Stephen Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show airs this week, and President Donald Trump had something to say about it.
In a post on Truth Social, he shared an AI-generated video showing Colbert on his show as Trump comes in, physically lifts Colbert, and tosses him into a dumpster, then breaks into his trademark "YMCA" victory dance.
It's the kind of thing that gets a laugh, no question. It’s funny, there’s no doubt about that. But that wasn’t the only thing he did; he also posted, "Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long! 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!"
Look, nobody here is going to defend Colbert or what he did to late-night television. The man spent years hammering the president on his show, night after night, and made no secret of where he stood. The mockery was relentless, and it turned off roughly half of the potential audience that would normally tune in for some late-night laughs, celebrity interviews, and musical performances. Colbert demonstrated utter disdain for a huge portion of his potential audience, and didn’t care. So I get why Trump wants to do a victory lap.
But here's the problem.
From the moment CBS announced it was canceling The Late Show, the left has been working overtime to spin it as political persecution, and the narrative hasn’t died. The way they see it, CBS caved to Trump, silenced a critic, and punished Colbert for “speaking truth to power.” It's the kind of narrative that requires you to ignore the finances of the situation completely, but when has that ever stopped them?
"This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount," CBS explained last year.
The actual story is simple and brutal. The Late Show cost CBS roughly $100 million a year to produce. Colbert himself was pulling down $15 million annually. And despite holding the top rating in his time slot, the show was losing $40 million every single year. CBS even went to Colbert before the current season started and asked him to take a pay cut. He apparently didn't take the hint.
Even the White House posted the video:
Bye-bye 👋 pic.twitter.com/5dPeXDflyh
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 22, 2026
Trump posting it on his Truth Social was not the greatest idea, but the White House posting it really gives the left the fuel it wants to keep the myth of censorship alive.
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That should have ended the argument. It didn't, because the left doesn't want the argument to end. Colbert convinced himself that being number one in the ratings (if you don’t count Greg Gutfeld, anyway) made him untouchable. He confused liberal media applause for a sustainable business model. But a success story isn’t losing $40 million a year. That's the real Colbert story.
So when Trump posts an AI video tossing Colbert into a dumpster and dancing to "YMCA," here's what actually happens: he inserts himself into the issue unnecessarily, giving the left fuel to claim that Trump was the reason Colbert’s show was canceled, because the video he posted shows him being the one who puts him in the garbage.
Some will call it trolling, and there's a fair argument there. But trolling only works when it doesn't give your opponents a better story to tell. Trump handed them one.
