BACKFIRE: Trump makes HUGE MISTAKE with Stephen Colbert

I'm joined now by the co-host of the. Pivot podcast and On with Kara Swisher, Kara Swisher. Kara, thanks for joining. me. No problem. So, we have some big. news today as it looks like the. Streisand effect is back in full force. with. uh you know, James Talarico having appeared on The. Late Show with Stephen Colbert only to. find out that it wasn't able to be aired. on the broadcast on on the linear. broadcast, had to be relegated to. YouTube because um of some concerns uh. about uh the federal government. investigating Stephen Colbert as he's.

doing with The View. So, can I get your. reaction to to that news that sprouted. up today? Oh, so many. One is, "Hey, Trump administration, there's a thing. called YouTube and you cannot shut it. up, right? There's a thing called. There's all ways of getting information. out these days and it's changed rather. drastically. And if you wanted people to. watch less broadcast news, you're doing. a good. uh you're making good faith effort here. to get people to stop watching broadcast. news. Um one of the things uh broadcast.

the broadcast itself. And so, one of the. things that really kind of. it's not a surprise cuz the Ellisons are. desperately trying to buy Warner. Brothers and they're doing anything they. can to suck up to President Trump and. Brendan Brendan Carr, who is probably. the most incompetent uh FCC head I've. ever seen and I've covered it for 30 35. years essentially. Um and so, he. threatened them. He threatened The View. because they didn't have equal They're. trying to use these equal time. provisions for entertainment shows. essentially. Um pretending they're news.

shows uh. which has also been brought under. question for many years. Uh and so, they're trying to do that and they look. like chumps and idiots. And and of. course, the Ellisons look like the. world's. most enormous suck-ups. But, they're. already we're looking like that already. So. Well, I mean, isn't there a world. where okay, Stephen Colbert and I'm not. I'm not super familiar with this because. in my lifetime I haven't seen this this. um deployed. But, is there a world where. Ken Paxton where where the Colbert show. invites on Ken Paxton for example?

>> Yeah. Yeah, I told I when you know that. when the view happened, I texted one of. those and I said just invite on that. idiot Brandon Carr and run right over. him because he's not very smart and. you'll be able to do that ladies. Um, you know, yeah, he they could invite. whoever they want. We try really hard by. the way, even though we're not bound by. these rules to put on all kinds of. people we disagree with. Um, they. certainly could bring on anybody that. had of the FCC. They could ask Trump to. come on. And I think in making the good. faith effort to do so would be just as. well. It's a question whether that.

another person's going to accept, right? Ken Paxton might not accept. Uh, John. Corwin might not accept. It doesn't have. to be equal Right. to to James. It has. to just be that you're having you made. the good faith effort to do so. Well, isn't there any acknowledgement from. from the Ellisons for example that in. doing this, like look, C- C- CBS's. audience is not is not these like. right-wingers who Ellison is is. pandering to. It's just not. And so And. so isn't this isn't this eliminating his. own audience for the product that he's.

buying right now? Well, look, I guess. they don't care because Colbert's going. off the air in May. And by the way, I. think he's going to be bigger than ever. Look at Don Lemon, like bigger than. ever, right? And And And doing rather. well. Yeah. Despite the arrest. I think. it's uh I think it's really kind of. short-sighted to be doing what they're. doing. Although the only thing I can. think of now is they're trying to wreck. to drive the in all their selections, their editorial directions selection or. treatment of CBS News employees. They. want it to be wrecked. They want to. clean it out so they can rebuild it in.

their whatever they want to do. So far. it seems like they're trying to do a. low-rent version of Fox News and I hate. to pay Rupert Murdoch a compliment, but. that's a pretty good product for his. audience and I think they want the OG uh. screamy misinformation from the Fox News. people. So. I mean, what about the the Streisand. effect being in in play here because. we've already seen this backfire once. when it came to Jimmy Kimmel where. Brendan Carr to your point tried to pull. Kimmel off the air and his next episode. was like the most viewed episode that he.

ever had. And so, is there some sense. that the administration's not learning. their lesson here? I don't have the administration. These. are private companies. Like the. administration's going to do what it. does. It always does this. It's trying. to pressure press. It's trying to. pressure the media. It's trying to. pressure corporate owners. It's the. Ellisons that are at fault here. Let's. just be clear. Let's put The Trump. administration does that has done this. forever, right? They always try to put. pressure on and however means necessary. It just happens to be their, you know, their incompetent tool at this moment. and I emphasis on tool is Brandon Carr.

Uh that's what he's going to do. it. doesn't like anything intelligent from. this person it would be a shocker and a. surprise. So, I think it's really the. Ellisons' response which would be, you. know, Steven will you also ask to Ken. Paxton? That's a perfectly legitimate. question and maybe he should. That would. be a I would watch the hell out of that, right? If Paxton would agree or whoever, whoever's running. There's probably a. whole spate of people running. Or at least make the attempts to have. them on there.

