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.

Can We Utilize Fear Instead of Fearing It? – When It’s So Real It Feels Unreal

This time in history we’re going through is not only scary and disturbing, but so difficult to understand and accept as real. Part of that difficulty comes from the almost all-pervasive reach of the threat. Part of it comes from wanting so much to know what will happen⎼ want to know “we will be all right” ⎼ but we’re in a different universe from knowing that. Part of it comes from perceiving that so much we value, that we feel is crucial to our lives is being taken away step by step. And this is so real it feels unreal.

 

Just last week, DT threatened to withhold support for or attack lawmakers who go against his wish to wipe out the independent free press in this country, including defunding NPR and PBS. And then his sycophants in Congress defunded NPR and PBS.

 

He sued the Wall Street Journal for billions for publishing a letter purportedly from DT to Jeffrey Epstein that included a lewd drawing, and apparently providing evidence that DT and Epstein were not just casual acquaintances.

 

Stephen Colbert, who was often critical of the president in his monologues, saw his contract for his late-night show terminated by CBS. This looks suspiciously like CBS acting in fear of being attacked by DT. As Steven Harper, in Common Dreams asked, was Colbert’s termination part of an implicit or explicit deal to get Federal Communications Commission approval for a merger between Paramount (parent company of CBS) and Skydance Media?

 

And was the termination of Colbert’s contract a continuation of Paramounmt’s bowing down to DT that they started earlier in the year, when they agreed to pay the President $16 million to settle a suit that he had almost no chance of winning? The suit was not just frivolous but a direct attack by DT on CBS for daring to share, during the election, an interview with DT’s opponent, Kamala Harris.

 

And these are just a small sampling of his attacks on the press. He threatened legal action against CNN for reporting on an app that warns people when ICE agents are nearby. He threatened Disney, which owns ABC News, with a suit because George Stephanopoulos, a top news anchor, shared a description of the president’s assault on writer E. Jean Carroll⎼ and Disney capitulated, paid $16 million to DT, despite the fact DT was found guilty by a court, for this case of sexual abuse.

 

And on and on. DT is quickly moving to secure the power of a dictator. He’s trying to rip away our right to free speech and to eliminate all the vehicles we could use to exercise that right. Back in 2017, during his first administration, he received criticism for calling the media, the free press, the “enemy of the people.” Now, he’s straight out attacking any media or anyone that shares views other than his own. He’s doing anything he can to shut it, or us, up.

 

We don’t know what will come of this. We don’t know if enough people will protest, or enough politicians will say “we’ve had it with him.” And then there’s the Jeffrey Epstein rebellion against DT.

 

There’s a large segment of MAGA supporters who voted for DT because he promised to reveal a list complied by Jeffrey Epstein of prominent men who utilized Epstein’s connections to engage in child sexual predation. And now DT’s saying the opposite⎼ saying, there was no list. There is nothing there. And any of you that waste my time on this are weaklings, stupid people. Will the Jeffrey Epstein rebellion against DT’s refusal to come clean build in strength and undermine his power base?

 

DT has also been showing increasing signs of cognitive decline, although there have been warnings of him being reality-challenged for years….

 

*To read the whole article, please go to The Good Men Project.