CBS brass say they pulled the plug on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” because of its punishing losses — pegged between $40 million and $50 million a year — and claim politics had nothing to do with it,

Colbert followed “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart’s attack of the deal one week earlier. Stewart works for Comedy Central, also owned by Paramount, making the two comics the most visible internal critics of the $16 million settlement that was announced on July 1.

Perhaps this is true, but the network that once made Cronkite the most trusted man in America no longer gets the benefit of the doubt. CBS’s owners have made a series of decisions capitulating to President Donald Trump, and the surprise choice to allow Colbert—a consistent, prominent Trump critic—to walk seems like part of that pattern.

Trump gloats after Colbert’s cancellation, fueling speculation that CBS axed its top-rated host to appease him ahead of a crucial FCC merger approval.

CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter melted down during a Thursday evening appearance on the network over the cancellation of

Before Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" was canceled, Jon Stewart hadn't "heard anything" about whether his Comedy Central show would be canceled.