Trump threatened CBS to not air interview of Dem Texas Senate candidate

[womanofthehills]

It’s important that you understand what happened last night.

Last night, Stephen Colbert interviewed Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, a candidate who, by all accounts, is on track in the polls to flip Texas blue.

In response, Trump’s FCC reportedly threatened CBS if the interview aired.

CBS caved and pulled the segment, citing “financial reasons.”

In modern American history, no president has been more hostile to free speech than Donald Trump.

But censorship always backfires.

Here’s the full segment Trump didn’t want you to see.

Link to tweet

?s=46&t=YZgyyp4w_z7vW3neKxa6cQ

[Initech]

1. Fuck Trump! At what point do we say enough is enough?

I am so sick of him and his fascist goons dominating every single aspect of our lives 24/7. That is not what a president is supposed to be, that is what a dictator is.

[Another Jackalope]

16. Trump is already a dictator

He's just trying to slip in the side door using the GOP as a stalking horse. Luckily, his ego is so big that he can't be invisible. Voting out the GOP will remove the stalking horse and fully expose him.

[AZJonnie]

2. He barely talked about Trump at all, but his message was still dangerous to him

The general gist of which was him talking about how Christian Nationalism is not, in fact, Christian at all. It's un-Christian.

He made the point well, and he's dead right. And he also comes off as quite intelligent and caring.

Talarico is dangerous to King Pedonald, so CBS licked his boot. Fucking PATHETIC (and fascist).

[brakester]

38. He gave us two commandments:

"Love God and love thy neighbor."
"Christianity is a SIMPLE religion, not an EASY one!

He's got it right!

[Dave Bowman]

3. CBS is owned by greedy spineless clown.

[Initech]

27. And all of this insane industry consolidation is part of how we got here.

[MarcoZandrini]

33. And....

….run by Bari Weiss.😷

[Johnny999r]

45. Trump is following his hero's model

CBS and some other media outlets are simply bending the knee to Trump because he appointed them as his oligarchs, Ala Putin model. If Putin's oligarchs get out of line, he makes life difficult for them or worst. This is no different. Wave a tax break in front of most of these traitor turncoats and they'll kiss his big ass harder. Same goes for the weak ass billionaire tec bros.

[Fullduplexxx]

4. Hey dems are taking notes

[BigMin28]

5. I think

Texas rupukes got tsf to do this. Rep. Telarico is firing people up at his town halls. People are showing up, listening and they like what they hear. Abbott and Cornyn are scared by the reaction he is getting.

[Initech]

26. Greg Abbott is the absolute worst governor in the United States.

And yes I say this including Ron DeShithead. Abbott is a MAGA Fox turd who is bending to the every evil will of Rupert Murdoch and he needs to be fired and arrested for his egregious abuses of power now.

[BigMin28]

41. True

I thought we couldn't do worse than George W when he was govenor. Then a long came Perry. But Abbott takes pandering to a whole different level. It's sickening.

[Johnny999r]

46. Abbott

Abbott seems stressed out. Maybe he should wheel himself over to a shady spot under a big oak tree and take a nap.

[dobleremolque]

6. Barbara Streisand [effect] would like a word.....

Millions of views on YouTube so far, and growing.....

[GoCubsGo]

11. Don't ever tell Trump about it.

I can think of at least two other times this kind of shit blew up in his face. First it was the whole Jimmy Kimmel suspension thing. Then it was the Bad Bunny Super Bowl Half Time Show fiasco. Both drew bigger audiences than they probably would have thanks to Trump's hissy fits. I hope he never figures it out, because I love watching it blow up in his putrid, doughy, orange face.

[SheltieLover]

7. Kick

[dsc]

8. I fail to see why CBS didn't just offer fair time to Crocket and the other candidate in the primary

that is all that is legally required. I have no doubt Crocket would have said yes and the other candidate can either say yes or be given a few minute spot. I think he would be entitled to maybe 7 or 8 minutes

[W_HAMILTON]

9. Trump wasn't complaining that it was unfair to other DEMOCRATS and CBS has already shown to be fascist friendly.

[GoCubsGo]

12. Yup, he was mad because Ken Paxton wasn't invited. nt

[thesquanderer]

13. and actually, that's not even legally required, either.

see video below at the 5:38 mark... it's a rule they're talking about implementing, but it has not yet been implemented, so there is no legal requirement (yet) to have those opposing candidates on. Legally, at this point, it would have been fine to have just this candidate on, but Paramount nixed it anyway.

?si=096JOwYqqXL_ingk

[ultralite001]

21. For those who don't do "X"...

[h2ebits]

23. Thank you!

[spanone]

10. The only thing worse than the White house threatening the press....

is the media caving into it.

FUCK CBS.

[Wiz Imp]

14. Um, Talarico is not on track in the polls to flip Texas Blue.

An accurate statement would be "current polling shows Talarico with a legitimate chance to become the first Democrat to win a statewide Texas election in decades" (I'm not sure exactly how long it's been). He's not remotely close to a favorite to win at this point, though.

[Wednesdays]

43. That would have been Ann Richards in 1990.

The last Democratic Texas Senator was Lloyd Bentsen, last re-elected in 1988 (and when Bentsen became Treasury Secretary in 1993, Bob Kreuger was appointed to replace him in the Senate, to serve five months until a special election picked Hutchison).

[Botany]

15. Congrats Donny you just made Talarico must see T.V.

Dumbass

[malaise]

17. He will be on Lawrence tonight n/t

[angel823]

18. Talarico for Texas!

I love Jasmine, she's also our future here in Texas!

