Chuck Todd Leaving Top NBC Show, Announces This Is His Final Summer
Chuck Todd said on Sunday that he’ll be leaving “Meet the Press” after a tumultuous near-decade of moderating the NBC political panel show, to be replaced in the coming months by Kristen Welker.
Todd, 51, told viewers that “I’ve watched too many friends and family let work consume them before it was too late” and that he’d promised his family he wouldn’t do that.
Todd had many critics, including former President Donald Trump, and there were rumors that his time at the show would be short when its executive producer was reassigned at the end of last summer, but NBC gave no indication this was anything other than Todd’s decision. It’s unclear when Todd’s last show will be, but he told viewers that this would be his final summer.
“I leave feeling concerned about this moment in history but reassured by the standards we’ve set here,” Todd said. “We didn’t tolerate propagandists, and this network and program never will.”
Welker, a former chief White House correspondent, has been at NBC News in Washington since 2011 and has been Todd’s chief fill-in for the past three years. She moderated the final presidential debate between Trump, a Republican, and Joe Biden, a Democrat, in 2020.
Now Welker, 46, will be thrust into what promises to be another contentious presidential election cycle.
The Sunday morning political interview show has aired since 1947, led by inventor and first host Martha Rountree. Its peak came in the years that Tim Russert moderated, from 1991 until his death in 2008, with its footing less certain since then. Tom Brokaw briefly filled in after Russert’s death, and David Gregory replaced him until being forced out in favor of Todd.
Todd said that he was proud of expanding the “Meet the Press” brand to a daily show, which initially aired on MSNBC but was shifted to streaming, along with podcasts, newsletters, and even a film festival.
Todd alluded to his critics in announcing his exit on Sunday.
“If you do this job seeking popularity, you are doing this job incorrectly,” he said. “I take the attacks from partisans as compliments. And I take the genuine compliments with a grain of salt when they come from partisans.”
The goal of each show, he said, is to “make you mad, make you think, shake your head in disapproval at some point and nod your head in approval at others.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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