On Monday, when MSNBC’s cameras returned to the live studio after Donald Trump’s second inaugural speech, our first glimpse was of a tired-looking Rachel Maddow. It’s hard to remember what he said, but his face was unforgettable – he wore the face of someone ready to go full Rumplestiltskin and check out for a century. (Stars: They’re just like us!)
Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show,” is in the same boat as everyone else in the United States, perhaps depending on how far the leader decides to take his threats of revenge.
On CNN, as media analyst Oliver Darcy noted. Its status newslettera very muted version of Jack Tapper described the formality without mentioning that the current president is a twice-impeached criminal.
After a comfortable break from once-a-week broadcasts, Maddow promised to cover the first 100 days. . . This
“To be fair to Tepper, he wasn’t alone,” Darcy pointed out, describing the lack of firepower in all the TV news coverage. “It was like an invasion of body snatchers—familiar faces delivering the news, yet devoid of the passion and conviction that had once defined them, as if their former selves had been hollowed out. Darcy concluded.
And Meadow? In the moments after Trump stepped away from the dais, she was a spiritual mirror to anyone who watched an inaugural address that her MSNBC colleague Jane Psacki, former White House press secretary to former President Joe Biden, described as “Not like normal people. Times.”
“Usually a president is not talking about himself, even though he won. The country elected him. He’s talking about the country he’s going to govern,” Psaki said. It was more of a vision statement than a campaign speech.
The saki Beltway lives in the raging stomach of the beast and tolerates its acid. Maddow isn’t far from it, but still, we understand her concern. After a break from the comfort of broadcasting once a week, it has committed to covering the first 100 days. . . This
A few hours later, presumably after a short nap and a long chat with its creator, “The Rachel Maddow Show” returned with history, sermons and pep talks from its host, accompanied by standard strong coffee.
Maddow opened with the story of former Vice President Andrew Johnson’s extreme intoxication on the day Abraham Lincoln was sworn in for a second term, and noted the commonalities between Johnson and Trump. Both were impeached, and both refused to attend the swearing-in of their successors. Trump didn’t kiss the Bible like a drunken Andrew Johnson in 1865, but neither did he touch the Bible when taking the oath.
“We get one of these guys every 160 years, whether we need it or not,” he said, “except now . . . we’ve had it twice. And why do we deserve it?” are?”
Maddow has rekindled his old fire except perhaps with more awareness that his show is one of the few remaining cable news venues where a liberal pundit and his interview subjects (NBC News Justice Department reporter Ryan Riley and Yale historian Joined by Timothy Snyder. (on her Monday) can bet without the moss of words.
“Trump’s transition to a second term has not been widely covered in the media as a defeat, but I think objectively it is a defeat,” Maddow said. “I mean, just to describe what’s happened in this transition, it’s not like we’ve seen any change in the modern era other than Trump’s other bad changes. It’s been mistake and humiliation upon mistake and humiliation. “
In Monday’s 25-minute introduction, Maddow quickly went through a parade of nepotism, cash-grabbing, graft, and underpayments for favors from foreign leaders.
Centrally, it focused on a cross display of loyalty by billionaires that followed Trump’s Jan. 6 pardon of more than 1,500 defendants, commuting the sentences of those convicted of treason. done, including the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
Maddow referred to Musk’s “Roman salute” as such — which is correct, and comparing the world’s richest man to a man who ran a beer hall just over a century ago. “The Roman salute is a thingShe said, if viewers weren’t picking up what she was putting down.
On night 2, Maddow got a boost when he drove to East Palestine, OH. I remember the 2023 train derailment, which was drilling on a bogus charity called the Ohio Clean Water Fund. It was his gateway to the attention of Ohio Congressman Michael Rowley (R-OH), who hired Mike People, one of the scam charity’s co-founders, as his communications director.
“What’s Ohio Congressman Michael Rowley Thinking?” Meadow asked incredulously. “I mean, it’s possible he’s not thinking anything about it, I don’t know how he thinks.” Then he mentioned the other headline for which Rowley is best known in his district: firing his gun at a young man who was accidentally hunting on his property.
Since forgetting recent history seems to be the American condition, here’s a reminder that “The Rachel Maddow Show” earned MSNBC its highest ratings during the first Trump administration, deftly historicalizing the craziness of the every day. Thanks to his host’s knack for putting things in perspective.