So, I think you put this squarely in the. Ellisons' department. I just look it's. sort of. The Trump administration's been doing. this and they continue to do this kind. of pressure on on these companies. And. the question at this point is not the. Trump administration which is heinous. enough, but the companies that are. cooperating. And this this ownership. group is particularly craven in the way. they're doing. Carr, can we just like zoom out a little bit? What is your reaction to like an. administration that swept into power.

amid these promises of reversing the. censorship being being done at the hands. of these communist Marxist Democrats. only for for the actions that we're. seeing right now to supersede anything. that we could have possibly imagined. under a Democratic administration. They're liars? I I don't know what else. to say. They never had a commitment. Neither did a lot of these groups that. said they did, like Elon or everybody. else. They didn't have a commitment to. the had a commitment to their First. Amendment rights and Yeah. mouth off,

but anyone else who disagree with them. Look, they're trying to get tech. companies to hand over anti-ICE. stuff, people who are doing anti-ICE. stuff so they can investigate them? What? For just not liking ICE? I mean, come on. It's they This is an. administration that is committed to the. suppression of information, committed. beyond belief what they're doing and. using the levers of power they have for. now. And let me just tell you, someone. like Brendan Carr is going to have he's. going to have a proctology exam if if.

the if the elections uh go the way most. people think it will. It's I don't know. what he's hoping for to get on the board. of what? Like, what's his next move. after this? Besides being investigated and and I'll. you know, I'll be right in the front row. for that, but you know, that's the. problem is that this only works for so. long, but in the in the attempt to do. this, they look stupid because Stephen. Colbert could give a Anderson. Cooper could give a right? Like, it doesn't matter. They don't want to be. part of whatever's happening here. Yeah. so, they're just going to Anderson.

didn't speak out, but it's obvious what. happened there to me from my. perspective. And and what Colbert has. run out of I don't know, seven. seven three years ago or something like. something like. And that's his job to do that, too, by. the way, to be a twerker of power, so. You know, the way that I'm that the way. that I'm looking at all of this is like. I'm remembering who decided to. capitulate to the Trump administration. or worse, be a collaborator with the. Trump administration, and who decided to. stand up. You know, we we know the law.

firms, we know the universities, we know. the the the TV networks, the the media. conglomerates, and the tech CEOs. How do we treat the collaborators with. this administration? Like, there will. come a point where there are so few. outlets left that have opted not to. collaborate with the Trump. administration that do you just write. off every single outlet? No, they're all. resisting. It's just corporate media, right? There is lots of people are. resisting and people within those media. organizations are resisting. You see it. over and over again. And what's what's. going to have to happen is like listen,

I don't expect my courage to come from. businesses. I never did with tech. industry. They all they're interested in. is making money. Like let's be clear and. I've said that. And often times when. people come to me they're like, "What. are they doing?" I'm like, "They don't. care." And they're like, "Yeah, but what. are they doing?" I go, "They don't. care.". They don't care. They care about. shareholder value. And and they think. I until I was actually stopped by one of. the big owners of one of these companies. which who is not in control of the. company but is a big shareholder and. they said, "This is actually bad for. shareholders, actually, what they're.

doing." Um ultimately. And and and and. made a very cogent argument to me about. how it's bad. Uh in this case it was for Apple. It was. like bad for Apple to do this. This is. bad for their brand. They look bad. And. then of course it culminated in Tim. Cook's appearance at the Melania. documentary. Not good for his brand. Maybe he's taking it for the team. I. don't know what's happening with him. Um but it's not it's not good all time. The question is what did you do about. it? I I I think ultimately these. businesses know there is no they will. they will they will shift their tone.

when they need to appropriately. They'll. say they're sorry and we'll have to move. on. I just think their audiences are. dwindling. Look at like the numbers at. CBS News. Look at the numbers um. you know, look at the numbers very. clearly and what's growing and what's. not. You're growing. You know, my. audience is growing like crazy. I think. we went up 40% last year. It was crazy. Um and so we're small but we're mighty, right? Like that kind of thing. And so. you're seeing those the other audiences. like the Washington Post fall off the. cliff, right? By the decisions Jeff.

