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elliott oberman's avatar

It's in their face; The comedian Michael Ian Black wrote, “Congrats to Stephen Colbert for never bending the knee.”

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The Elephant in the Room's avatar

💯”Americans have difficulty seeing authoritarianism without a Reichstag fire or Eighteenth Brumaire. “

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Kathryn Bosworth's avatar

This is terrifying!

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Julia's avatar

Mr. Kasparov you are far more optimistic than I at this moment. Every damn day there is some big action marking our slide into the abyss. Even watching the CBS evening news or seeing NYT “breaking news” emails, it is alarming what is not covered. Thank goodness for Substack.

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M. Davis — Feed After Midnight's avatar

Boycott CBS, cancel your Paramount account and put that money into independent journalism!

https://mdavis19881.substack.com/p/breaking-colbert-cancelled

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Protect the Vote's avatar

JD Throws the Orange Cheeto Under the Bus

In the midst of the Epstein scandal the Wall Street Journal posted an article in the paper outlining a birthday greeting from Cheeto to Epstein in 2003 It was a compilation of greetings that was put together by Epstein’s convicted sex trafficker Ghisalene Maxwell who is twisted as Epstein was

Doing the “loyal political thing” VP Vance decided to go on Twitter(aka X) and demand that the WSJ release the drawing and birthday greetings that Cheeto had sent The greeting obviously exists and Vance knows that and by putting the demand out there Vance also knows that if the WSJ does publish the letter as proof, it would cook Cheeto And of course Vance has gone on record that the Epstein files should be released in 2024 on the campaign trail and has the dollar backing of his sugar daddy Peter Thiel So nothing to fear

So Cheeto, the depraved convicted felon involved with a porn star and the fame of the Access Hollywood tapes, now shows up as best buddies with a convicted pedophile Not a great look and Vance wants to capitalize on it

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Ronald Wieck's avatar

Gary, you are the strongest player in the history of chess and a great champion of freedom. You have been led astray by people who do not share your ideals. Colbert is being canceled for the only reason that matters to network executives: his ratings are low. Colbert is a talentless shill for the Democrat Party. His relentless assaults on President Trump insult more than half the nation. Democrats, as you know, fought Ronald Reagan tooth-and-nail when he struggled to bring down the Soviet Empire. Trump is as anti-communist as you are. Many Democrats are socialists, if not outright Marxists. We see authoritarianism very clearly and it is Trump's rabid slanderers who are the threat to democracy.

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Sam Ray's avatar

Working the anti-democratic troll night-shift in Russia, Boris?

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Ronald Wieck's avatar

We patriots find it hilarious that you America-hating leftists are now pretending to be anti-Russia. You were all useful idiots for the Kremlin when Reagan when was bringing down your beloved Soviet Empire. Remember, it is helpful to be smarter than the people you are straining to con.

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Sam Ray's avatar

We patriots find it hilarious that you America-hating fascists are now pretending to be pro-anything not evil. You were all useful idiots when Bush sr walked away from Afghanistan leading to the rise of Al Qaeda & Bush jr lied us into Iraq. Only a crackhead &/or moron of biblical proportions would think any real American misses USSR. I'd say remember your projection reveals what an empty shill or troll you are, but since it's done subconsciously, I'll just keep laughing at a 🙋🏼‍♂️🤡

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Ronald Wieck's avatar

You are, of course, very far from being a patriot. Only idiots cling to the absurd fantasy that Dubya lied. As any bright child could tell you, lies are told to gain benefits. When the lie is certain to be exposed and equally certain to damage the teller, rationalists look for a different explanation. Back in 2003, I was persuaded that our intel was really bad. I now understand that those agencies are highly politicized and Bush was being undermined. Trump is a vastly superior type of Republican, which is why the Bush family is in the dustbin of history. Your anemic insults cannot conceal your low IQ. Many Demon pols miss the Soviet Union. The evil morons of the "Squad" despise America. The pathetic old commie Bernie Sanders still adores blood-soaked Marxist tyrants. And now we in the Rotten Apple are faced with the nightmarish propect of winding up with a Jew-hating commie as mayor. Bear in mind that dunces like you do a lot of laughing. Your superiors merely shake their heads.

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Sam Ray's avatar

Are you still here Boris. You should lay off the crack. It makes you sound jealous of pathetic & boring. Easily remedied 🤡. Buh bye block 4ever.

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David Hurwitz's avatar

Trump is Putin’s little bitch. His betrayal of Ukraine and desire to see Ukraine submit and surrender to Putin’s genocide is the antithesis of what Ronald Reagan’s peace through strength philosophy and strategy in dealing with the Soviet Union was.

And Colbert has the highest ratings on late night television. And they are about to dramatically increase. If what he says about Trump is offensive to you, I would suggest that you go buy some thick skin.

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Ronald Wieck's avatar

Your lies are very silly and hopelessly dated. We have watched Trump derail the mad mullahs' quest for nuclear weapons and we remember how Trump kept Putin in a box for four years. You America-haters cheered when your beloved Obama did nothing as Putin annexed Crimea. You eagerly awaited the day when Iran announced it now had nuclear warheads to place on missiles aimed at Israel and New York City. You are deeply disappointed that America is back. The deranged Bill Kristol once co-edited a neocon magazine, "The Weekly Standard," that was aggressively pro-America and pro-Israel. After the Demon Party humiliated the Bush family and the neocons by undermining our efforts in Iraq, Kristol suffered a major breakdown and now makes common cause with Jew-hating scum. He is a sad, pathetic fool.

