A Federal Communications Commission regulation that was effectively defined by Democrats and was used by a Democrat to platform a white Democrat over a black Democrat is now being bemoaned by Democrats because… of Donald Trump?

Yeah, that’s basically it. In the wake of the Stephen Colbert/James Talarico pseudo-scandal, The Hollywood Reporter isbemoaningthat you can “say goodbye to most appearances by political candidates on daytime and late night talk shows.”

So, in case you’re catching up with this late, Colbert — on his way out at CBS — actually caused people to pay attention to his show for once by announcing that hewouldhavehad Talarico, a Texas state representative and Democratic candidate for Senate on, but he instead had to cancel because the FCC might invoke the equal time rule.

This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see.

His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert.

Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas.pic.twitter.com/BCev5jZbKc

— James Talarico (@jamestalarico)February 17, 2026

Now, the implication here was twofold: One, that the Trump administration was interfering to stop Talarico from getting airtime at the expense of Republicans, and two, that CBS News — under the management of Bari Weiss — had veered sharply to the right.

Except that’s not the case. No Republican candidate is really clamoring to go on Colbert’s show, in part because it’s a waste of time and in part because of the fact that it’s not going to look good, no matter how Colbert treats them or how they perform. (If they look good, it almost looks bad to GOP primary voters.) Instead, this was mostly about platforming the (relatively speaking, anyhow)electableTalarico over the thoroughly bananas (but much more famous) U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Talarico’s main opponent in the race.

That’s right: The scandal is because Colbert preferred a white male Republican over a black woman, only if because that black woman is so thoroughly nuts that she couldn’t get elected dog-catcher of Texas if it were a statewide race.

Source: VidNews » Feed