The left marched through CBS and carried Stephen Colbert with it.But its domination of that network apparently is over, so Colbert is being carried out.
The left has been marching through America's key institutions for many decades — since at least the 1960s. Whether it's academia, K-12 education, media, museums, libraries, or law firms, left-liberals dominate. Conservatives have been complaining about this domination for years and in some cases have tried to do something about it. For example, blogging was an attempt to fight the left-liberal media by discrediting it and offering alternatives. The success at attempts to counter the left's march through our institutions varies with the institution in question. In general, however, I'd say conservatives haven't been very successful. Maybe we just didn't try hard enough. Since Donald Trump and his MAGA movement replaced traditional conservatives as the Republican vanguard, the right has been trying harder. The news is full of reports about the Trump administration's attempts to roll back the left's march through each of the institutions I listed in the first paragraph above, and others as well. Few institutions have been as completely "marched through" by the left as CBS. Dan Rather's attempt to derail the Bush campaign in 2004 is the most notable example of that network's efforts on behalf of Democrats. Twenty years later, CBS tried to help Kamala Harris by editing her interview with the network. For that, Trump sued CBS (Paramount). And, to the dismay of liberal pundits everywhere, Paramount rolled over in a $16 million settlement. Now liberals are at least equally dismayed that CBS has cancelled the show of Stephen Colbert, a comedian who has heaped ridicule on Republicans since the days of George W. Bush. Unlike the much funnier Bill Maher, Colbert never seems to find anything worthy of ridicule from Democrats. The left-liberal media is calling foul. Some, including Colbert, suggest that CBS cancelled Colbert to curry favor with the Trump administration, from which it (Paramount) seeks approval of a multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance Media. Some contend that the cancellation is retaliation for Colbert's criticism of the CBS settlement with Trump. The left is so worked up over the cancellation that it has called on New York state's grandstanding attorney general Letitia James to investigate CBS' decision. If she agrees, James can write another chapter in her epic pursuit of the Great Orange Whale. But Colbert's show has been losing $40 million for CBS each year. Moreover, according to Reuters, "the show's ad revenue plummeted to $70.2 million last year from $121.1 million in 2018." So the interesting question isn't why CBS finally cancelled Colbert's show. Rather, it's why CBS carried that money-loser for so long. The answer, of course, is that the left captured CBS as part of its long march. The answer to the less interesting question — why was Colbert cancelled now — is that the left's stranglehold on the network has loosened. Let's be clear. CBS has the right to air a money-losing show that, in Jim Geraghty's words, indulges in "heavy-handed cheerleading for Democratic politicians" and "stale 'aren't Republicans so dumb and evil' monologue jokes." But it also has the right not to. The network has no obligation to provide a platform for non-stop Republican bashing disguised, often lightly, as comedy. It doesn't matter why CBS cancelled Colbert. If, as seems likely, it cancelled him for purely economic reasons, obviously that's fine. But if it cancelled him for "political reasons" (to use the New York Times' words), that's fine too. Colbert was on the network, losing money, for political reasons. So what's wrong with kicking him off the air for political reasons? I don't assume that CBS' decision was an attempt to please Trump and his movement, but suppose it was. Networks have been cancelling shows because they upset the wrong people for as long as there have been networks. I should add a caveat, though. If Trump made cancellation of Colbert's show a condition of approving the merger, that would be improper. So too, if Trump or someone on his team said the administration would look more favorably on the merger if Colbert were cancelled. But there's no reason to believe that such representations were made. I doubt Trump watches Colbert. If he does, he probably considers the show only a minor irritant. Indeed, there's little reason to believe that cancelling Colbert's show was other than a decision not to keep losing money. Maybe the fact that his show is out of step with the views of most Americans and that it might mildly irritate Donald Trump also factored in. If so, there's nothing scandalous about that. The left's frustration over its diminution of influence on a long-time network ally isn't grounds for calling a foul.
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Sunday, July 27, 2025
"the left marched through cbs, and carried Stephen Colbert with it
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P.T. is aware of all the Trump bashers. I have zero doubts that he's wearing a halo and looking innocent,while behind the scenes,sledge-o-matic dealings are going on. He's got about a year and a half to fix the tv industry(midterms). That's it.
--GRA
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