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Stephen Colbert for President: He Can Win [1]

['Greg Dworkin', 'Dan K']

Date: 2026-05-25  

Though he has not shown any real interest in running up to now, I hope Stephen Colbert changes his mind and puts his hat in the ring for President. He is brilliant, an amazing communicator and a person of high integrity and morality. He understands politics and the world, and what he doesn’t know he would learn quickly. I believe he would make a great leader and terrific President.

Three entertainers have become leaders in recent times – two here and one overseas.

Ronald Reagan had been both a movie star and television host for over 30 years before he entered politics. He was almost universally known and respected by millions. People were comfortable with him and used to having his image and voice beamed into their homes. The truth was that he was corrupt (he sold the actors out as head of SAG), a corporate hack and not terribly bright. But that wasn’t his image, and the image held.

Similarly, Donald Trump was almost universally known from years of self-promotion and of course The Apprentice, which presented him as a decisive, successful businessman. The fact that this image was a lie didn’t matter. No number of commercials showing his corruption and how he stiffed vendors, or even the infamous “Grab them by the pussy” tape could upset the image created over a decade of television, at least for a large part of this country.

But the closest example to Colbert is Ukraine’s President, Vladimir Zelensky. A popular comedian, he had a hit TV show where he played a fictional President. Life imitated art and he became the country’s actual President taking over for a corrupt government and leading Ukraine in defending against Russia’s invasion.

Since Trump went down the escalator in 2015, Colbert has been one of the leading voices in opposition to his corruption and incompetence. It is because of his effectiveness as an anti-Trumper that he was forced off the air. But that only ensures to make him more of a force going forward. People don’t like censorship and as Trump and his administration continues to flail and fail, Colbert could be a leading opposition voice should he choose to do so.

Also, Colbert will not need to introduce himself to the general public. I also would guess that his approval ratings are quite high. The only people who are likely opposed to him are the rubes who are addicted to Fox News.

If Colbert is contemplating this, he could test the waters by campaigning for Democrats this Fall and see what kind of crowds he draws and the response he gets from the general public. I think he would be extremely well received by both candidates and voters.

I can certainly understand why Stephen Colbert would not want to do this and just find a different forum and venue to share his views. And certainly the Democrats have a number of possible candidates who could be strong…Newsom, Pritzker, Shapiro, etc. However, though Colbert is very progressive, he is ‘conservative’ personally (married only once and devoted to his wife) and a religious Catholic. As far as I can tell, he has no baggage. And this is the television age, and Stephen Colebert knows how to perform for this medium.

I cannot think of a stronger candidate to run next time.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/25/800045230/community/stephen-colbert-for-president-he-can-win/

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