The Donald Trump administration—specifically its many unsettling foibles and terrifying missteps—has been very good for the ratings of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, but he’s not the only one benefitting from Trump’s penchant for fucking things up. According to Variety, MSNBC just logged its first week ever in the number one spot for both total viewers and the all-important 25-54 demographic, with CNN coming in second and Fox News in third in terms of the aforementioned demographic.
Entertainment Weekly adds that MSNBC was the most-watched network across all of cable in primetime for the week of May 15—aside from TNT, which had been showing NBA playoff games—pulling in an average of 2.44 million viewers each night. The Rachel Maddow Show has also been enjoying a big ratings boost, winning its time slot in terms of total viewers and helping MSNBC win the 25-54 demographic last week as well. Apparently, the big bump Maddow got back in March when she pulled her “Donald Trump’s tax returns” thing has stuck around.
Also, going back to Fox News, it actually spent five days in third place last week, with that being the news network’s longest losing streak in 17 years. Weirdly, it’s almost like the shows and networks that are willing to call Donald Trump out on his bullshit are enjoying huge surges in popularity, while the shows and networks that kiss his ring and ruffle his hair are left in the dust.