The talentless partisan hack Colbert presides over a tiny audience of low-IQ haters. Greg Gutfeld's show, carried by a cable network, regularly attracts a million more viewers than the lefties on the major networks:

https://www.tvinsider.com/1202434/late-night-ratings-2025-gutfeld-kimmel-colbert-fallon/

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Robert Jaffee's avatar

Actually, Cobert had the most successful late night TV show of all it’s competitors; twice the ratings.

And the idea that Paramount was losing $50 million a year is debatable. Media companies routinely use accounting shenanigans to create financial loses; this is how they screw their talent out of royalties.

And as for the evidence that Paramount is just using an excuse to cancel Cobert? Trump took the credit and has threatened Kimmel and Fallon and Meyers; so there’s that!

And Garry isn’t being led astray. He understands the dynamics better than most of us; especially you! So if you’re going to make up some accusations and assumptions, at least bring the receipts!…:)

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Cash Flow Collective's avatar

Trump’s distractions are unraveling. From broken promises on the Epstein files to a $10B Ukraine deal, the MAGA myth is cracking. As Springsteen asked: “Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true, or is it something worse?”

Read more: https://open.substack.com/pub/cashflowcollective/p/draining-the-swamp

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cornelia gyura's avatar

Mr Kasparov, are you still thinking The Donald is not authoritarian? Think again.

224 Mio in America are still asleep! HOW can we wake them up? That will be the most important question.

Cornelia Gyura - Democrat, who is fighting kind of alone in S. Florida because Dems here think I am to aggressive. I am aggressive because I know what will come.... I am German American!

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Alison Cipriani's avatar

Sorry but this is sort of ridiculous. Ratings for Kate night TV are extremely low because nobody under 50 watches it so probably not generating a whole lot of income. And Colbert is as obedient deep state as they come. This is certainly not about free speech nr about Trump.

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o Ron Kurjanowicz's avatar

The show will be on for another year, which means Colbert can go full anti-Trump for a long period. No story here

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Tomas Pajaros's avatar

press freedom will go out --- hilarious

loss of privilege that others never had, is not a loss of freedom

our lefty press, "entertainment" groups got used to starting every inning on 3rd base. Boo hoo now you might have to play under rules of fairness. It will be good for you. And good for America.

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Ani Sweitzer's avatar

While Colbert didn't bend the knee, the mother company did. An independent journalist was filming how CBS was not filming the crimes committed by the military, ICE, and police in DC. That act of chosing not to film and televise is what's wrong. If it weren't for the people recording and sharing, all these crimes against humanity would hide in the shadows.

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Robert Jaffee's avatar

“That drawn out timeline makes the malaise harder to identify: Americans have difficulty seeing authoritarianism without a Reichstag fire or Eighteenth Brumaire. But it also means that you still have time to stop the demagogic disease. Don’t waste it.”

Thank you Garry, and agreed; we’re experiencing a slow, steady train wreck in real-time by the Trump administration. In addition to a slow, painful death, by a thousand judicial cuts! And with a compliant and complicit MSM and social media, none of the normal guardrails or warnings are sending off the much needed alarm bells.

Unfortunately, the corporate elites, and tech bro billionaires believe that capitalism could be more effective and efficient in an authoritarian regime; however, they are seriously downplaying the importance of the people they got into bed with: Heritage, Family Research Council and The Federalist Society who want to turn this nation into a White Nationalist authoritarian state.

We’re already experiencing soft authoritarianism or competitive authoritarianism, and no one seems to care.And we do so at their own peril! IMHO…:)

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David Hurwitz's avatar

Ronald Wieck,

First of all, if you think that Trump’s foolish and reckless decision to order the U.S. Air Force and Navy to bomb nuclear Iran’s nuclear facilities a few weeks ago derailed its nuclear ambitions and/or set its nuclear program back in a major way, I would strongly suggest that you seek professional help because you are living in an alternate reality.

And yes, Obama, as great of a President as he was, had a lousy record when it came to standing up to Putin. But he never got to the point where he essentially provided aid and comfort to the enemy regarding Russia like Trump has, by betraying Ukraine in the middle of its war of survival against Putin’s genocidal regime.

Bill Kristol, Adam Kinzinger, Denver Riggleman, Joe Walsh, Jeff Flake, Geoff Duncan, the Cheney’s, and many other Republicans and/or now former Republicans see Trump as the evil and existential threat to American democracy he is. And had the wisdom and probity to put country over party in 2024 and even before that and break from Republicans over it.

Finally, one of the main reasons Trump was elected in 2016 and reelected in 2024 is because he campaigned, rightly, so adamantly against the neocon ideology that you seem to identify with as well as the idiotic Second Iraq War that was started with bogus intelligence that you still seem to think was a good idea for whatever reason.

Are you too much of a moron to realize that?

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