Former U.S. President Donald Trump ushered in the holiday season with a fiery social media attack, directing his ire at comedian Stephen Colbert and the broader landscape of late-night television in the early hours of Wednesday.
A Festive Fury on Truth Social
In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Trump unleashed a scathing critique of Colbert, marking his second consecutive late-night outburst on the network this week. Trump labeled Colbert a "pathetic trainwreck" lacking the talent for success in show business. He referenced CBS's decision to cancel "The Late Show," which is slated to end in May, claiming the host has "actually gotten worse" since the announcement.
"Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking!" Trump wrote. In a particularly harsh remark, he suggested, "CBS should, 'put him to sleep,' NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do!"
The Spark Behind the Rant
The tirade coincided with CBS airing a rerun of the December 8 episode of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on the East Coast. That episode followed the network's broadcast of "The Kennedy Center Honors," hosted by President Joe Biden. In his monologue, Colbert reacted to a clip of Trump criticizing late-night host Jimmy Kimmel's performance at the ceremony in 2014, despite Kimmel never having hosted the event.
Trump had previously stated, "If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president." Colbert's retort was swift: "You can’t, and you shouldn’t!" The rerun also featured Colbert correcting Trump's facts, noting he himself had hosted the Kennedy Center Honors three consecutive times.
Broadening the Late-Night War
Trump did not stop at Colbert. In additional posts, he broadened his assault to include hosts across major networks. He questioned, "Who has the worst Late Night host, CBS, ABC, or NBC???" accusing them all of featuring highly paid, untalented personalities with low ratings.
Escalating his rhetoric, Trump then took aim at the networks themselves. He suggested that if network newscasts and their late-night shows are "almost 100% Negative" toward him, his MAGA movement, and the Republican Party, their "very valuable Broadcast Licenses" should be terminated. "I say, YES!" he concluded on that point.
This incident is not isolated. Just last month, Trump demanded NBC fire Seth Meyers "IMMEDIATELY" after a rerun of "Late Night" aired featuring jokes about the former president's complaints regarding aircraft carrier catapults.
Trump capped off his grievance-filled posting spree with a final, seemingly incongruous message: "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!"