Bezos made. And they can try. They. should make a product people want to. listen to. That's my feeling is like. that's how you do well. So, I don't I. don't know if we need to do anything. Like I you know, unless it's sort of. egregious collaboration. Like in the. case of Carr, I'd like to see all his. emails. I'd like to see like hopefully. I'd like to see some discovery. Um he's. abusing his his public service job, which is really quite um. it's pretty egregious. He was wearing. that pin once about Trump. The whole. thing is just kind of silly. What's.

happening with him? But I just the fact. that CBS is going along and not telling. him to go pound sand. Go ahead and sue. us. Investigate us. Let's go. Yeah. Let's have it. They want to buy that. company, so that's why they're doing it. I I know that your co-host Scott is is. going on on a on an unsubscribe spree. What is an unsubscribe? I mean, what. Scott is saying is what I have said is. this is a coin-operated presidency, so. let's start to with the coins, right? >> Let's start to like have fewer coins for. them to to shove in this incredibly.

corrupt administration. So, what is our. responsibility as consumers right now if. we see a CBS for example engage in the. behavior that they're engaging in? Well, look, I we went on our our tour. and someone always asked the CBS. question. I said to these crowds of. thousands of people, I said. uh. how show of hands of who just watched. CBS News. It was almost zero. So, I was. like, so what are we worried about here, right? Really? For people who she's the. the current editorial director is making. a bad product worse. I don't That's.

pretty much what's happening, it seems. to me. So, I I I'm not so concerned with. that. I'm more concerned with um. you know, how we react to it to. reporting it and things like that. So, I. you know, for resistant unsubscribe, it. gives you another tool. You can protest, you can vote. Very The most important of. all of them is voting, of course, and. getting to the polls and not letting. them take your vote away. I just did a. podcast on voter rights and and election. suppression. Um you you you protest with.

your feet by showing up places, you talk. to your representatives, you pressure. them. Um but one of the ways and Scott has I. think correctly and and quite uh. elegantly. pointed out, just stop using their. Like and you don't have to everyone. doesn't have to do the same thing. I. think one of the problems with a lot of. some of these protests is either they're. too short, which is a day, it doesn't. have an effect, or it's people don't. want to go all the way. So don't. Just. do a little bit. Like I got rid of uh.

a bunch of Apple stuff. I had Apple. games, I had Apple One, a bunch of. stuff. I I didn't get up my iPhone. I. mean and you don't have to judge people. Just do whatever part but you can do. significant damage by just getting rid. of I don't know, pick a streamer. What what is what is Paramount Plus? Get. rid of Paramount Plus. Just get rid of. it. You don't like what they're doing to. Stephen Colbert? Get rid of Paramount. Plus. Watch Stephen on YouTube, right? If you don't like what Google's doing, don't want No, that's free so you're not. giving them money. You know, that. happens to be free but or don't don't.

buy anything from their advertisers or. don't don't can't there's you can. actually pull hundreds of dollars off of. you and that iterates as Scott noted, if. AT&T was down just 30,000 subscribers, they $6 billion came off their market. cap. So. tiny little things matter. Again, and especially with this coin. operated president who only responds to. money. He's very That's a very clear. signal. With Trump, you give him money, he does what you want. That's pretty. much how it goes. And so we'll we'll see.

if it has an effect but it but it has to. have a sustained effect. And you can go. back to them later, by the way. You. don't have to do like I'm not using. Amazon ever again. I'm just not using it. this month. And in fact, I won't use it. next month. And I'll buy it from. blank but. local retailers or Walmart if you like. them. You know, nobody's perfect and if. you you know, perfect don't make perfect. the enemy of the good, right? You can't. be perfect. You need to You need to just.

do a small thing. And again, $100 here, $100 there matters a great deal. It's. one It's just one tool. Let me just say. it's just one tool. But they. I want to switch gears here to to. Epstein a little bit while we're talking. about destroying the reputations of. people. Your reaction to the fact that Donald. Trump has engaged in this systematic. cover-up that has even drawn the ire of. not just his former allies like Marjorie. Taylor Green. Obviously Lauren Boebert. resisted pressure when he hauled her. into the into the situation room. But. now even all these Manosphere podcasters.

Sean Ryan, Andrew Schulz, Joe Rogan, you. know, are are all turning on him based. on this issue. Do you think that this. this thing has staying power? I do. Many. Many many many months ago, I think it. was last year, Scott and I had a really. interesting debate and I said, "I think. this Epstein thing has legs." And he's. like, "Ah, it'll be one and the next. thing and then the next thing." I go, "No, no, if you pay attention to the. Maga Magasphere essentially, Epstein was. a. I called it a I think at the time I. called it a load-bearing wall for the. whole group. >> [laughter].

