MSNBC Not Having a Great Week

MSNBC is not having a great week so far. Yesterday former host Joy Reid was in the news again, this time accusing her former network of trying to silence her to please President Trump. This all came up in an interview she did with Katie Couric.

“I try not to speculate too much publicly because, again, I can’t get inside the minds of other people. But I can tell you what other people have speculated about… There are lots of people at the network who are critical of Donald Trump. I mean, and they’re still critical of him, I’m assuming, you know. So I don’t think that’s [it], but I do know there is a lot of anxiety both there and, I think, in every media. We’re seeing it at CBS,” she said, referring to Trump’s lawsuit against the network over a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris…

Couric pointed out that there was no difference between Reid and liberal hosts Nicolle Wallace or Rachel Maddow, to which Reid responded, “only in one way was I different. I’m a Black woman doing the thing.”

“I think that there is a difference for Trump in hearing the kinds of criticisms specifically out of a Black woman, it bothers him in a way it doesn’t bother him like anything else. He’s got this sort of tick about race, you know, and about, sort of criticism coming specifically from a Black woman because we’ve seen him lay out and dish out real abuse against Black women journalists,” Reid said during her conversation with Couric.

“I did a specific thing, which was, I tried to constantly unpack the racial history of the country, which is very much against the sort of Project 2025 thing. And it’s something I can do in a certain capacity because of my background, because not only am I a Black woman, but I come from immigrant parents who come from what Donald Trump would consider s—hole countries, but that have a take on race that is different,” Reid continued.

This is typical Joy Reid. She’s trying not to speculate but of course the answer that immediately comes to her mind is that Trump singled her out because she’s black. The fact that Trump didn’t fire her, MSNBC did, seems like a minor flaw in her theory. But with her everything is always about race, hers and the people she’s attacking. Not mentioned by Reid as a possible explanation for losing her gig was her pathetic ratings which were likely a result of her obsession with race.

“The ReidOut” has shed 47% of its total audience, averaging just 759,000 viewers after averaging 1.4 million viewers throughout 2024 leading up to Election Day, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Reid lost even more viewers among the advertiser-coveted demographic ages 25-54, losing a whopping 52% of them, now averaging only 76,000 key demo viewers.

Speaking of ratings, how is new and improved lineup at MSNBC doing? Not so great it turns out. Jen Psaki, who replaced Rachel Maddow in the 9 pm timeslot, has lost about half of Maddow’s audience.

The 45-year-old anchor, who made a name for herself with her quick-witted “Psaki bombs” while serving as former President Joe Biden’s press secretary — but has since insisted she never saw signs of his mental decline — has drawn an average of 971,000 viewers since “The Briefing with Jen Psaki” debuted on May 6 through May 28, according to the latest Nielsen ratings.

That’s a staggering 47% falloff from the eyeballs attracted by Maddow and Alex Wagner in the timeslot.

The drop-off is even more pronounced in the critical 25–54 age demographic prized by advertisers, where she drew just 78,000 viewers — a 52% decline compared to the 161,000 that Maddow and Wagner drew during their shows this year.

“She’s kinda boring. She’s not a great broadcaster,” one media insider told The Post on Tuesday.

As for the show that replaced The Reid Out? That’s also doing poorly.

The network also canceled Joy Reid’s program “The ReidOut” and replaced it with “The Weeknight,” an ensemble program featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair who now staunchly opposes the GOP.

“The Weeknight” debuted on May 5 and averaged 776,000 total viewers through May 28 for a 12% drop compared to the 886,000 total viewers that “The ReidOut” and other temporary programs managed throughout 2025 in the 7 p.m. ET timeslot before changes went into effect.

“The Weeknight” shed even more viewers from the key demo, as the new MSNBC show averaged 72,000 for a 20% decrease, compared to the 90,000 demo viewers who tuned into the 7 p.m. ET timeslot before the ensemble program kicked off. 

They’ve created a show that is actually underperforming Joy Reid. That’s where MSNBC is at now. Of course some of that is probably just the result of the news cycle. There was a lot of energy when Trump was elected and then when he assumed office. Once we passed the first 100 days that interest level probably isn’t sustainable. 

Still, it can’t be good news that MSNBC is now finishing behind CNN (last month) and that only one of the newly created shows that were part of the February shakeup has seen numbers improve. It’s a bad sign for MSNBC and also probably for progressives who watch it. There’s just not as much resistance energy happening as they were hoping.