Stephen Colbert called Vladimir Putin Donald Trump's "cockholster" on national television and CBS called it comedy.
Now the show is hemorrhaging $40 million a year and CBS pulled the plug.
And the man who just showed up to say goodbye told Colbert he should run for president.
The Quid Pro Quo Nobody in the Media Will Name
Obama flew to Chicago to tape the interview inside his brand-new presidential library – the one opening June 19 and requiring a photo ID to enter.
Colbert got his farewell tongue bath from his favorite president.
Obama got 15 minutes of free advertising for a monument to himself.
That's how the left takes care of its own.
When Colbert fished for a compliment by floating the idea of a 2028 presidential run, Obama obliged.
"Put it this way," Obama said. "I think that you could perform significantly better than some folks that we've seen."
The audience laughed on cue.
Nobody asked the obvious follow-up.
The man endorsing Colbert for president is the same man whose administration directed the FBI to manufacture a Russia collusion hoax from scratch.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard's declassified documents revealed that after a December 9, 2016 secret meeting, Obama's own intelligence chiefs were tasked with creating a new assessment "per the President's request" – an assessment designed to frame Donald Trump as a Russian asset.
Obama officials admitted under oath to the House Intelligence Committee that they had no empirical evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.
They pushed the narrative anyway.
Preaching Norms While Burning the Playbook
Obama told Colbert that America "can't overcome the politicization of the criminal justice system."
He said whoever runs the government can't use it to go after political enemies or reward friends.
He said this.
With a straight face.
The man whose CIA director, John Brennan, and FBI director, James Comey, are under criminal investigation for allegedly making false statements to Congress about the very investigation they launched against Trump.
https://twitter.com/libbyemmons/status/2052028116692816142?s=20
The man whose White House tasked the intelligence community with creating an assessment they knew to be false – using the discredited Steele dossier that Brennan himself had claimed played no role.
The man who jammed Obamacare through Congress using legislative maneuvers his own party now calls "norm-breaking" when Republicans do them.
That man wants to lecture you about norms.
The $40 Million Martyr Who Couldn't Draw a Rating
Here's what the media won't say out loud: Colbert's show wasn't canceled because of Trump.
It was canceled because it was losing $40 million a year and the ad buyers had already left the building.
Late-night's business model was collapsing across the board – NBC cut The Tonight Show to four nights a week, Late Night lost its house band – but CBS skipped every cost-saving measure and went straight to the guillotine.
The timing was ugly – three days after Colbert called Paramount's $16 million Trump settlement "a big fat bribe" – but the financial rot had been building for years.
Colbert chose the martyrdom narrative because it's the only one that makes him interesting.
A comedian who couldn't sell ads is a footnote.
A comedian silenced by Trump is a hero of the resistance.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2052131883274686523?s=20
So he played victim while Obama played kingmaker, and CBS cut a check to Byron Allen for the timeslot.
What This Interview Actually Was
Obama didn't come to pay tribute to a departing comedian.
He came to audition for the role of elder statesman of the Democratic resistance – the man above the fray who speaks of norms and institutions while Gabbard's team quietly releases documents showing what his administration actually did.
Colbert didn't come to conduct an interview.
He came to beg for one last moment of relevance from the only Democrat who still generates genuine heat.
Watch the clip and notice what Nolte noticed: Obama blows Colbert off the screen.
One is a star.
The other is a man who presided over $40 million in annual losses while telling jokes about Donald Trump's mouth.
The Democrat Party just watched their most charismatic living president spend 15 minutes validating a failed comedian while their bench – anchored by a New York City socialist Obama praised as the future of the party – gets thinner by the day.
The man who manufactured a years-long coup against a sitting president thinks that's the answer.
The bar, as Obama noted, has changed.
Sources:
- John Nolte, "Obama Encourages Stephen Colbert to Run for President," Breitbart, May 6, 2026.
- "Obama, Colbert Praise Zohran Mamdani as They Discuss Democratic Party's Future," Fox News, May 7, 2026.
- "Obama Officials Admitted They Had No 'Empirical Evidence' of Trump-Russia Collusion," Fox News Digital, July 10, 2025.
- "New Evidence Uncovers Obama-Directed Creation of False Intelligence Assessment," Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 2025.
- "Declassified Evidence of Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert President Trump's 2016 Victory," Office of the Director of National Intelligence, 2025.
- "Inside CBS' 'Agonizing Decision' to Cancel Colbert's Top-Rated Late-Night Show," CNN Business, July 18, 2025.
