Dem
47
GOP
53
There were a couple of fairly big news stories about high-profile TV hosting gigs yesterday. And since Donald Trump has bent the media landscape to his will, or at least has tried to do so, that's pretty much the lens through which this kind of news must be viewed. The short version: Trump either went 0-2, or 0-1-1, depending on how one assesses events at CBS.
CBS, readers will recall, has become the property of the right-wing, Trump-loving Ellison family. And the first thing the Ellisons did, on taking over, was put Bari Weiss in charge of the (once-) vaunted CBS news operation. Weiss does not have the résumé to justify that kind of posting. However, she has effectively managed to create a brand that she is "independent" and a "critical thinker," even though she's actually pretty right-leaning and more than a little reactionary, especially these days. She's actually kind of reminiscent of the current iteration of Bill Maher, now that we think about it. Anyhow, putting someone like that in charge allowed the Ellisons to pretend they were performing "journalism" while turning CBS News into something akin to Fox Lite.
On the day that Weiss took over, the anchor seat once occupied by the great Walter Cronkite was actually filled by two people, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. On October 27, a couple of weeks after Weiss' hiring became official, Dickerson announced that he would leave CBS News at the end of the year. Over the weekend, DuBois announced that he would be leaving, too. Neither of them was specific about the reason(s) for their resignations, both of which were abrupt and unexpected. But it's not too hard to read between the lines.
This left Weiss with a very big decision to make—what may well be the biggest decision of her tenure—and little time with which to make it, at risk of leaving the CBS Evening News anchor-less at the start of next year. She tried for CNN's Anderson Cooper, but he knows the score, and has no interest in being a propagandist for the right. Then Weiss tried Fox's Bret Baier, but he's already got a high-paying gig ($20 million annually) as a propagandist for the right. So, she eventually had to settle for CBS Mornings co-anchor Tony Dokoupil.
Dokoupil is a convert to Judaism, and is strongly pro-Israel. So, the Trump administration gets someone who will flog the party line on that issue. But beyond that, the new host is pretty milquetoast and pretty middle of the road. Dokoupil will make the White House happier than if, say, Rachel Maddow had landed the gig, but not THAT much happier, particularly since Trump undoubtedly had dreams of a Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham clone. Put another way, the administration got rid of two anchors it mildly disliked (remember, it is 60 Minutes that is the true enemy, not the CBS Evening News) and replaced them with an anchor that is not exactly going to leave Trump spewing rainbows and sunshine. Is that a loss for him, given how much effort he put into trying to turn CBS into a friendly media outlet? Or just a push?
Meanwhile, the definite loss for Trump is over at ABC, as late-night host Jimmy Kimmel isn't going anywhere for at least another year. Actually, more like a year and a half. He signed a contract yesterday that will extend his current deal into May of 2027.
This news is significant for two reasons. First, Kimmel is one of the biggest comedy thorns in Donald Trump's side. The President has apparently been mindful enough of the Streisand Effect to stop giving Kimmel free publicity by lambasting him on Trump's entirely unfunny social media platform, but one wonders how long that will last. Kimmel is going to turn up the heat leading into next year's midterm elections, and we would not be surprised to see Trump's cork eventually pop. Kimmel has actually been hinting at retirement for a while, and we would guess he just could not go gentle into that good night at this particular political moment. If the midterms go well for the blue team next year, and there is some sort of constraint on Trump in the form of a Democratic House and/or Senate, we would not be surprised to see Kimmel call it a career once his extension runs its course.
The second reason that Kimmel's extension is significant is that it's a pretty big middle finger to the White House, from the House of Mouse. Which, it should be noted, is none too easy, since Mickey only has four fingers. It would seem that Disney (which owns ABC, and thus employs Kimmel) is not too scared of Trump anymore. Neither is Costco, which, as we noted last week, is suing for a tariff refund. Walmart is expected to join that party soon, as well. As we get closer and closer to January 20, 2029, we suspect the list of defiant corporations will grow much, much longer. (Z)