
<p>Following President Trump’s impressive win in November – and the immediate crash in the rating of CNN and MSNBC – the question was how major news outlets – especially the more extreme anti-Trump networks – would respond. ; In the three months since the election, we are getting at least a hint. ;</p>



<p>MSNBC dropped by an astounding 53 percent among demographic groups. ; The network’s management claimed ratings generally drop following a major election and predicted the network would quickly recover. ; It has not. ; By comparison the long time leading cable news network, FOX News, had a ratings surge following the election.</p>



<p><strong>CNN in constant re-organization</strong></p>



<p>It appears CNN is again seeking a middle ground. You may recall when WarnerBros/Discovery owner David Zaslav acquired CNN in 2022, he announced his intention to move the network to the center and more balanced journalism. He placed Chris Licht in charge. At the time I wrote several commentaries suggesting positive changes. While I claim no credit for influencing their decisions, the new bosses at CNN were obviously of similar mind.</p>



<p>I suggested dumping the networks nighttime line up of Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon. ; I also called for the booting of their annoying media reporter Brian Stelter and their very biased White House correspondent John Harwood. They were all shown the door in very short order.</p>



<p>I specifically recommended that they replace their morning team of John Berman and Brianna Keilar, which they did. ; But they put Don Lemon in that spot along with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins &#8212; which I wrote was a mistake. ; Soon after, Lemon and Harlow were gone, and Collins was reassigned to her own primetime show. ; (About that time, I was starting wonder if Zaslav WAS reading my commentaries.) ;  ; ;</p>



<p>For reasons not entirely clear, Licht was shown the door and the trend toward middle-of-the-road journalism reversed. ; Stelter was rehired and Berman returned to the morning spot with a new team – although Berman seems to have toned down his left-wing bias a bit.</p>



<p>The only CNN personality who seemed immune to my hitlist was James Acosta – who I considered among the worst of the worst in terms of biased reporting. Weeell &#8230;. apparently wallowing in third place among the three major cable news networks was enough for CNN management. They recently proposed to move Acosta from his hours of prime-time reporting (propagandizing) to a midnight spot – replacing reruns of early shows. Acosta responded with his resignation – which I am confident they anticipated.</p>



<p>There has also been a noticeable increase in panelists and guests from the more conservative side of the political ledger. ; They are not the false flaggers and Republican apostates that MSNBC has famously used in a pretense of balance. ; These new additions to the CNN table carry the message from the Republican &#8230; conservative &#8230; Trump administration view.</p>



<p>I have long argued that CNN’s best in-house personality is Michael Smerconish, who they keep at the 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning slot. ; In my view, he would be a winner with a five-day-a-week prime time show. ; I would also replace Laura Coates at 10:00 p.m. with someone more balanced (Smerconish?).</p>



<p><strong>So, what about MSNBC?</strong></p>



<p>It would appear that MSNBC is going to go in the other direction. They seem to be doubling &#8230; tripling &#8230; and even quadrupling down on their hair-on-fire far-left propaganda approach. For the first 100 days of the Trump administration, MSNBC has returned the ever-acerbic Rachel Maddow to her old five-night-a-week gig. She re-takes the timeslot from Alex Wagner, who will be roaming the country seeking out left-wingers to interview. Wagner is scheduled to return to her prime time show after the 100 days. We will have to wait and see.</p>



<p>MSNBC has made no significant changes in their lineup or panelists. ; If they had any serious interest in balanced journalism, they would have minimally dumped Joy Reid, Lawrence O’Donnell and Nicole Wallace. ; They should again replace their weekend morning show and reassign the current hosts &#8212; former Republican National Chairman and leading conservative apostate Michael Steele (if not totally dumping him) and definitely give the pink slip to Symone Sanders. ;</p>



<p>Given Joe Scarborough’s growing unpopularity and his pompous repetitious harangues, it is amazing that the show survives. A dear friend of mine – a staunch liberal New York Jewish Democrat who spent years working in Hollywood (you cannot get more left-wing than that) &#8212; dropped his habit of watching “Morning Joe” the day after the election and has avoided MSNBC ever since. He is one data point that explains why MSNBC has not recovered from their rating crash.</p>



<p>MSNBC might do better if it replaced their most outrageous, hair-on-file left-wing extremist guests, panelists and paid contributors. ; Instead, they have not only kept on the most outrageous guests but have pumped up the Chicken Little falling-sky narratives.</p>



<p>MSNBC’s basic message is that everything about Republicans &#8230; conservatives &#8230; and the Trump administration is not only bad but is an existential threat to the American Republic and world democracy. This is the “end of times” in their political theology. They talk about organizing stronger resistance – to fight on the telly &#8230; fight in the courts &#8230; and fight in the streets. Even Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has called for folks to take to the streets. (One can only imagine the reaction on the left if Trump or House Speaker Mike Johnson had said that). Those on the left are calling for the Resistance Movement they launched following the 2016 presidential election to be put on steroids.</p>



<p>They continue to push the insurrection nonsense &#8230; create Nazi salutes out of innocent hand gestures. They repeatedly raise Trump’s old court cases. They oppose anything they see as “normalizing” Trump. They are still at war with at least half the American people. MSNBC is continuing all the fearmongering narratives that failed them in the campaign.</p>



<p>It would appear that MSNBC is where the crazies on the left are circling the wagons. They look less and less like a source of legitimate information and more like a “Saturday Night Live” left-wing parody. I say that with some seriousness because I find myself laughing more than grimacing at the network’s scripted faux journalists. (Watching extremist Elie Mystal – with his oversized white afro figuratively on fire &#8212; hyperventilating as he called for taking to the barricades was funny as hell. Then there was Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker. Claiming to protect the safety of people in his state by opposing the arrests of violent criminals by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE). That was pure flap-jaw double-talk humor.)</p>



<p><strong>Summary</strong></p>



<p>At this juncture, it appears that CNN is following in the path of other news and social media outlets that have come to accept the fact that Trump won the election. ; ABC settled a lawsuit with Trump for $15 million. ; Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (Facebook) similarly settled for a suit from Trump for $25 million. ; Facebook also dropped its biased fact-checkers.</p>



<p>It would seem that most of the media is moving away from the never-Trump Resistance Movement since Trump scored a bigger victory than he had in 2016. ; Trump not only won the election, but he also won the hearts and minds (and votes) of the people – at least most of them. ;</p>



<p>In just a few days in office, Trump has crushed most of the pending court cases against him. ; He has been winning approval for his most controversial Cabinet appointments. ; He has won in Congress with the passage of the Laken Riley Act. ; He is winning at the border with the arrests of thousands of migrant criminals. ; He won on an immigration dispute with Colombia. ;</p>



<p>These are things the news media can only ignore or oppose at its own peril. ; Propaganda as news has failed. ; Once again, the American people have proven themselves to be smarter than those who would try to manipulate them. ; Most of the media has gotten the memo. ; They are adjusting to the new reality. ;</p>



<p>It would appear that MSNBC is the only network believing in the old, failed paradigm. ; Their propaganda narratives have become more the product of wishful thinking and invention &#8230; ; more outrageous &#8230; more absurd &#8230; and more desperate. ;  ;MSNBC is making itself the loony bin of left-wing theology more than ever before. ;</p>



<p>So. there ‘tis.</p>

Is MSNBC the last bastion of left-wing propaganda?
