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
