CNN Loses to Matt Gaetz When He Guest-Hosts Newsmax
Anyone who’s followed Rep. Matt Gaetz’s career in Congress has seen that he’s a showman who doesn’t mind the spotlight.
The Florida Republican scored points against Democrats with recordings of their own words during committee hearings; he wasn’t afraid to confront bogus Democratic witnesses during the 2019 impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump; he didn’t shy away from taking on Trump and his own party’s leadership during the House speaker fight back in January — to name just a few.
And on Friday night, he put that showmanship on the line against CNN veteran Anderson Cooper — and Cooper has to be hating the results.
Sitting as a substitute host on “Greg Kelly Reports” on Friday on the upstart conservative Newmax network, Gaetz outdrew Cooper in the 10 p.m. Eastern slot with 282,000 viewers to Cooper’s 249,000, according to the New York Post.
CNN loses prime time ratings battle to Newsmax show guest-hosted by Matt Gaetz https://t.co/r0yjcKTKbI pic.twitter.com/bbMku4W67e
— New York Post (@nypost) May 31, 2023
The congressman, now in his fourth term, opened the program with trademark humor.
“You’re on the right channel. If you’re confused, your eyes are not failing you, and Greg Kelly did not suddenly get better hair,” he said.
“I’m Matt Gaetz. Thanks for joining us on ‘Greg Kelly Reports.’ Greg has the night off and I have the biggest stories driving Washington, D.C., right now.”
Then he got into the debt-ceiling talks, inflation and the weaponization of the FBI against conservatives.
Check out his monologue here:
WATCH: @MattGaetz’s Full Opening Monologue on @NEWSMAX
“You’re on the right channel! If you’re confused, your eyes are not failing you and @GregKellyUSA did not suddenly get better hair. I’m Matt Gaetz. Thanks for joining us on Greg Kelly Reports. Greg has the night off, and… pic.twitter.com/EOkeXBw1pm
— Joel Valdez (@realJoelValdez) May 27, 2023
That’s current stuff, the kind of things Americans who turn on the news after 10 p.m. on a Friday night are interested in watching.
And what was the topic on “The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper”? A one-year retrospective on the May 24, 2022, mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
That’s an important topic, of course. The deaths of innocent children will always be important. (Is Planned Parenthood listening?)
But it’s also a topic that suits the Democratic mania for pushing progressive priorities under any guise — in this case, gun control.
The viewing numbers show Americans weren’t buying it.
Granted, Cooper, by far the biggest single name at CNN, beat Gaetz in the coveted demographic of viewers ages 25-54, but it’s a good bet many of them weren’t actually watching what was on the screen.
Younger adults tend to have better things to do on Friday nights than navel-gaze with Anderson Cooper, no matter what white noise is coming from the TV. Newsmax viewers are much more likely to be engaged in what they’re watching — or they wouldn’t have Newsmax on in the first place.
Meanwhile, the Post noted, both networks were whipped solidly by Fox News and MSNBC in the time slot.
“The Ingraham Angle” on Fox drew 1.2 million viewers, according to the Post, while MSNBC’s “Deadline White House” had 922,000.
So, the Gaetz level of showmanship isn’t up to toppling the cable news giant of Fox or MSNBC yet, but it looks like he’s more than capable of taking on a warmed-over has-been like Anderson Cooper rehashing a story from last year simply because it suits the liberal worldview.
He might not be ready to quit his day job of tormenting Democrats and members of his own party he paints as too much a part of establishment Washington, but if Matt Gaetz decides to go into the world of television full-time anytime soon, it looks like there’s at least the beginning of an audience waiting.
And that’s all any showman needs.
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