By Joshua Arnold, Op-ed contributor Friday, February 20, 2026Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, explains his view of Christianity during an interview that aired on the YouTube page “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Feb. 16, 2026. | Screnshot/YouTube/The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
A segment of the left-wing media ecosystem has jumped to a conclusion before establishing all the facts.
At the behest of the Trump administration, Bari Weiss’ CBS News prevented late-night host Stephen Colbert from airing an interview with U.S. Senate candidate and current Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, or so the story goes. But while the narrative may serve to confirm pleasant assumptions held on the Left, this curling stone lies nowhere near the button.
“[Talarico] was supposed to be here,” Colbert told viewers in a replacement monologue, “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 me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this.”
Colbert’s relationship with CBS News has been less-than-friendly since they announced the cancellation of his show in May, due to it losing the network $40 million per year.
Talarico then weighed in with his own commentary on social media, alleging that President Trump tried to “silence” and “censor” him and “block” the airing of the interview in what is effectively “cancel culture.” Talarico tweeted, “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.”
There are several problems with these claims. First, CBS News flatly denied that they prevented the interview from airing. “THE LATE SHOW was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the interview with Rep. James Talarico,” the network told CNN’s Brian Stelter.
“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 presented options for how the equal time for other candidates could be fulfilled. THE LATE SHOW decided to present the interview through its YouTube channel with on-air promotion on the broadcast rather than potentially providing the equal-time options.”
Once again, Solomon is proven prudent, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him” (Proverbs 18:17). The tidy victimization narrative falls apart on the fact that there is no victim.
Second, the CBS-Trump connection falls flat because the network’s decision was based on the equal-time rule. Per 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.” Congress later adopted some exceptions for “bona fide news.”
The rule only applies to broadcast stations like NBC, CBS and ABC, not cable or other types of news. And the FCC in 2022 clarified that stations aren’t required to reach out to opposing candidates; the opposing candidates must request the equal time.
None of that has anything to do with Trump’s FCC. The only pertinent action from the Trump administration is a Jan. 21 statement that “the FCC has not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption.”
The FCC added an invitation to change their minds, “Any program or station that wishes to obtain formal assurance that the equal opportunities requirement does not apply (in whole or in part) is encouraged to promptly file a petition for declaratory ruling that satisfies the statutory requirements for a bona fide news exemption.”
Third, Talarico is currently running in the Democratic primary. Voters will choose between him, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, and perennial candidate Ahmad Hassan on March 3. Why Trump would bother intervening in this Democratic primary contest, much less intervening to help Washington gadfly Crockett, is a point Talarico never explains. That’s like a gold-medal favorite interfering in a heat between three dark-horse speed skaters: for what possible reason?
Thus, it turns out the salacious narrative of press censorship turns out to have little to no factual basis. It seems spun up primarily to lift Colbert’s television career from its current plunge, and at the same time boost Talarico in his primary race.
The allegedly “censored” interview is now up to more than 6 million views on YouTube. What a victim these two are!
The irony is that Talarico, a “Presbyterian seminarian,” spent the interview bashing the “religious right” for the way they have “convinced a lot of our fellow Christians that the most important issues were abortion and gay marriage — two issues that aren’t mentioned in the Bible, two issues that Jesus never talked about.”
“Jesus in Matthew 25 tells us exactly how you and I and every one of our fellow believers, how we’re going to be judged, and how we’re going to be saved by feeding the hungry, by healing the sick, by welcoming the stranger. Nothing about going to church, nothing about voting Republican. It was all about how you treat other people,” Talarico argued.
Jesus also said, “If you would enter life, keep the commandments,” including this one: “You shall not bear false witness” (Matthew 19:17-18).
An elected official once said, “What you’ve got is people baptizing their partisanship and calling that Christianity, when in reality your politics should grow out of your faith, not the other way around.” That was James Talarico, in his interview with Stephen Colbert.
Originally published at The Washington Stand.
Joshua Arnold is a senior writer at The Washington Stand, contributing both news and commentary from a biblical worldview.
