Talarico, Colbert Cry Censorship As CBS Sets The Record Straight

The big media controversy of the day comes courtesy of Texas Democratic 
Senate candidate James Talarico and late-night television host Stephen 
Colbert.

Talarico insisted that CBS spiked his interview with Stephen Colbert, 
claiming, “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.”

	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. 
	pic.twitter.com/BCev5jZbKc

	— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) February 17, 2026

Talarico is the probable Senate nominee for the Democrats in Texas and 
has been highly touted by a wide variety of people across the political 
spectrum, including Joe Rogan, on whose show he appeared.

But the reason CBS spiked the interview is because they’re afraid of 
the so-called Equal Time Rule. The FCC says that in a Senate primary, 
if you provide time to one candidate, you also have to provide equal 
time to the other candidates. CBS then said they didn’t want to provide 
equal time to Talarico’s rivals, including Democrat Rep. Jasmine 
Crockett or some other fringe candidate. Colbert then went on the air 
and ripped into CBS.

At this point, Colbert is hoping that he is fired so he can be treated 
as a victim — a victim of the Trump administration and their evil 
acolytes like Larry and David Ellison. Since that is his goal, he is 
actively attempting to militate for his own dismissal.

That is what he is doing right now. So, after the interview, he went on 
the air and said:

	You might have heard of this thing called the Equal Time rule. 
	Okay. It’s an old FCC rule that applies only to radio on 
	broadcast television, not cable or streaming, that says if a 
	show has a candidate on during an election, they have to have 
	all that candidate’s opponents on as well. It’s the FCC’s most 
	time honored rule right after no nipples at the Super Bowl. 
	There’s long been an exception for this rule, an exception for 
	news interviews and talk show interviews with politicians.

	Now that’s crucial. How else were voters supposed to know back 
	in 92 that Bill Clinton sucked at saxophone? But on January 21 
	of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug 
	bowling pin Brendan Carr. In this letter, Carr said he was 
	thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because 
	he said some of them were motivated by partisan purposes. Well, 
	sir, you’re chairman of the FCC, so FCC you. 

Brendan Carr is correct. Colbert is obviously motivated by partisan 
purposes. When was the last time he had a major Republican guest? Can 
you name one? When has he invited a major Republican guest on his show 
and treated that person with the same sort of kid gloves with which he 
treats Democrats?

Every episode of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is basically an 
ad for one Democrat or another. It is MS NOW with some bad jokes.

CBS responded:

	THE LATE SHOW was not prohibited by CBS from broadcasting the 
	interview with Rep. James Talarico. 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.

First, Colbert and his team tried to retell the lie that the FCC had 
overtly banned CBS from airing the interview with Talarico. That was 
not true. 

Then, he tried to retell the lie that CBS banned the interview because 
they were afraid of Talarico. And if Colbert hosted Talarico, then 
presumably he would also have to host a Republican candidate in the 
Texas Senate race, like Sen. John Cornyn or Attorney General Ken 
Paxton.

That is not what the equal time rule says. In the middle of the primary 
season, Colbert would have had to host another Democrat, Representative 
Jasmine Crockett. And the producers of “The Late Show” decided not to 
promote the interview on the air because then they would have to do the 
same for other Democrats.

For what it’s worth, Talarico is basically a straight Pete Buttigieg. 
That is his entire schtick, down to the Pastor Pete routine.

If you can remember back that far, one of the most irritating facets of 
the “Pete Buttigieg for President” campaign — and what irritated me 
most — is when he would suddenly turn into the world’s worst Sunday 
School teacher and cite the Bible to say completely non-Biblical 
things. He would try to explain that the Bible has nothing to say about 
issues ranging from same-sex marriage to abortion, and that it’s just a 
social justice document drafted by the Democratic National Committee.

Now, Talarico is doing the same exact thing. He’s claiming that you’re 
a bad Christian if you believe that same-sex marriage is non-Biblical.

For the record, same-sex marriage is non-Biblical. There are many books 
of the Bible that reference this, not least of which is Leviticus.

Trying to do the Pastor Pete routine, Talarico declared:

	Jesus gave us two commandments: Love God and love neighbor. 
	And there was no exception to that second commandment. Love 
	thy neighbor, regardless of race or gender or sexual 
	orientation or immigration status or religious affiliation. 
	And it’s why I have fought so hard for the separation of 
	church and state in the state capital in Texas.

When Democrats try to reframe their own religiosity on the basis of 
“Jesus was a post- religious figure who was in favor of secular 
humanism” — I may not be a New Testament expert, but it seems to me 
that Jesus was, in his human form, a Jew growing up under Biblical law, 
and that Jesus as the creator of Christianity, proceeded to suggest 
that people ought to follow the precepts of Christianity rather 
exclusively.

I think that’s a non-controversial take on the Bible.

It’s amazing how far Democrats have moved in my lifetime. Democrats 
used to do this routine where they would say, Sure, the Bible says that 
abortion is bad, Christianity says abortion is bad. There is a long-
standing, several thousand years old doctrine that abortion is not 
approved, that same-sex marriage is not approved, and that homosexual 
activity is a sin. These are long-standing religious traditions, but we 
have separation of church and state. In terms of public policy, I don’t 
believe in making public policy on the basis of Biblical law, because 
this is not a theocracy.

That used to be the Democratic stance, which I think is weak when it 
comes to trying to make peace with Christians, but at least it is 
arguable. The new Democratic standards are that the Bible is somehow a 
document that greenlights same-sex marriage and encourages abortion, 
and if you truly were a Christian, you would be in favor of all these 
things.

Talarico says, “Love thy neighbor means love thy neighbor, regardless 
of immigration status or sexual orientation.”

The Bible says you are supposed to love thy neighbor as thyself, but 
you are not supposed to love his sin. You’re not supposed to place a 
stumbling block in front of the blind. There’s the Biblical injunction, 
which is commonly presumed to mean that you are not supposed to allow 
your neighbor to go without redress. If he’s sinning, you’re supposed 
to warn him.

So, back to CBS: What’s happening at CBS right now is an attempt to 
scuttle the ownership change at CBS and also target Bari Weiss at CBS 
News.

It’s all about virtue signaling for the Democrats. It has nothing to do 
with reality.

Democratic lawmakers, for their part, are suggesting they’re now going 
to investigate CBS. Representative Darren Soto of Florida wrote, “FCC 
Chair Brendan Carr’s reign on unlawful censorship continues. This time 
he’s blocking Democratic candidates. @EnergyCommerce Dems will be 
investigating this outrage. A reckoning is coming.”

	FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s reign on unlawful censorship 
	continues. This time he’s blocking Democratic 
	candidates.@EnergyCommerce Dems will be investigating this 
	outrage. A reckoning is coming… https://t.co/56MmbYdfIR

	— Rep. Darren Soto (@RepDarrenSoto) February 17, 2026

All of this shows you what Democrats are going to do with Congress if 
they happen to win in 2026, which is to shut everything down.

-- 
Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they 
love this country.