--- title: Colbert on Trump Ratings Interview description: The popular 'Late Show' host talks covering the Trump administration and the big questions he'd like to ask the president. canonical: https://time.com/4738803/stephen-colbert-on-trump-ratings/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-13T18:03:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:42:47.419Z og:title: Colbert: 'I Would Trade Good Ratings for a Better President' og:description: The 'Late Show' host wants to know Trump's definition of "great." og:url: https://time.com/4738803/stephen-colbert-on-trump-ratings/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc271b857cb7eb30/6988c2ae8e06019cd4469ee3/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colbert: 'I Would Trade Good Ratings for a Better President' twitter:description: The 'Late Show' host wants to know Trump's definition of "great." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc271b857cb7eb30/6988c2ae8e06019cd4469ee3/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert on Trump: 'I Would Trade Good Ratings for a Better President.' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=21c48bd4-e4d9-4afa-87c9-73411126821c&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 13, 2017 6:03 PM UTC  NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Apr 13, 2017 6:03 PM UTC It’s been a wild ride of a year for the _Late Show_ host, who took over the big gig in time to find himself delivering the punchlines for Trump’s America. Now sitting pretty as the [reigning king of late night shows](http://time.com/4730808/colbert-trump-13-weeks-presidency/), Colbert [doesn’t shy away](http://time.com/4712235/stephen-colbert-on-trump-health/) from lampooning our [political leadership](http://time.com/4714738/stephen-colbert-jared-kushner-trump/) in his signature dry style. But despite his newfound success, he shared in an interview [with _The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/stephen-colbert-10-weeks-at-top-trump-why-he-would-trade-good-ratings-a-better-president-99) that he’d actually rather not have Trump in office—even if it meant his own career would suffer. “I would trade good ratings for a better president,” he admitted in the interview. Colbert, who interviewed Trump [back in 2015](http://time.com/4038202/colbert-fallon/), also has a few questions for the president ready to go if he ever gets the chance to chat him up again. The first question: “What do you mean by ‘great again’? Define ‘great.'” And the second, he said, would be to challenge Trump to make a statement that might bother Russian leader Vladimir Putin: “You could dispel all of these rumors if you would just say one thing. Just say, ‘Yeah, he kills journalists.’ Say it.”” Although it’s unlikely Colbert will be able to book Trump for his show again, he still seems pretty pleased with his current role and the reception of his audience. “I think I’ve got the best job in America,” he said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4738803/stephen-colbert-on-trump-ratings/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4738803/stephen-colbert-on-trump-ratings/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert on Trump: 'I Would Trade Good Ratings for a Better President.'","datePublished":"2017-04-13T18:03:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:42:47.419Z","description":"The 'Late Show' host wants to know Trump's definition of \"great.\"","url":"https://time.com/4738803/stephen-colbert-on-trump-ratings/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","Late Night Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc271b857cb7eb30/6988c2ae8e06019cd4469ee3/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc271b857cb7eb30/6988c2ae8e06019cd4469ee3/colbert-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","caption":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4738803/stephen-colbert-on-trump-ratings/","name":"Stephen Colbert on Trump: 'I Would Trade Good Ratings for a Better President.'"}}]}] ```