In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant. One motto on the show is, ’Keep your facts, I’m going with the truth.’

Colbert contrasts “facts” with “truth” to satirize the way people defend beliefs that cannot withstand evidence. The line suggests that holding an “untenable position” is not a passive mistake but an active practice: one must ignore, dismiss, or reinterpret contrary information to keep the position intact. By framing this as a “motto on the show,” Colbert points to his comedic persona’s method—parodying punditry that elevates gut certainty, ideology, or identity over verifiable reality. The quote’s significance lies in how it names a mechanism of modern misinformation: motivated reasoning presented as moral or patriotic “truth,” even when it conflicts with demonstrable facts.