[SeattleVet]

19. Waiting for the FCC to start enforcing this policy on reich-wing talk radio.

…

still waiting….

But we all know it's never going to happen without someone with really deep pockets filing a suit.

[AllaN01Bear]

37. ding . this .

[maliaSmith]

20. Interview

The interview is on Youtube. GOP and Pedo Trump must be really scared that Democrats are going to take control of Congress. I sure hope they do. Vote Blue Baby!

[SSJVegeta]

22. Talarico should use this as his closing message for the primaries

Last edited Tue Feb 17, 2026, 02:59 PM - Edit history (1)

"The GOP is so terrified of me they are doing everything in their power to silence us."

[sdfernando]

24. By doing this it is guaranteed to be seen.

Possibly by more people than would have seen it if it aired. Streisand Effect.

[SergeStorms]

25. CBS, and all other "compliant" media.....

can kiss my rosy ass.

tRump's threats, extortion, and fear mongering have gone waaaaaaaaay too far. That SOB has to go.

[Initech]

29. And so do nearly all of his enablers in the government and the media.

[Bluetus]

28. Burying the lede !! All of this misses the most important point.

This means that GOP muckety-mucks believe that James Talarico can actually win this race. THAT is the big message. This is a panic move. We know that the GOP has a stranglehold on Texas elections, so normally, they would just laugh off any "this is the year we finally win" campaigns. You never saw any serious panic with Beto ran, much as we all wanted to see that succeed.

They are in panic. When the GOP panics about a Texas Senate seat, that speaks volumes.

[moonshinegnomie]

31. the ideal race IMHO is paxton vs talarico

I did my part today in the primary voting for talarico. this morning

[Bluetus]

39. It is hard to see how Texans continue to support Paxton. Of all the slimy GOP characters, he is in the top 10%

[B.See]

44. In MAGA Bizarro -world, slime,

criminality, malfeasance, grift, and general ASSHOLERY are POSITIVES, not negatives.

[moonshinegnomie]

30. the orange pedo is going to meet the streisand effect

average colbert viewership is 2.3M

On youtube the interview already has almost 2M viewers......

[Mblaze]

32. "Financial reasons"

Seems to be a completely accepted excuse for setting aside freedom of speech and even morality. I'm sure that many would say it has always been that way but I don't think it has been to this extent. Fortunately, these days, the machinations behind the stifling of direct expression are plain for all to see.

[senseandsensibility]

34. This is a gift to Talarico

by CBS. The publicity he is getting from this episode is priceless. CBS is so ham handed and craven in their censorship that it continues to backfire.

[aggiesal]

35. Is there a link to this Mierda47 forcing SeeBS story? n/t

[LetMyPeopleVote]

36. MaddowBlog-Colbert accuses CBS of blocking on-air interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico

In November, Trump said late-night hosts who mock him are engaged in “probably illegal” misconduct. The ripple effects of the declaration are ongoing.

In November, Trump said late-night hosts who mock him are engaged in “probably illegal” misconduct.

It seems to me we can draw a line from that declaration to CBS telling Colbert not to air an interview with Texas’ James Talarico.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-17T14:16:00.289Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/colbert-accuses-cbs-of-blocking-on-air-interview-with-texas-democrat-james-talarico

With just a couple of weeks remaining before Texas’ closely watched Democratic U.S. Senate primary, there’s considerable interest in state Rep. James Talarico, one of the leading contenders. With this in mind, the candidate was scheduled to be on CBS’ “The Late Show” on Monday for an interview with Stephen Colbert, which likely would have been interesting and newsworthy.....

As MS NOW reported about a month ago, however, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested a shift in the policy, declaring that shows hosting political candidates will not automatically qualify as “bona fide news” programs, which are exempt from the equal-time requirements.

And so, Colbert lowered the boom:

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? He’s like a toddler with too much screen time. He gets cranky and then drops a load in his diaper.

.....It’s worth emphasizing that Colbert did, in fact, interview Talarico — it just wasn’t aired on “The Late Show” as planned. Instead, the program posted the entirety of the appearance on its YouTube channel. (Ironically, the broader controversy likely generated additional interest in the interview beyond the audience it was probably going to receive in the first place, offering a fresh example of the Streisand effect.)

The latest clash between Colbert and CBS comes against a backdrop of allegations that the network is moving to the right under its new corporate ownership, but the comedian’s comments about the incumbent president were of particular interest because of the broader pattern......

As recently as November, Trump insisted that late-night hosts who mock him are engaged in “probably illegal” misconduct, the First Amendment be damned. Two months later, Carr issued a new declaration related to the equal-time policy, and the month after that, Colbert wasn’t allowed to show viewers of his television show an interview with a Democratic Senate candidate.

Early voting starts today in Texas for the primaries. I was leaning toward Talarico but really like Crockett. Now, I will be voting for Talarico

[Deuxcents]

40. Wow 🤩 What a radical and dangerous man who believes in the Beatitudes and wants to run for office in Texas 🙃

So scary CBS bows to the demands and refuses to broadcast this interview. How far our corporate owners have fallen and we’ve got almost 3 more years of this or do we?

[thesquanderer]

42. re: "CBS caved and pulled the segment, citing "financial reasons.""

No, they said it was because of (theoretical) equal time concerns. Colbert did make a joke about it being for "financial reasons" because that's the official reason he's losing his show, even though nobody believes it.