Comedian and “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert called out his network for its compliance with the Trump administration’s ongoing attempt to crack down on dissent.
You may have seen the clips by now, but to recap: before introducing actress Jennifer Garner as his guest for Monday night’s show, Colbert let the audience know that CBS’ lawyers told the show that Colbert could not have Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D-TX), who is running for U.S. Senate in Texas, on the broadcast Monday evening.
“Then, I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly does not want us to talk about this … Let’s talk about this,” he said.
Colbert went on to explain the Federal Communications Commission’s “equal time rule” and recent guidance from Trump’s FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. The equal time rule only applies to radio and broadcast television. If a broadcast show has one candidate on during an election, they must give equal air time to that candidate’s opponents as well. There are exceptions to this rule: news interviews and daytime and late-night talk show interviews with politicians, Colbert said.
Carr announced in January that the FCC might exclude talk shows from the “equal time rule” exemptions. Per Deadline:
New FCC guidance, though, signaled to those talk shows that they no longer should believe that they would fall under the so-called “bonafide news” exemption. Carr said that a determination on whether a show is exempt would come down to a number of factors, including whether there was a “partisan motivation” in featuring a political candidate as a guest. “If you’re fake news, you’re not going to qualify for the bona fide news exemption,” said Carr.
“Let’s just call this what it is: Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV, because all Trump does is watch TV, OK?” Colbert said. “He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diaper.”
He then announced that the interview with Talarico would be available for streaming on The Late Show’s YouTube channel, which, as of this writing, has amassed more than 2.5 million views — putting it in territory similar to if it had been broadcast on television.
“The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule,” CBS said in a statement.
‘Nothing Christian About Christian Nationalism’
Talarico is running against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). While the GOP primary between Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton may head to a runoff, polls have shown a wide range of possible outcomes on the Democratic side. One, from Emerson College — considered a particularly reliable pollster — showed Talarico leading Crockett by nine points. Per the Texas Tribune’s coverage of the late January Emerson poll:
In a sample of 413 statewide voters conducted earlier this week, Talarico, D-Austin, led Crockett, D-Dallas, with 47% to 38%. Another 15% were undecided ahead of the March 3 primary. …
Talarico had a 34-point lead among Latino voters and a 29-point lead among white voters in the Emerson poll. But Crockett had the support of 80% of Black voters surveyed.
The 17-point swing toward Talarico between the TSU and Emerson polls largely stemmed from his expanded lead with men, Latino voters and white voters, and from Crockett’s narrower lead with women and older Democratic voters.
During his interview with Colbert, Talarico made it clear that he believes the Trump administration is trying to censor him because it is worried that Democrats are going to flip a Texas Senate seat. The CBS decision came in the wake of news that the FCC had opened an investigation into “The View” for an interview it conducted with Talarico over the “equal time” rule.
Part of the the Trump administration’s concern may be that Talarico is attempting to speak to a demographic of voters in Texas that Republicans typically own by proxy: white Christians. Talarico is a Presbyterian seminarian, a grandson of a Baptist preacher who is currently studying to become a minister. He is also a state representative who has been vocal about his beliefs while fighting for the separation of church and state in the Texas legislature, a distinction he says helps to protect the church. Here’s an excerpt of his remarks to Colbert, in which he offers a refreshing (to this ex-evangelical) take on the issue and the dangers of Christian nationalism:
For 50 years, the religious right … they convinced a lot of our fellow Christians, that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage. Two issues that aren’t mentioned in the Bible, two issues that Jesus never talked about.
…
I’ve fought so hard for that sacred separation in our First Amendment because my grandad, he raised me to believe that that boundary between church and state doesn’t just benefit the state, or our democracy, although it certainly does. But it also benefits the church because when the church gets too cozy wth political power, it loses its prophetic voice, it’s ability to speak truth to power, its ability to imagine a completely different world. And so this separation between church and state is something we have to safeguard. It’s something we have to fight for.
And I think we need someone in the U.S. Senate who is going to confront Christian nationalism and tell the truth, which is that there’s nothing Christian about Christian nationalism. It is the worship of power in the name of Christ. And it is a betrayal of Jesus of Nazareth.
Massie Predicts ‘More Defections’
In a new interview with Politico Magazine, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), long a thorn in his party leadership’s side, predicted that once we get through some of the big, early state primaries this spring, there will be “more defections” from Republican members of Congress, who are fleeing President Trump and party leadership’s agenda. Massie to Politico:
The margin is razor-thin, so on any given day, I would just need one or two of my own co-conspirators to get something done. And what’s happening is that the retirement caucus is growing and primary days are coming up and passing. Once we get past March, April and May, which contain a large portion of their Republican primaries, I think you’re going to see more defections.
Because quietly and privately, people are telling me they agree with me. And so there are people who plan on running again who will be past their primaries or certainly past the date at which the administration could put another Navy SEAL up to run against somebody. And then there’s the retirement caucus, which includes people who don’t want to retire, but redistricting is going to take them out or pit them against another Republican when they may retire for that reason.
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Stop it with the “fear” and “cowardice” talk.
IT. IS. AVARICE.
When the “fear” is merely fear of the potential loss of power, prominence, profit, position, privilege, potential deals (looking at you, Ellisons), etc., the motivating animus is not simply “fear” or “cowardice.”
It MUST be understood as avarice.
The Ellisons clearly don’t give a fuck about CBS’s success, growth or prosperity. Like WaPo with Bezos the KKKlown, CBS is a pay-to-play loss leader. Bribes aren’t always paid in money.
This was also potentially in-kind campaign contributions to anyone running against Talarico. 5 year SOL. I’d like to know what another lawyer with actual expertise in the field says on that.
The FCC has done itself no favors. It’s gonna be a bloodbath in the next administration.
Darn shame, that is…….
One can hope…
Didn’t Reagan nix that in the 80’s? Is it like a light switch only republican admins can turn on and off? Like anti monoply laws.