Late-night host Stephen Colbert announced on July 17, during a live broadcast, that CBS would be canceling "The Late Show."

Colbert was quick to cast the move as political, with longtime friend Jon Stewart going further on "The Daily Show," portraying Colbert as a victim of Trumpian machinations — complete with a gospel choir chorus of “Go f--- yourself” aimed squarely at CBS executives.

It made for enjoyable theater but conspicuously lacked counterfactual arguments. Amid the bluster, neither Stewart nor Colbert offered a serious defense of the show’s underlying business performance.

Let it be stated with clarity: "The Late Show" was not primarily felled by politics. It was a casualty of audience migration — away from legacy television and toward streaming, social media and podcasts.

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