It started with a lie, then a stunt then, as always, a media circus.
Recall that CBS pulled James Talarico's appearance from Stephen Colbert's political entertainment show.
The reason, as we discovered, was because not because Trump's fascist FCC was censoring political enemies just like Saddam Hussein did. No, the reason was much more mundane: CBS would have had to give equal time to Talarico's opponent, Jasmine Crockett. That didn't stop the unscrupulous politician from lying about it and trying to leverage to incident to his advantage. Crockett herself, called out the lie.
This is a blatant lie by James Talarico. The FCC didn’t refuse to air his conversation with Stephen Colbert.
— Nathan Leamer (@NathanLeamerDC) February 17, 2026
It was CBS who didn’t air it because they will not give equal time to his political opponent in the lead up to the Texas primary.
Broadcast licenses should not be used… https://t.co/it89mhDnbT
No reason to let a silly little thing like the truth get in the way.
Especially when you can rely on the media to back you up.
https://t.co/o6Tyki1pqe pic.twitter.com/pXpBqD1W8V
— Terry Moran 🇺🇸 (@TerryMoran) February 17, 2026
Moran's clever 'checkmate, chuds' picture of Reagan with Johnny Carson was supposed to prove that even Carson played politics and even worse, with Ronald Raygun! [sic]
Recommended
There was only one problem:
Yes, I’m sure @ABC is missing this “journalist” who shows signs of lacking processing power.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) February 18, 2026
Reagan was not in campaign mode during this 1975 visit, nor were most of Colbert’s hundreds of other Democrat guests.
Side note: ever notice that roughly one hundred percent of the time when a 'mainstream' journalist goes independent, they turn out to be lefties?
That Moran left the post up shows that he appears to care more about clicks and messaging than being accurate or his own reputation (such that it is).
Thanks to Brad Slager for the articulate fact check. Others were a bit more blunt.
Check the date of that broadcast, champ.
— JWF (@JammieWF) February 17, 2026
Check the date idiot.
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) February 17, 2026
More facts.
1975, after finishing his term as Governor.
— Billionaire Chimp (@ChimpWithMoney) February 17, 2026
Ronald Reagan was a private citizen for most of 1975, apparently including that appearance on "The Tonight Show".
— Richard DeCamp (@richdecamp) February 18, 2026
It took me less than one minute to reverse image search this and find out this was from January 1975. In other words, not 45 days before a primary election or 60 days before a general https://t.co/rbTZ6OtrRQ
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) February 17, 2026
Now this is investigative journalism, Mr. Moran.
No wonder you’re unemployed 😬🫠
— LG in AZ (@AzMenagerie) February 18, 2026
Moran was fired for dropping his journalist façade and going after Trump and Stephen Miller in a breathless rant on Twitter.
“Journalist.”
— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) February 18, 2026
Maybe we ought to stop calling people who run Substack blogs 'journalists'. 'Formal journalist' would be the most generous and 'ranty liberals with an Internet following' the most fitting.