aired on 60 Minutes. DT then sued CBS over the interview, claiming they had edited it to unfairly enhance how the Vice President sounded. And this editing supposedly caused the President to suffer “mental anguish.” CBS settled with him, agreeing to pay $16 million to his presidential library fund, despite the fact the suit was, according to even DT defenders like Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, likely unfounded. Others, that it lacked any substance, and raised grave concerns over press freedom. The network later claimed it fired Colbert not to satisfy DT but for “financial reasons.”

 

CBS is owned by Paramount, which starting in early 2024 was trying to merge with another production company, Skydance. For the merger to go ahead, it would need approval by the FCC, which was controlled by DT. The bribe worked; the merger was allowed to proceed. The settlement by CBS with DT was announced on July, 2, 2025. And on July 14th, 2025, a day that has proven courageous but also ominous and fateful, Colbert mocked the $16 million settlement. He called it a bribe, and that was the beginning of the end.

 

CBS News President and CEO Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens both opposed the settlement and later resigned over it. Critics like Jon Stewart and David Letterman also called the settlement a bribe or an attempt at appeasement.

 

This wasn’t the only example of appeasement of the would-be dictator by the media, law firms, GOP Congressmembers, etc. and I hope it works out better than allied appeasement of Mr. Hitler before World War II. The examples of appeasement of DT are numerous. CBS lawyers bowed to DT by blocking an appearance on the Late Show by Texas State Rep. James Talarico, who was then running in the Democratic Texas Senate primary. And ABC News also paid $15 million to DT and his lawyers, to settle a defamation claim against news anchor George Stephanopoulos for statements he made about the civil judgment against DT for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll.

 

An article in USA Today reported the Chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, a DT sycophant, told a conservative gathering that the President is winning the battle [presumably to stop freedom of speech]. “Look at the results. PBS defunded. NPR defunded. Joy Reid gone from MSNBC… Chuck Todd, Jim Acosta… John Dickerson gone. Colbert is leaving…”

 

And lately, DT’s been ever more furiously editing the Republican party…

 

*To read the whole article, please click on this link to The Good Men Project.

It Is Time to Call, Write, and Demonstrate: A Summary and Call to Action for Those Who Understandably Can’t Stand the News

The Justice Department does not belong to any one party or individual. But Sunday, Mr. Trump tweeted: ‘‘I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!’’ This was only one of his Sunday tweets.

 

The President can suggest actions to the Justice Department, but cannot demand. And he cannot, or at least should not, demand actions that directly interfere in the Mueller investigation. However, he is trying to get Rod Rosenstein and Christopher Wray to do just that and investigate the investigation.

 

At the heart of the latest battle is the charge there was a “spy” planted in the Trump campaign. In fact, the person is, as far as I can tell, not a spy but an informant. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies use informants all the time. By trying to claim malfeasance on the part of the FBI, Trump is distorting the facts once again, and once again attempting to undermine the FBI and Mueller investigation, and is putting the safety of the informant at risk. This is tantamount to claiming that anyone who reveals negative information on him is violating the law.

 

Trump also tweeted: “At what point does this soon to be $20,000,000 Witch Hunt, composed of 13 Angry and Heavily Conflicted Democrats and two people who have worked for Obama for 8 years, STOP! They have found no Collusion with Russia, No Obstruction, but they aren’t looking at the corruption…”

 

In this tweet, he is trying to say that the real corruption is being committed by Mueller and Democrats, but this is misdirection and worse. His very insinuations are examples of his interfering in the actions of the Justice Department and Mueller’s investigation.

 

According to a CBS fact check of his statements, the tweet is “short on facts.” CNN said “Trump said 11 false things in just 5 tweets.” Chris Cillizza of CNN said, “There’s zero factual basis—at least that I can find—for Trump putting a $20 million price tag on the Mueller probe.” In December, the cost was $6.7 million.

 

Mueller is a Republican, and like others on his team, he owes his position to a Republican President. He was appointed by President George W. Bush to head the FBI in 2001. And he served in that role for six years under Obama. In terms of the charge of collusion, that is an unresolved issue. Mueller was tasked with investigating that charge and the investigation is clearly not over. Yet, the President often tweets “no collusion,” as if by repeating it often enough people will believe it.

 

Trump’s lies are increasing in frequency as is the threat to what’s left of democracy in America. The Washington Post found that in the first 100 days, he lied or played loose with facts 4.9 times a day. Recently, it has almost doubled to 9 times a day. (See also the New York Times and Politifact.)

 

The threat is increasing as the President and his enablers in Congress, like Devin Nunes (Republican Congressman from California), are demolishing, to an unprecedented degree, the boundaries created by the separation of powers doctrine. Nunes has been leading the effort in Congress to get all the information on the confidential informant and portray his role as somehow malfeasant, instead of the normal operation of an investigation. And for months, he and other Republicans have been pressuring Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to turn over information that the Mueller investigation has on the President and others. If Rosenstein doesn’t, he can be impeached for contempt of Congress. If he turns over the documents, he is violating his position overseeing the investigation. The GOP has already drawn up eight articles of impeachment against him.

 

After meeting with the President Monday, along with FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, Rosenstein agreed to have the Department of Justice Inspector General investigate the Mueller investigation, especially the use of information from the confidential source.

 

However, this is not enough for the President and conservative Republican members of Congress. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) and 17 other GOP Congressmen (mostly members of the Freedom Caucus) signed a resolution today (5/22) demanding the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the DOJ and FBI. Senior officials from the DOJ, FBI and National Intelligence are set to meet with 2 Republican members of Congress on Thursday to “review” highly classified information the lawmakers have been seeking related to the Mueller investigation. In a beautiful example of irony, Democrats have been excluded from this meeting supposedly called to examine political bias in the FBI and DOJ. The New York Times points out the strategy here: limit the investigation and attack the investigators.

 

Monday evening, Rachel Maddow spoke about the meeting at the White House. By summoning Rosenstein and Wray, Trump was not just complaining. He was taking action in the vein of his firing, last year, the then FBI Director, James Comey. She questioned: have we now gone too far down a slippery slope?

 

The Justice Department has done several things in the past that Maddow finds disturbing. The DOJ has “shed or demoted” all the justice officials who Comey provided with corroborating information about his meetings with the President. Congress has asked the DOJ for FISA warrant applications, which they handed over, something never done before. The DOJ is now being asked to turn over information which can help Trump in his case against Mueller. This violates every principle of an investigation. On Sunday, when the President demanded the DOJ open a counter-investigation, he crossed another dangerous line. He took another step toward the destruction of the rule of law. Why is Rosenstein going along with this?

 

And, if we the citizens don’t act, why? Why are we going along with this? I understand feeling depressed by all that’s happening, and feeling powerless. But to give in to that feeling is to let Trump win.

 

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said: “The president’s behavior is the kind of grossly autocratic behavior we’d expect in a banana republic, not a mature democracy,” Do we have or have we had a “mature democracy” for a while now?

 

In 1776, Thomas Paine, philosopher and writer who influenced the American Revolution and Declaration of Independence, said: “These are the times that try men’s souls. …Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.” Our souls, our consciences, our lives are being tried to an ever-increasing degree by this administration. It is time to act. It is time to call any member of Congress you can, or go to the office of politicians, especially Republicans, and speak out and demonstrate, to stop this interference into the Mueller investigation. To stop the gradual destruction of the rule of law. We must prepare for November, but not wait until then.