Donald Trump is now using AI memes from the White House and his social media accounts to publicly celebrate the end of Stephen Colbert’s CBS run.
Just one day after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired its final episode, Trump shared an AI-generated video showing Colbert being thrown into a dumpster before Trump dances to “YMCA.” The post came with another round of insults, including Trump declaring that “Colbert is finally finished at CBS.”
The video instantly reignited debate over whether America’s political culture has crossed into something darker: presidents openly mocking critics with AI-generated propaganda-style content while major media institutions retreat from confrontation.
For years, Colbert built his late-night identity around challenging Trump directly. Their feud became one of the defining entertainment-versus-politics rivalries of the modern media era. Trump repeatedly attacked Colbert’s ratings and talent, while Colbert mocked Trump almost nightly from the Ed Sullivan Theater stage.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 22, 2026
Now the timing feels impossible to ignore.
CBS canceled The Late Show franchise entirely after 33 years, despite Colbert remaining the top-rated host in late night. The decision came during Paramount’s merger battles and after the company settled a lawsuit with Trump tied to CBS News programming — a sequence critics say raises serious questions about corporate pressure and political influence.
The AI dumpster clip may look like internet trolling, but it also captures a larger shift in American media and politics: entertainment, propaganda, corporate power, and presidential messaging are now blending together in ways that once would have seemed unthinkable.