Former President Donald Trump and his campaign attacked CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, posting an invective-filled article that slammed her new show’s ratings.
After moving to CNN to cover the White House, Collins distinguished herself with adversarial reporting, questions, and commentary during the Trump years. She has been a frequent up-and-comer on Mediaite’s Most Influential list.
And while CNN’s town hall with Trump was widely derided for its showcasing of Trump’s lies, attacks, and abuse of Collins as the moderator in front of a hooting, cheering, and laughing crowd that encouraged him every step of the way, Collins was widely praised for standing toe-to-toe with Trump — and drawing out some newsmaking admissions.
After a stint co-hosting CNN This Morning, Collins was tapped to host The Source with Kaitlan Collins in the 9 o’clock hour — and after a little over a month on the air, the show is being targeted by Trump and the conservative media over its ratings.
On Saturday, Trump posted a message to Truth Social — followed by a Trump campaign email — which read “ICYMI: ‘Nolte: Report—‘CNN Leadership Unhappy’ With Kaitlan Collins and Her Dismal Ratings’.”
The article is an aggregation of other reporting by right-wing Breitbart and its senior writer John Nolte, who opens by saying:
The latest reporting from inside CNN, the basement-rated fake news outlet that will almost certainly be sold for parts within the next few years, suggests that the outlet’s leadership is not pleased with Kaitlan Collins, nor with the ratings of The Source.
CNN should’ve listened to me. After all, my advice is as insightful as it is free. Nurse Ratched was never going to succeed as an anchor, much less a prime-time anchor, much less the 9:00 p.m. anchor. Collins has all the appeal of a first wife, so why put her directly against MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday nights and Alex Wagner Tuesday through Friday nights?
The piece aggregates gossip site RadarOnline’s aggregation of a Puck article that notes “Six weeks in, Collins’ show has shown little substantive growth and draws roughly a third of the audience that Rachel Maddow and Alex Wagner average on MSNBC, and a quarter of the audience Sean Hannity draws on Fox News.”
But those figures do not take into account the situation Collins took over in July, just weeks after CNN lost to Newsmax in that timeslot for the first time ever. As Puck’s Dylan Byers noted, Collins continues to contribute important reporting, but her show has also become known for newsworthy interviews like her epic sit-down with former Trump AG Bill Barr.
