Trump praises CBS’ rightward shift as network’s ratings plummet

In an interview on “CBS Evening News” on Tuesday night, President Donald Trump mocked anchor Tony Dokoupil for having a job due to the network’s rightward shift following the 2024 election. The exchange comes as it was revealed that the network’s ratings have collapsed under the new conservative regime.

During the interview, Dokoupil discussed the ailing economy under Trump. Responding to growing concerns about rising prices as he imposes tariffs, Trump said, “A year and a half ago, our country was dead. We had a dead country. You wouldn’t have a job right now. If she [former Vice President Kamala Harris] got in, you probably wouldn’t have a job right now.”

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Trump went on to praise conservative David Ellison, chairman and CEO of CBS parent company Paramount, as “an amazing guy.” The president also reiterated to Dokoupil that he “wouldn’t have this job” unless Trump had won.

On the same day that CBS aired the Trump interview, it was revealed that Dokoupil’s first week anchoring the broadcast has been a ratings disaster.

Compared with a year ago, when Norah O’Donnell was anchoring the show, Nielsen ratings were down 23% in the first five days of Dokoupil’s run. Over the comparable five-day stretch, O’Donnell had an average of almost 5.4 million viewers. Dokoupil is averaging just under 4.2 million viewers.

By contrast, ABC’s “World News Tonight” had roughly 8.1 million viewers and “NBC Nightly News” scored about 6.7 million viewers over the same period.

Views may be tuning out due to segments like one that ran on last Tuesday’s broadcast, when Dokoupil said “we salute you” to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom he praised as “the ultimate Florida man.”

The fall for CBS comes after Paramount chose to pay out $16 million to Trump to settle a frivolous lawsuit, after which the Trump administration approved Paramount’s merger with Skydance. The action, characterized by many as a bribe, is under investigation by congressional Democrats.

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In another widely criticized pro-Trump move, CBS announced last July that it would cancel “The Late Show,” hosted by comedian and longtime Trump critic Stephen Colbert. A few months later, conservative activist Bari Weiss was installed as the editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Even Trump had a laugh at the expense of the network’s drift to the right, noting in a November interview with “60 Minutes” that the network “paid me a lot of money.” Conveniently, the mockery was omitted from the show’s broadcast.

A few weeks later, Weiss pulled a report from “60 Minutes” that highlighted the systematic abuse of inmates at El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, a Trump administration destination for migrants abducted from their families.

Things have gotten so bad at CBS that the network was mocked during its own broadcast of the Golden Globes on Sunday. During her monologue, host Nikki Glaser described the network as “America’s newest place to see B.S. news.”

Meanwhile, Weiss is reportedly enraged at the mockery and scrutiny of her stewardship of CBS News. Her wife, Nellie Bowles, complained about internal CBS criticism of Weiss in a piece for the right-wing Free Press, which Weiss still oversees.

But when even Trump is noting the network’s subservience to him, the bad news is unlikely to stop.

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