How Colbert's Cancellation Helps us Track Democracy's Decline--and Refine our Response
“Democracy” is more than just “voting rights,” and threats to democracy go beyond threats to free & fair elections—though certainly our elections are under attack.
I love the graphic below from the team at Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), which depicts a well-functioning democracy as one with fair elections & processes, responsive policymaking, free-flowing information, and social cohesion—all resulting in an empowered citizenry.
Democracy Doesn’t Deliver Voters — So Far
Democrats have had a tough time messaging around threats to “democracy.”
A centerpiece of President Biden’s 2024 campaign was that the election was “a battle for the soul of the nation.” In a major speech, Biden argued Trump was a threat to democracy. While he nodded to topics like the “freedom to speak your mind” and “opening the doors of opportunity wider,” he mostly linked “democracy” to voting rights and Trump’s 2020 attempt to overthrow the election. He used the word “election” 22 times, “insurrection” 12 times, “vote” 9 times, and “Trump” 50 times.
Ultimately, this message failed to resonate.
When asked if they trusted Kamala Harris or Donald Trump more to handle threats to democracy, one poll of 1,600 people who voted in 2024 found that 50% trusted Trump more to preserve democracy, compared to 49% for Harris.
Canceling Colbert Wakes Hollywood from Hibernation
Last week, CBS canceled one of only three late-night shows to earn an Emmy Award nomination this year.
Here’s a timeline of events, and a depiction of democracy in decline:
July 2: Paramount Global (CBS’s owner ) reaches a widely-criticized agreement to pay Trump $16 million to settle his frivolous lawsuit against CBS.
July 7: CBS and Skydance Media ink a merger agreement worth $8 billion—subject to approval by the Trump Administration.
July 14: On his show, Colbert criticizes Paramount Global’s $16m payout to Trump, calling it a “big fat bribe.”
July 15: Skydance’s CEO and his top lawyer meet with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr to lobby for approval of the merger. (Note: Carr wrote Project 2025’s chapter on the FCC and recently revived an investigation into CBS that the previous FCC Chair dismissed.)
July 17: Paramount Global fires Colbert.
Here we see several direct hits to PACE’s democracy wheel totally separate from voting or elections: the corruption of governing institutions; advocacy and policy that are responsive only to those with access and means; and the silencing of critical media voices resulting in a less informed and disempowered citizenry.
Interestingly, the attack on these aspects of democracy is resonating.
As one report puts, it, “A-list stars are taking to social media to speak out against the late night show's abrupt cancellation.” While most celebrities, athletes, and influencers have had little to say in response to Trump’s many recent attacks on free & fair elections, Katie Couric, Ben Stiller, Rachel Zegler, Judd Apatow, Adam Scott, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and others have spoken out against Colbert’s corrupt firing.
A Potential Playbook
It’s easy to conclude that entertainers are invested in the Colbert incident because it involves an entertainer—certainly that’s part of it.
But I think we can draw larger lessons in how to shape a pro-democracy strategy that resonates with voters:
First, when speaking or organizing rallies around “democracy,” progressives should focus on threats to values other than free and fair elections (at least for now). Many election regulations such as voter ID requirements are actually popular with voters, which makes them tricky to message. Meanwhile, everyone loves freedom of speech and hates censorship and corruption. The graphic above depicts almost two dozen non-voting-related democratic values under threat that we can educate and rally voters around.
Second, it’s better to focus on tangible acts like canceling late night shows than abstract concepts like “institutions” or “the rule of law.” We should identify something specific the Administration has done, explain in the everyday terms, link it to a shared democratic values, and repeat repeat repeat. “Trump weakens all of us when he pressures private companies to do things like fire talk show hosts as a favor to him. This type of corruption threatens our access to information and reeks of un-American censorship.”
There’s little doubt major attacks against our elections and the right to vote are coming. When they do, their severity and impact on democracy will be clear enough and tangible enough that we can and should rally voters in response.
My worry is that if we wait until that moment to explain to voters the many ways their democracy is already being undermined, it may be too late to save it.