Stephen Colbert is tired of polite, meaningless gestures when it comes to Donald Trump.
Several Democrats refused to attend Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday in protest of the administration’s actions. However, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries encouraged Democrats in attendance to engage in “silent defiance”. The Late Show host had plenty to say about silence on his most recent episode.
Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech caused controversy
The comedian branded Hakeem’s idea as a “bold rebrand of ‘Doing jack squat.’”
Stephen then went on to mock the approach by applying the approach to history’s greatest freedom fighters. “As Martin Luther King once said: ‘Shhhh,’” Colbert said, met with laughter from the audience.
Stephen has plenty of reasons to be fed up with pandering towards Trump. In July 2025, CBS announced The Late Show would end once its current contract expires. The decision was cited as “purely financial” by the network, despite strong viewership figures.
However, many have theorized that the network has been trying to toe the line with appeasing the president. Given that Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show was briefly halted after angering the president with his criticism of how he mourned Charlie Kirk, it’s certainly a possibility.
In December last year, Paramount, the parent company of CBS, was ordered to pay Trump $16 million following a lawsuit. This occurred after a 60 Minutes episode was deemed to be biased in favor of Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential bid. The comedian branded the lawsuit a “big fat bribe”. Earlier this month, the CBS network cancelled a Late Show interview with Texas State Representative James Talarico.
With his show’s cancellation looming, Stephen remained defiant when it came to criticising Trump. “It was a dark speech,” he said of the State of the Union address. He went on to say Trump’s speech was “filled with divisive lies.”
“It’s unlikely to win him much support with the voters who’ve grown disenchanted with the chaos and dysfunction of his second administration.”
TELL US – DO YOU AGREE WITH STEPHEN?
