BREAKING Smartmatic, one of the voting systems companies subjected to a torrent of conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 election, has filed a massive $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, top Fox stars Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, as well as pro-Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. WELP The effort within the House GOP to oust Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) as retribution for voting the "wrong" way on Donald Trump's impeachment failed last night. Kind of an embarrassing moment for Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). Not to mention Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), as Morning Joe was quick to brutally remind him. Meanwhile, however, QAnon Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-BS) has faced no consequences or stripping of committee spots. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who voted to remove her from committees, absolutely blasted the GOP over it. Sean Hannity isn't too big of an MTG fan, either. Meghan McCain set fire to the GOP on Thursday over the debacle. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pretty sensitive about being asked about it. Still, in the end, it's the base that defines the party, and that base, it turns out, favors Greene over Cheney. By, like, a whole whopping lot. Welp, indeed. Shine On Former Fox News Co-President Bill Shine, who left the network in 2017 in the wake of the network’s sexual harassment scandal, is now a consultant for NewsNation, a recently-launched news network looking to compete with CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. Which has some insiders worried. McFish MacRage Newsmax anchor Greg Kelly is beginning to make a habit of rage-tweeting about his trips to McDonald’s, which he often refers to — in all caps — as “MACDONALD’S.” Most recently, Kelly told the sad tale of his inability to procure a “McFish” sandwich from “MACDONALD’S,” which resulted in an encounter that caused the restaurant’s employees to accuse him of being a “MALE KAREN.” "Please Don’t Do This!" Chris Hayes issued a simple but urgent plea for Democrats: Just give everybody a check! At the end of his Wednesday night show, the MSNBC host literally begged his guest Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and other Senate Democrats not to compromise on the Covid relief package by setting taxable income limits on those who can receive $1,400 direct payments. To the Pain The Princess Bride actor Cary Elwes dealt Texas Senator Ted Cruz an Inigo Montoya-esque death blow to end a very brief social media feud. Parler Former Parler CEO John Matze was “silenced” and pushed out of his company by conservative donor Rebekeh Mercer when he proposed policies to moderate content on the platform, Matze claims in an interview. Parler investor Dan Bongino tells a different story. Biden Memoir Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, is set to release a memoir entitled Beautiful Things, which will focus on his battle with substance abuse. Nicolle Wallace Beats Jake Tapper, Rachel Maddow Edges Out Tucker Carlson RATINGS in the tuesday ratings race, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace beat CNN’s Jake Tapper and the first hour of Wolf Blitzer’s show in total viewers, while Rachel Maddow just edged out Fox’s Tucker Carlson to again hold the top spot across all of cable. Fox’s prime time lineup had the biggest audience turnout, winning the night in total viewers. Deadline: White House averaged 2.21 million total viewers over its two hours, while Tapper’s The Lead and the first hour of Blitzer’s The Situation Room averaged a combined 2.03 million from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. In the key demographic of viewers age 25-54, however, CNN won out across those two hours, averaging 442,000 viewers in the demo, compared to 305,000 for Wallace. The Rachel Maddow Show, which has now been the most-watched show in cable news in recent days, had 3.56 million total viewers (590,000 in the demo), just ahead of 3.52 million (555,000 in the demo) for... [Read the rest from Mediaite+] Are you a Mediaite+ member? Be an insider, get the dirt, the ratings, the scoops, and more from exclusive content in an ad-free experience. Find out more and sign up here! 6.5.0 |