Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Dustin Rowles | TV | February 17, 2026
Even as much of the country continues to turn against the current administration in increasingly significant ways, the ripple effects of the Trump-friendly Paramount purchase are still playing out.
To wit: Anderson Cooper has left 60 Minutes after 20 years with the news magazine. Cooper says he’s leaving to spend more time with his family (he’s not leaving CNN), but, as Oliver Darcy reports, a major factor behind his decision is unease with “the rightward direction the network has charted” under David Ellison and Bari Weiss. That frustration may stem from Weiss’s refusal, so far, to air a heavily reported piece Cooper did on the administration’s decision to accept refugees from South Africa, where the President believes in a debunked conspiracy theory that “white genocide” is being committed in the country (This American Life recently did a show on it).
For what it’s worth, Weiss not only didn’t want Cooper to leave, but actually tried to hire him to take over the CBS Evening News last year, so this clearly does not reflect well on her stewardship.
Meanwhile, Texas Senate candidate James Tallerico was supposed to appear on last night’s The Late Show, but according to Stephen Colbert, CBS lawyers refused to allow it to air, citing FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s decision to enforce equal-time rules on late-night talk shows, where equal-time rules previously did not apply.
According to Colbert on last night’s show, Tallerico “was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast. Then, I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention not having him on. And because my network clearly does not want us to talk about this … let’s talk about this.”
“Let’s just call this what it is,” Colbert added. “Donald Trump’s administration wants to silence anyone who says anything bad about Trump on TV. Because all Trump does is watch TV.”
Colbert conducted the interview anyway and posted it to YouTube.
I’m not sure why CBS didn’t allow the interview to air and then offer equal time to his Republican opponent, Ted Cruz (assuming Tallerico defeats Jasmine Crockett in the primary), because Cruz either would have declined, or Stephen Colbert could have spent 15 minutes humiliating Cruz on late-night TV.
