A Federal Communications Commission regulation that was effectively defined by Democrats and was used by a Democrat to platform a white Democrat over a black Democrat is now being bemoaned by Democrats because… of Donald Trump?
Yeah, that’s basically it. In the wake of the Stephen Colbert/James Talarico pseudo-scandal, The Hollywood Reporter is bemoaning that you can “say goodbye to most appearances by political candidates on daytime and late night talk shows.”
So, in case you’re catching up with this late, Colbert — on his way out at CBS — actually caused people to pay attention to his show for once by announcing that he would have had Talarico, a Texas state representative and Democratic candidate for Senate on, but he instead had to cancel because the FCC might invoke the equal time rule.
This is the interview Donald Trump didn’t want you to see.
His FCC refused to air my interview with Stephen Colbert.
Trump is worried we’re about to flip Texas. pic.twitter.com/BCev5jZbKc
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) February 17, 2026
Now, the implication here was twofold: One, that the Trump administration was interfering to stop Talarico from getting airtime at the expense of Republicans, and two, that CBS News — under the management of Bari Weiss — had veered sharply to the right.
Except that’s not the case. No Republican candidate is really clamoring to go on Colbert’s show, in part because it’s a waste of time and in part because of the fact that it’s not going to look good, no matter how Colbert treats them or how they perform. (If they look good, it almost looks bad to GOP primary voters.) Instead, this was mostly about platforming the (relatively speaking, anyhow) electable Talarico over the thoroughly bananas (but much more famous) U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Talarico’s main opponent in the race.
That’s right: The scandal is because Colbert preferred a white male Republican over a black woman, only if because that black woman is so thoroughly nuts that she couldn’t get elected dog-catcher of Texas if it were a statewide race.
NEW: Rep. Jasmine Crockett suggests the United States needs illegal immigrants because “we done picking cotton.”
Crockett made the argument that the U.S. needs immigrants for farming while speaking at Grace Baptist Church in Connecticut.
“So I had to go around the country and… pic.twitter.com/DUEZ4PskEg
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 7, 2025
Now, this is a problem for establishment Democrats because, theoretically, the seat could be in play without Crockett being the nominee. Primary polling is always a parlous endeavor, but incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn faces a challenge from two more MAGA-centric candidates: Rep. Wesley Hunt and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
If Paxton wins, which some polls say he will, there becomes a serious electability issue, inasmuch as there are character and corruption concerns about him in what’s already predicted to be a bad year for Republican candidates. Let’s forget about how much you believe these issues should be a concern; the fact is, they are — but only if the Democrats have an electable candidate, of course. Crockett is not one of those, at least not statewide in Texas. (Perhaps you aren’t surprised to learn that Republicans allegedly helped goad her into the race via push-polling.)
Ergo, it’s not Republicans who should be upset with CBS, it’s team Crockett. CBS News, for their part, said in a statement that Colbert “provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled,” and that there was no prohibition on having Talarico on:
This just in from CBS: “THE LATE SHOW was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico. The show was provided legal guidance that the broadcast could trigger the FCC equal-time rule for two other candidates, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and…
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 17, 2026
Ah, but we can always trace this back to Donald Trump, right? At least The Hollywood Reporter did, by mentioning Brendan Carr:
Say goodbye to most appearances by political candidates on daytime and late night talk shows. https://t.co/4FgEsYC7bd
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 18, 2026
From their Wednesday report:
Say goodbye to most appearances by political candidates on daytime and late night talk shows.
After an open meeting on Wednesday, Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr said that networks should operate under the assumption that shows like The View, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Show don’t qualify for long-standing regulatory exemptions that allowed them to discuss political candidates on their shows without having to meet unwieldy requirements. Failing to comply, he said, will trigger an enforcement action.
“The general rule is equal time applies,” Carr said of the FCC provision. “There’s narrow exceptions you have to fit in.”
A-ha! Trump done did it, right? Well, not so much. As Jim Geraghty noted over at National Review, this has been part of federal communications law for 92 years, since the Communications Act of 1934: “If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station.” CBS, not being a cable network, must comply. However, there are exceptions for “bona fide newscasts, bona fide news interviews, bona fide news documentaries and on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events.”
In 2006, the FCC ruled that late-night talk-show interviews didn’t fit this narrow exemption. At whose request? Hint: Think about who the governor of California was at the time. That’s right, the Democrats were hopping mad that Arnold Schwarzenegger was getting interview time on shows like Jay Leno’s; then-U.S. Rep. Xavier Becerra, now running for California governor as a Democrat after a stint in Joe Biden’s Cabinet, initially pushed for the ruling.
And to be clear, this is one of the few times that Xavier Becerra has ever been on the right side of a political controversy; broadcast networks that fall under the purview of federal regulations oughtn’t be deciding elections, which is precisely what Colbert decided to do by pitching a softball interview with Talarico just before the Democratic primary while excluding Crockett.
“Congress passed the equal time provision for a very specific reason,” Carr said during the Wednesday hearing. “They did not want the media leads in Hollywood and in New York to put their thumbs on the scale and pick their winners and losers in primaries and general elections. That’s the point.”
This is what The Hollywood Reporter and other Democrats are bemoaning — the enforcement of the rule that they liked back when it was implemented 20 years ago. Leftist rot exemplified: If it weren’t for situational ethics, they’d have no ethics at all.
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