SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

DECLINE OF A NETWORK – FROM FOX:    Struggling CNN didn’t have a single program surpass the 1-million viewer plateau on Thursday.  "Anderson Cooper 360" came the closest, averaging 992,000, but the scandal-plagued "Cuomo Prime Time" lost 40,000 viewers and "Don Lemon Tonight" managed only 635,000 to drag down CNN’s primetime average.  CNN averaged only 719,000 viewers during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, while Fox News averaged 2.08 million during the same time period. CNN has failed to reach more than 1 million total viewers on 16 different days from June 9 through July 8.  CNN struggled to attract viewers throughout the day, starting with "New Day" attracting an audience of merely 421,000. The liberal network failed to reach even 800,000 viewers until "Erin Burnett OutFront" managed 849,000 at 7 p.m. ET.
Meanwhile, every Fox News program from 7 a.m. ET through the conclusion of "Gutfeld!" at midnight ET averaged more than 1 million viewers. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" led the way, averaging 3.2 million viewers to outdraw all of CNN’s primetime programming combined.  CNN has found it difficult to attract an audience during the Biden era as the liberal network searches for a post-Trump identity. During the second quarter of 2021, CNN averaged only 654,000 viewers compared to 1.2 million for Fox News.  CNN made a conscious decision to make itself the anti-Trump network.  The chieftains apparently never thought what would happen if Trump were no longer president.  They'd better think again.

TACKY, TACKY, TACKY – FROM FOX:  Staffers for Vice President Kamala Harris took to Twitter to show off a post-Fourth of July BBQ hosted at Naval Observatory amid reports of a tumultuous atmosphere in the West Wing.  The party held on Thursday came just days after reports surfaced detailing low morale in the vice president’s office.  A report by Politico last week detailed 22 interviews from current and former White House staffers who depicted a tense scene of infighting in Harris’s office, describing the working atmosphere as "tense and at times dour."  Harris, along with her husband Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, appeared in pictures posted to social media with roughly 60 White House aides, surrounded by blue-and-white checkered tablecloths, food and glasses of what appeared to be wine.  "What an honor to be at the Vice President’s residence with incredible colleagues for a post-July 4th BBQ," personal aide to the vice president, Opal Vadhan, said in a tweet. "As always an honor to work on a team that looks like America."   Harris’s chief spokesperson Symone Sanders joined in and posted more than a dozen photos of herself with her colleagues.  I mean, come on.  You get roasted for treating your staff badly, and your first instinct is to throw a party for said unhappy staff.  And get plenty of photos for the press.  How tacky is that?  Nothing like being obvious.  I wonder how the staff was treated the next day.

July 9,  2021