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Chuck Todd
NBC News political director Chuck Todd has had a great ratings year, both on his daily MSNBC show and on the Sunday flagship Meet the Press.
In the latest look at ratings, he and MTP took home the trophy once again.
In its eighth straight coronavirus-focused program, the venerable program defeated all comers, pulling in an impressive 4.42 million viewers overall and 1.06 million in the demo The hour-long version of CBS’ Face the Nation came in second with 3.63 million and 765,000, respectively, while ABC’s This Week placed third with 3.21 million overall and 715,000 in the demo.
This past Sunday's win continues MTP‘s strong seasonal performance, which includes its ninth consecutive monthly ratings in the demo over Face the Nation, 1.06 million to 957,000. But CBS’ Sunday morning show managed to eke out an April victory over rival NBC in overall viewers for the month, 4.44 million to 4.29 million.
But the Meet the Press dominance on Sunday morning isn't the only takeaway, Fox's primetime saw a reversal of the reversal of fortunes between it's two top Monday night programs. Read more in our Mediaite+ report, here. 6.5.0 |
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Elon Musk
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, in a series of tweets, joined calls to immediately reopen the country despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Many public figures have expressed the need for the economy, and jobs, to reopen as quickly (and safely) as possible, but some groups are protesting for a rather more radical and immediate cessation of the measures in place against the spread of Covid-19.
Those groups have held protests, in some cases spreading the virus, demanding that they be "liberated," a sentiment somehow echoed by President Donald Trump, whose administration has guided the lockdown process in the first place.
It is that brand of "reopen" Musk was on board for.
“FREE AMERICA NOW,” Musk tweeted Wednesday, receiving over 100,000 likes. He also replied "True" to a tweet from a prominent pro-Trump account saying that Americans are "giving up their blood bought freedom to corrupt politicians who promise them safety."
It's not his first brush with the more radical reactions to the pandemic. Surely his motivation isn't something less virtuous than freedom, though.
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| Remdesivir The most forward face of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Dr. Anthony Fauci, today highlighted the apparent effectiveness of the drug Remdesivir in treating those with the Covid-19 coronavirus.
Calling results of trials “quite good news," Fauci explained that the drug, manufactured by Gilead, has shown a positive effect in reducing time it takes to recover.
"It’s highly significant," he said.
Sports
In less good Fauci news, the doctor offered a grim take on when major sporting events will be allowed to resume in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
"We may have to go without," he said.
Amash Smash
Rep. Justin Amash, the former Republican turned Independent, announced on Tuesday the formation of a presidential exploratory committee for the Libertarian Party 2020 nomination.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump trolled the congressman over the news.
"I like him even more than Jill Stein!” he said.
Mayor Error
Mayor Bill de Blasio took major blowback in both social media and the real press over his threat to arrest Jewish citizens of New York City who appeared to ignore social distancing orders while mourning the death of a recently passed rabbi. "The time for warnings has passed," wrote de Blasio.
"You lowlife cretinous bobblehead," one response read.
Mitt Romney
Senator Mitt Romney (R- UT) criticized the federal government response to the coronavirus at an event on Tuesday. Without mentioning President Donald Trump by name, Romney said that the U.S. was "clearly" not in a "position of extraordinary strength” in the initial response. But it wasn't all bad news.
The nation will, after the worst is over, "maintain the reputation we have as being a leader, if not the leader, of the world," he said.
God's Waiting Room
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a macabre wisecrack about his state’s elderly residents during a briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, which is claiming the lives of tens of thousands of elderly Americans.
“Florida is ground zero for the nursing home, we’re God’s waiting room," he said.
Polls
Former Vice President and current presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by a whopping 15 points when Americans are asked whom they prefer to handle the coronavirus crisis.
Good News
Italian city Prato, near Florence, has the largest concentration of Chinese residents in Europe and was predicted to become the country’s coronavirus epicenter. Instead, according to reports, Italy’s ‘Little China’ has avoided the outbreak almost entirely.
And it was thanks to a lockdown. 6.5.0 |
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🎤 "I did not envision they would become some afternoon matinee show." In Their Words: Mike McCurry, who served for three years as former President Bill Clinton’s press secretary, established the modern concept of live White House briefings airing on TV. He now regrets allowing the real time event, saying such briefings have become an “afternoon matinee show.”
Mediaite's Rudy Takala has the fascinating interview... |
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| Side-by-Side Fox News anchor Ed Henry defended ABC News chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl from President Donald Trump’s attacks on Wednesday, recalling in an interview that Karl challenged former President Barack Obama too during press briefings.
Henry explained how it was often Jon Karl who would defend fair questions from Fox News when President Barack Obama was in office, and said that Karl challenges "both sides."
It's a great moment, and a good reminder of good journalism. |
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