Joanna Robinson has had enough. After watching Stephen Colbert treat Donald Trump with kid gloves, she used her Vanity Fair soap box to decry the timidity of late-night comedy.

Image by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons
Image by Gage Skidmore via Wikimedia Commons
In an essay subtitled “It’s softballs as far as the eye can see,” Robinson notes how the Republican presidential front-runner has gone from a comedy “gift from heaven” to a source of serious political concern.

Robinson took to task “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon and other late-night stars for not stepping up to the speak-truth-to-power plate that Jon Stewart once commanded at “The Daily Show.”

She concluded: “None of the new cable hosts on the block yet have the power, audience, or influence that Stewart once enjoyed. With the network hosts unwilling to step up to the plate, Trump might just be able to continue to steal first.”

Trump appreciated the treatment:

Robinson wasn’t alone.

The Guardian newspaper in England headlined its report “Donald Trump gets easy ride as Stephen Colbert asks the soft questions.”

“Colbert cracked a few mild jokes at Trump’s expense,” Tom McCarthy wrote, “but he mostly handled the Republican frontrunner with the same respectful enthusiasm that competing late-night host Jimmy Fallon used when he had Trump on as a guest a couple weeks ago.”

And at The Atlantic, Megan Garber wrote: “You could also say that Colbert had Trump as a guest, but that grammar wouldn’t be quite accurate to the spirit of the interview. Because, last night, Colbert was trumped.”

Even comedy legend Carl Reiner had a critique:

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