Stephen Colbert Said Donald Trump Needs to Learn to ‘Pick His Battles’
Stephen Colbert said he has no fear about Donald Trump ahead of his final episode of The Late Show. When CBS canceled the show, Trump celebrated on social media. Colbert said he finds it ridiculous that the president of the United States has expressed so much concern about what late-night hosts are saying.
Stephen Colbert said Donald Trump should pick his battles
In July 2025, CBS announced that The Late Show With Stephen Colbert would end in May 2026. While they said this was a financial decision, many have speculated that it was politically motivated, as Colbert has been critical of Trump.
“I’ll never stop caring about my country,” Colbert told People. “I’m a perfectly fine fan of me, but I am not of the opinion that if my voice is missing from the national conversation the republic will turn awry.”
Colbert said he has “no fear” about the current administration retaliating against him. He acknowledged that people believe his show has ended because of the current administration. He believes that Trump shouldn’t be so focused on what comedians are saying.
“I mean, how silly would it be? The ending of the show aside, which people can speculate about all they want, and I can’t argue with their speculations, but we’re clowns,” he said. “How much does it diminish the office of the Presidency to even notice what we say? [Trump] needs to know how to pick his battles, metaphorically and literally.”
Donald Trump demanded the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show
Colbert remained on the air for nearly a year after CBS announced it would end. Months before his final episode, Trump demanded that CBS pull the show off the air sooner.
“Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success,” he wrote on Truth Social (via Variety). “Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do!”
Trump has also frequently called on ABC to cancel Jimmy Kimmel’s show and for NBC to cancel Seth Meyers’ show.
He said he is grateful for his time hosting ‘The Late Show’
While Colbert said the end of his show stunned him, he is grateful for his time hosting it.
“I tried never to take for granted filming in the Ed Sullivan Broadway theater, having that tremendous audience, or having the ability to work with the funniest people I know every day and make jokes about the things that make me most anxious,” he said.
He shared what he will miss the most about the show.
“I harvest laughter for a living,” he said. “I’ll miss that as much as I’ll miss the audience.”
Still, he looks forward to what he might be able to do in the future now that he has more time.
“The show’s like a flaming toboggan ride every day and the trick is to not hit any trees on your way down the mountain before 12:30,” he said. “There’s so much to think about to do the show. So I don’t have much better of an answer than most college seniors do, which is I’ve got to finish this first, because it takes almost the entirety of my brain to do this show. So we’ll land this plane and we’ll check out the view from there.”
