‘Not a Good Development for the Country’: The Man Who Wrote the Book on Letterman v. Leno Slams Trump Over Colbert Feud

Veteran TV reporter Bill Carter skewered President Donald Trump for his long-running feud with Stephen Colbert, with Carter saying Trump’s routine criticism of the now-former Late Show host was “so alien to our values” as Americans.

Carter vented about Colbert’s exit during an interview on MS NOW’s The Weekend on Saturday.

“It’s not a good development for the country, obviously,” Carter said about Colbert’s exit.

He then called out Trump for posting an AI video of him tossing Colbert into a dumpster and then dancing to “YMCA.” Carter said the clip indicated Trump was “personally involved” in Colbert’s cancelation.

“The government was pushing to get rid of this man because he was a critic. And, you know, that is so alien to our values that I think most Americans — even people who are kind of neutral about it, maybe not his strong supporters — know this is not something we do,” Carter said. “We don’t do that. We don’t shut people up because they criticize us.”

Carter was the top TV reporter at The New York Times for years and wrote The Late Shift, the definitive book on the David Letterman–Jay Leno battle to replace Johnny Carson. That book was turned into an HBO movie in the ’90s, and he followed it up with a book on the Leno versus Conan O’Brien rivalry in 2010.

Carter added that he believed CBS “capitulated” to the Trump administration by letting Colbert go. CBS said it was canceling Colbert’s show last year because it was losing $40 million annually. 

Of course, Colbert has made it clear he is not a fan of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement and has used his show to skewer the president for years.

He said Trump’s mouth was only good for being Vladimir Putin’s “c*ckholster” back in 2017, and he giddily celebrated Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. “Go back to the shadow, Donny!” Colbert said at the time, before mentioning he was “ecstatic.”

More recently, Colbert ripped the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration and his feud with Pope Leo XIV.

Trump has kept up his end of the feud as well, with the president celebrating Colbert’s final show last week.

“No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person,” Trump said. “You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!”

Watch above via MS NOW.

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