Well, sorry to inform you that you are terrible at recognizing satire then.

There's literally a massive Wikipedia page for the character of Stephen Colbert.

The Reverend Sir Dr. Stephen T. Mos Def Colbert D.F.A., Heavyweight Champion of the World is the fictionalized persona of political satirist Stephen Colbert, as portrayed on the Comedy Central series The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, and occasionally on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Described as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed high-status idiot" and a "self-important right-wing commentator", he incorporates aspects of the real Colbert's life and interests but is primarily a parody of cable news pundits, particularly former Fox News prime time host Bill O'Reilly.

On April 23, 2014, the character appeared on The Daily Show to announce that he had clearly "won television" and would be ending The Colbert Report because he had met his goal. This came after the real Colbert announced that he would not be using the character when he replaced David Letterman as the host of The Late Show on CBS in 2015.

Colbert didn't change at all. He just stopped playing a clearly over the top conservative character.