Donald Trump isn’t ready to say goodbye to Stephen Colbert just yet.
Asked Wednesday afternoon what message he had for Colbert ahead of Thursday night’s final episode of The Late Show, Trump passed on the opportunity to take one last pre-finale shot at one of his most persistent late-night critics.
“I’ll have a message at a later date,” Trump told reporters on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews.
The restraint was notable, if only because Trump has rarely been shy about criticizing Colbert. After CBS announced last summer that it would end The Late Show after the 2025–26 season, Trump celebrated the news on Truth Social, writing that he “absolutely loved” that Colbert had been “fired” and adding, “His talent was even less than his ratings.”
He returned to the subject in December, after CBS aired its Trump-hosted Kennedy Center Honors special. Having apparently caught one of Colbert’s monologues afterward, Trump posted just after midnight that the host was “a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success.”
“Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings,” Trump wrote. “Stephen is running on hatred and fumes ~ A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do!”
Colbert’s final Late Show is set to air Thursday, bringing his 11-year run as host to an end. CBS has said the decision to cancel the show was a financial one, though the move drew immediate scrutiny given Colbert’s persistent criticism of Trump, Paramount’s settlement with the president, and the company’s then-pending Skydance merger.
Does Donald Trump have a message for Stephen Colbert ahead of his CBS finale? “I’ll have a message at a later date,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/VsS3LKoVxY
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) May 20, 2026
Rather unusual restraint coming from him, but oh well, I’m looking forward to your final 1 AM rant on Truth Social about how Colbert is a “terrible host with bad ratings, bigly!!11” or how he’s part of the “radical left transgender for everyone club”, Dozy Don!
That’s the first coherent, non-runoff sentence I’ve heard from him in years!
I have the greatest idea ever- to Donald Trump, how about you just go away into a cellblock and hold your breath forever.Oh and take all your accomplices with you.
Trump is the avatar for boomers yet also their biggest nightmare.
Is a steaming turd pile!
Now watch as the crybaby loser says something stupid, because it can’t accept criticism!
Boomer stalker always defaults to toilet humor. Some things never change. Stay mad, geezer. Cowardly draft dodger.
Lil’ Zero here is so predictable with the ageist attacks, like the pathetic loser it is! If you don’t want to be called a turd, loser, then don’t act like one!
And I wasn’t eligible for the draft, because I’m not a boomer! Now what have you done with your life, instead of wasting it, bitchboi?
You’re as profane as a ghetto rat. More proof age doesn’t equal wisdom and your default is to make everything personal. Such a miserable geriatric. No hobbies or talents of your own so you find these celebrities to worship like Colbert and you’re crestfallen when they are shown the door.
All you do here is troll your bullshit about boomers needing to be put down, like the whiny assed suckeeboob you are! You offer nothing substantial here! It’s all bullshit grievance!
You’re living proof on why your generation is the lamest, and doomed to fail!
Don’t like my attitude? Tough! I’ll be here to slap you more!
lol you just admit you’ll be here because you have no life. You’re jobless and a worthless leech on society. And yes I am here to troll you boomers. It’s funny how nobody else takes it personal but you boomers. What does that tell you? What ever shall you do now that your anachronistic format is kaput?
Because you clearly have issues that need years and years of therapy. Instead of trolling on sites here because it gives you a false sense of security!
Go out and make something useful out of your life, Zero!