Trump trashes – President Donald Trump attacked Stephen Colbert’s CBS farewell episode on Truth Social, claiming it drew “no ratings.” Nielsen viewership data show Colbert’s final broadcast pulled about 6.74 million viewers—his largest audience of the late-night host’s run. T
When President Donald Trump posted that Stephen Colbert was “finally finished at CBS,” he didn’t just mark the end of an era—he tried to redraw it. On Truth Social, Trump wrote that the late-night host had “no ratings,” adding, “No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person.”
It was the kind of line that travels fast online. But the numbers tied to Colbert’s farewell episode told a different story. Nielsen data reported that Colbert’s final broadcast drew roughly 6.74 million viewers. It was the largest audience of his tenure and a sharp spike from what had been closer to the mid–2 million range in recent months.
The finale also performed strongly against standard weeknight late-night competition, delivering a notable ratings moment rather than what Trump suggested was a decline.
Trump’s claim wasn’t confined to Colbert, either. He has also clashed with Jimmy Kimmel, another late-night figure who, after a brief hiatus last year, returned to viewership over 6 million. Those ratings normalized in weeks that followed.
Even with the Nielsen numbers in hand, Trump continued to frame Colbert’s departure as cultural rejection. He called Colbert’s exit “the beginning of the end” for other late-night hosts and repeated claims that the comedian’s work had been unpopular and declining.
Then the dispute escalated over the weekend in a way that revealed what Trump wanted the argument to become—not a back-and-forth about television performance. but a spectacle. Trump shared an AI-generated video on Truth Social depicting Colbert being thrown into a garbage can by Trump while a cheering crowd looks on. In the clip, Trump dances victoriously after the moment, turning the confrontation into a stylized humiliation.
The video spread quickly online. Critics called it disturbing, while supporters described it as trolling aimed at a long-time political critic.
Taken together, the posts pointed to a pattern in how Trump has used his Truth Social feed: imagery saturated with AI-generated pictures, altered photos, and symbolic victory narratives—him towering over opponents, being celebrated by crowds, and restoring order in dramatic, emotional visual form.
And in this case, that visual approach didn’t try to rebut the ratings data or engage in traditional media criticism. Instead, it transformed the disagreement into a story of dominance and disposal: the opponent not debated on television, but cast aside on-screen.
For Colbert, the response was starkly different. The only way he and “The Late Show” responded to the criticism, according to the report, was a simple photo accompanied by the simple caption: “thank you!”
Donald Trump Stephen Colbert The Late Show CBS Truth Social Nielsen ratings Jimmy Kimmel AI-generated video
Colbert had no ratings?? lol sure.
I didn’t even watch but 6.7 million sounds like… a lot? Unless they only count like, certain viewers or something. Trump just says stuff to get people fired up.
Wait so the article says Colbert’s finale was biggest audience but Trump was saying dead person with no ratings. Idk what Nielsen even counts half the time. Also that garbage can AI video is weird… but honestly it feels like they’re all doing the same thing, just different fonts?
Trump always cherry-picks like “no ratings” but then the numbers are right there. And why is it “data contradicts” like it’s some gotcha? If ratings went up, it’s still trashy for him to compare a comedian to a dead person. Also doesn’t Colbert do reruns anyway so wouldn’t it inflate the viewership? I’m confused.