No one’s even watching

| 6:35 pm EDT October 16, 2018
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Donald Trump is at least partly in the position he’s in now because he made a point of consistently saying such horrible things, it caused the bottom feeders of society to fall in love with him, and it caused normal people to be too disgusted to look away. The focus was always on his slimy antics instead of his criminal scandals, meaning the referendum has always been on how slimy he is, and not which prison he belongs in. But something major has shifted here.

During the election, and even to an extent during the first year of his illegitimate presidency, Donald Trump’s dumpster fire political rally speeches were ratings gold. For that reason, all three major cable news networks routinely aired them. It allowed Trump to control the narrative, and thus control the country. But somewhere along the way, people started changing the channel whenever Trump started rambling, and sure enough, all three networks – even Fox News – largely stopped airing his speeches. Now things have taken a new turn.

Donald Trump’s handlers are clearly worried that the control of the national narrative is slipping away from him ahead of the midterm elections, and so they decided to put him on 60 Minutes this weekend. Trump is never received warmly by the kinds of mainstream American viewers who tune in for something like a 60 Minutes interview, but it’s better for him if the story is about him being an idiot instead of him being a criminal, right? Not so much, because no one watched.

Fewer than twelve million people tuned in for Donald Trump’s 60 Minutes interview. That’s less than five percent of the country. It’s about about half the number of people who tuned in to see Stormy Daniels dish on Trump to 60 Minutes earlier this year. The bottom line: no one’s even watching Trump anymore. If he can’t control the narrative, he can’t keep himself out of prison.