By Katherine Tinsley
11:15am PDT, Jul 21, 2025
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Donald Trump has been a vocal critic of journalists and comedians who don't approve of his administration, which is why the CNN star isn't surprised at
Stephen Colbert's recent firing.
"Obviously, President Trump has made no secret of his hatred of being mocked —specifically, the jokes that people like
Stephen Colbert and
Jimmy Kimmel make at his expense," Jake Tapper said on CNN.
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While CBS didn't mention Donald Trump in the announcement, the timeline continues to fuel speculation.
"Paramount is in a bend-the-knee phase," Jake Tapper shared. "Paramount is attempting to please President Trump as Paramount's Shari Redstone waits for the Trump administration's blessing for a lucrative merger with a company called Skydance."
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CBS executives have said their decision to end
Stephen Colbert's show "is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late-night" broadcasting.
However,
Elizabeth Warren and Senator
Adam Schiff have asked the network to confirm that their decision wasn't done to please Donald Trump.
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Donald Trump sued CBS over their 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, but legal experts call his claims "substantively very weak," as Trump accused the network of editing the interview to "tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party" before the election.
"Paramount was determined to settle with the president, and it's that timing that CBS was no doubt attempting to head off in their announcement of the termination of the Colbert show — which was doing very well in ratings, by the way," Jake Tapper stated.
