Left-wing cable news programs are now paying the price for their all-Russia-all-the-time news coverage. Primetime anchors like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow built monster ratings around Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, trafficking in Beltway gossip suggesting President Trump was one misstep away from landing himself behind bars.
Unfortunately for Maddow, her house of cards built on Trump-Russia collusion came crashing down on Sunday with the release of Attorney General William Barr’s summary letter, which effectively exonerated the president of any wrongdoing. Since then, Maddow’s top-rated cable show has taken a beating, dropping to the sixth-rated spot and losing as many as 500,000 loyal viewers from the week prior, according to the Daily Beast.
Maddow has lost something more valuable than ratings, however. The MSNBC host’s credibility is shot after hitting the Russia collusion conspiracy so consistently and for so long.
Ratings in the tank
Back in 2017, before the special counsel was established and long before journalists had any solid facts concerning the FBI’s Russia investigation, Maddow’s program was intensely focused on the conspiracy. According to an analysis of her show in early 2017, Maddow focused on the Russia investigation 53 percent of the time.
“Maddow’s Russia coverage has dwarfed the time devoted to other top issues, including Trump’s escalating crackdown on undocumented immigrants (1.3 percent of coverage); Obamacare repeal (3.8 percent); the legal battle over Trump’s Muslim ban (5.6 percent), a surge of anti-GOP activism and town halls since Trump took office (5.8 percent), and Trump administration scandals and stumbles (11 percent),” the analysis reads.
However, Maddow enjoyed rich rewards for being a one-trick-pony. During the same period, she earned her best ratings in a decade, dominating the cable news market for four straight weeks in March 2017.
The truth will set you free
But now that Americans know the truth, that “the Special Counsel did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government,” Maddow’s 9 p.m. show is suddenly less attractive to thousands of former fans.
Maxwell Tani and Lloyd Glove from The Daily Beast have one theory suggesting why once loyal viewers are now avoiding The Rachel Maddow Show like the plague. “[T]he Mueller disappointment drove loyal viewers away in much the same way that people avoid looking at their 401(k)s when the stock market is down,” they surmised.
Lesson learned?
Indeed, nobody wants to drink from the Russia conspiracy cup when they are suffering so miserably from a Mueller report hangover. The good news for those viewers who are gluttons for punishment is that Maddow doesn’t appear to be letting go of her collusion fantasies just yet.
“Can we expect President Trump and the Trump White House to finally accept the underlying factual record that Russia did in fact attack us?” Maddow asked. “I know, I know, I’m just getting crazy. But the Barr report has given us this whirlwind of questions. The Mueller report, if and when we see it, should answer most of them. But tick tock, how long do we have to wait?”
If Maddow is lucky, Barr will take his sweet time releasing the full Mueller report. This will give the liberal news anchor something to talk about that will keep her die-hard Russiagate fans watching.
But once the truth comes out– all of it — Maddow can kiss her ratings goodbye.
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