'He's a dead man walking': Donald Trump escalates attacks on late-night TV, targets Stephen Colbert

US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on late-night television, targeting The Late Show host Stephen Colbert in a series of posts while accusing network programming of being hostile towards him.

Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, Donald Trump labelled Stephen Colbert “a pathetic trainwreck” and claimed the comedian’s ratings were “nonexistent”. He also described Colbert as a “dead man walking” and urged CBS executives to “put him to sleep”.

Donald Trump later widened his criticism to late-night shows across major US networks, asking whether CBS, ABC or NBC had the “worst” host. He claimed, without providing evidence, that such programmes come with “high salaries” and “really low ratings”.

The US President then escalated his rhetoric by floating the idea of regulatory action. In another post, Donald Trump questioned whether broadcast licences should be revoked when network news bulletins and late-night shows are “almost 100% negative” towards him, the MAGA movement and the Republican Party.