With his signature flair for the dramatic and a longtime nose for ratings, President Donald J. Trump reportedly weighed in Tuesday morning on what appears to be a major upheaval in the world of late-night television — a shakeup he proudly suggests he helped usher in.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump responded to reports that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been canceled by CBS, and that fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel of ABC and Jimmy Fallon of NBC may soon follow.
In a post that mixed characteristic bravado with pointed cultural commentary, the president didn’t hold back.
“The word is, and it’s a strong word at that, Jimmy Kimmel is NEXT to go in the untalented Late Night Sweepstakes and, shortly thereafter, Fallon will be gone,” Trump wrote.
“These are people with absolutely NO TALENT, who were paid Millions of Dollars for, in all cases, destroying what used to be GREAT Television,” he added. “It’s really good to see them go, and I hope I played a major part in it!”
Trump’s comments arrive on the heels of CBS’s bombshell decision to cancel Colbert’s show, long considered the flagship of post-primetime liberal commentary.
Colbert, Kimmel, and Fallon have each made careers in recent years by lacing their comedy with overt political attacks — most often aimed squarely at Trump and his supporters.
While the three comedians shared messages of mutual support in the wake of Colbert’s cancellation, not everyone is mourning. Some conservative commentators are calling the collapse of the late-night triumvirate a long-overdue “course correction” in the entertainment industry, which has steadily leaned left in recent decades.
For years, the traditional late-night format — once dominated by the broadly appealing comedy of Johnny Carson and Jay Leno — has morphed into a partisan echo chamber, often indistinguishable from the editorial pages of liberal newspapers.
Critics on the right have pointed out that while these hosts drew praise in progressive circles, they also alienated vast swaths of the American public who turned away from the late-night genre altogether.
In that sense, the cancellation of Colbert’s show and rumored exits of Fallon and Kimmel represent more than just programming decisions — they signal the fading influence of a media establishment that has long wielded disproportionate cultural power with minimal accountability.
While some in the press are fretting that this wave of cancellations may be an attempt to “silence Trump’s critics,” others argue that it’s simply the market speaking — and speaking loudly.
Ratings have slumped, and audiences have grown tired of being lectured under the guise of entertainment.
For Trump, the developments are not just vindication — they are validation of a larger cultural shift.
Whether by coincidence or consequence, the television personalities who built their brands mocking Trump now find themselves without platforms. And in classic Trumpian fashion, he’s savoring the moment.
[READ MORE: Justice Department Reopens Epstein Leads, Signaling Sharp Shift Under Trump Officials]