>> You can't take it out." And especially. with Green and others. And I was like, "No, no, no, no, no. This animates them. in a way you don't understand." And. also, there's there's a real real here. away from the QAnon lunacy. There's a. real problem here with men abusing young. women, right? Powerful men. and it's a narrative that's got. throughout time that's important. And. like it's happened over and over again, but this is really significant. And by. the way, it cuts across Democrat and. Republican. It's It's It's Epstein was.

really connected. And I I had. experienced him during in tech. He was. always at Ted. He was throwing dinner. parties. He tried to get me to go to his. house. He was trying to like. He was with the tech people. And I. thought, "Oh, wow, this is you know, at. the time was interesting, especially. since he'd been convicted the first. time." This was before the 2019 arrest. And so I just felt it had And And if you. pay any attention to the mag sphere, you. know how important the Epstein issues. were. And so, I never thought it was. going to go away. I still don't think.

it's going to go away. It's not going. away until all the files are released. And there'll be various different. effects on different people like Casey. Wasserman is getting real pressure. He. He's thinking of selling his agency. There's more pressure for him to resign. from the Olympics. In his case, like. look, he was there in 2003, which is. before any of the arrests. So, is that. fair? I don't know. It's up to anyone to. decide what they Chapel Row doesn't want. to affiliate with him. Fantastic. It's whatever. that artist wants to do. In the case of. others like Kathy Rubler from Goldman,

it was just too much. She was too. familiar with him. It was bad timing. Goldman didn't want to deal with it. You. could argue that she was just doing. trying to get business. Well, doesn't matter. This is whatever Goldman. wants to do. They should decide what. they're going to do. And so, it's going. to have repercussions all over the. place, especially in the business. sector. And And as Scott has argued, I We both. argued whoever deserves to be criminally. indicted needs to be criminally. indicted. Like that should be the top. thing. And they have the Justice.

Department and if has has has dropped. the ball here. This current Justice. Department particularly. cuz they have more opportunity to do. something now. Yeah. So, criminal. indictments. Then there's a stack. ranking of everybody else, right? Like. how bad was it? Was it here? And then. it's up to the various groups to decide. like. private groups to decide what they think. was too much, which would which was too. much affiliation, which was just I was. at a party he was at. Or else like you. have the Howard Lutnick test who lied.

about it. Like went out of his way to. talk to give him to to drape himself in. virtue. Talk about virtue signaling. And then it turns out he had lunch with. him. Like that's just mendacious liars. And that's should note he didn't do. anything wrong, but he's a mendacious. liar. That's what And and by the. way, like this the the administration is. in a position where where they could do. something about it. They they released. this list of a bunch of people that were. contained within the files the other. day, but purposefully included all of. the people who had passing mentions with. co-conspirators because they were trying.

to muddy the waters and people are smart. enough to see what's going on. doesn't. work. And I think one of the things that. actually someone pointed out to me quite. correctly with Donald Trump was that he. wasn't just trying to muddy the waters. If he's in a group of people and he can. slip out with everybody else, that's. works for him. This is actually good for. him because he's he's still the focus, doesn't matter he's the president, he's. still the focus. He was obviously. friends with this guy for a very long. time and he's lying about when and where. he broke up with him, whatever. He may. have clocked him. That's fine. That's.

who knows. But let's let the files come. out and find out, right? Instead of. covering them up. But what he's doing is. he's you know, when you're. go with the crowd, you'll get in, right? That kind of thing. Like go walk behind. the crowd. And so if people are trying. to escape, if if you're focusing on. like a like a like a Howard Lutnick or a. someone else, you're not or or Larry um. Summers or etc. etc. You're not focusing. on him. And so every minute that you're. not focusing on him and these files are. full of stuff to focus on and worthwhile.

to be focused on, you don't focus on him. So that's the. the chaos chaos is his favorite agency. here. And so that's what I see see what. he's doing and he uses online to do. that. You know, getting to something I. actually know about. What he does is. he's a fantastic propagandist. And so uh. what he's doing is creating not dis-. don't use the term distraction, he's. creating chaos in order for you to go. like this cuz it's all worth looking at,

by the way. Not as if it's not. I mean the the putting Sharon, I guess. like it's just I think just Pam Bondi's. stupid. That's That's I'm coming you. know, I know everyone's like, oh she's. mend- she's not just mendacious, she's. evil, this and that. I think she's just. bad at what she No, she's she's just a. tool for Trump. That's it. And that's. why she's there. Not because she's. strong, but expressly because she's. loyalist, she's obviously in a cult. I. mean, I think I think Marjorie Taylor. Greene pretty much clocks it. They're incompetent cultists and it's. not going to I I have other fights to.

fight and believe me, I don't agree with. her on almost anything, but she's. absolutely correct is that they're like. they're just like. trip It's like watching a group of. people trip down stairs, except you're. in the way and you get pulled down with. them, right? That's the problem. The. rest of our country does. Highly. recommend for anybody who's listening or. watching right now to check out Pivot. Podcast or On with Kara Swisher. Kara. Subscribe for Scott. He'll make it make. him happy. So, you should do that. >> That's it. Kara, thanks as always for. the time. >> [music].