Maddow’s main goal was to praise the extensive coverage of Rowley and Peeples’ misdeeds in local Ohio news as an example of journalism’s ability to expose the shamelessness of politicians, expressing the hope that these individuals would will again be pushed to the point of admitting their shame.
As is true in Ohio, the same could be true on Capitol Hill, Maddow suggested, where reporters pressed senators on their views on Trump’s pardoning of violent insurgents and gave them no real idea. or not found a morally defensible answer.
“What they are effectively doing here by not raising objections. . . is something they cannot justify.” Maddow made the conclusion following footage showing senators refusing to disagree with Trump’s blanket pardon of the Jan. 6 rioters. He believes, possibly wrongly, that these senators felt “stomach-pounding self-loathing” for going along with Trump’s order.
“That sense of inability to say anything rational or true that justifies Trump opening the prison doors to 211 actively incarcerated people, many of whom were accused of torturing police officers . .that sickening feeling, maybe — that’s what will save the country,” he said Tuesday, “or at least, slow its descent.”
Since forgetting recent history seems to be the American condition, here’s a reminder that “The Rachel Maddow Show” earned MSNBC its highest ratings during the first Trump administration, deftly historicalizing the craziness of the every day. Thanks to his host’s knack for putting things in perspective.
After Biden took office, Maddow reduced her regular on-air presence to once a week and did live coverage of political events. As of Monday, she has returned to her old weeknight slot, with her partner Alex Wagner deciding to give her a Tuesday-Friday berth until April 30.
Theoretically.
Who knows what TV news will be like in 100 days? From Nielsen’s year-end numbers for 2024. Fox News’ competitors have a lot to worry about. It has attracted 72% of the prime-time cable news audience since the election, while MSNBC was down 57% since Trump’s re-election, CNN was down 49%.
But the TV news industry — with the exception of Fox, which has earned the nation’s most favorable status with Trump by offering non-stop worship coverage while spreading misinformation — has more to worry about than declining ratings. .
As MSNBC noted to Deadline, its viewership also declined after the 2016 election, only to enjoy four of the most-watched years in its history. Maddow led the charge.
This time, however, anchors and journalists from MSNBC and CNN find themselves in a much worse news environment. On Wednesday, Darcy reported that the layoffs were expected on CNN and NBC News on Thursday. ABC News staff are also expecting cuts. Maddo itself was reportedly not immune to its network’s austerity measures. According to The Ankler’s November reporthe recently took a $5 million pay cut in his five-year contract.
Six days before Trump’s inauguration, MSNBC president Rashida Jones resigned, and Rebecca Cutler, senior vice president for content strategy, took over in the interim.
CNN reporters, however, were surprised directly by network chief Mark Thompson, who told Darcy that a meeting had been called for Sunday and advised staffers to avoid prejudging Trump. And “be careful not to express any of your anger,” Darcy wrote.
As a further reminder, before being elected, Trump threatened Direct the Federal Communications Commission to revoke the broadcast licenses of NBC and ABC. ABC’s parent company Disney settled a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump against the broadcast network’s news division that experts agree it could have easily won. Additionally, the company donated $15 million toward his future presidential museum.
This may inform NBC’s decision. Describe Elon Musk’s gesture on your website video. As in “coercion [touching] His heart, before raising his hands and saluting the supporters” Although anyone who saw it understood what it meant, ah, we couldn’t. do not see.
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Maddow didn’t mention any of that prologue on Monday because she had more than enough to cover by the time her show started. Comparing Trump’s actions to those of authoritarian leaders in Hungary, Turkey, Zimbabwe, Chile and Peru, Maddow points out that while this is novel in American history, it is also well known in world history.
As Americans, he said, we’ve dealt with corruption and political violence before, citing the Civil War.
“But every one of these things before is considered a disaster and a scandal. This time it’s a platform,” Maddow said. That means today and literally the next few days, they’re going to see what they can get away with, and how much they can get people to oppose what they’re doing and Neither. Talking about what’s wrong with him.”
“More than ever,” he continued, “this is not the time to pretend it’s not happening. When you’re asked when your country started to turn on that foundation. What have you done for your country?”
This is where one might say it’s good to have Meadow back on weeknights to make sense of that 100-day leap, except that none of us want to be here – maybe not even Meadow.
But, “Here we are. This is happening in our lifetimes. Well, we are citizens responsible for the destiny of our country,” he said Monday, “all hands on deck.”
was said without exception,”And good luck to all of us.”
“The Rachel Maddow Show” airs Saturdays at 6 p.m. on MSNBC.
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