On Thursday's New Day, during a discussion of the Republican National Convention failing so far to post a ratings boost in contrast with past years, CNN Senior Reporter for Media and Politics Dylan Byers at one point put down the lineup of Republican speakers so far as mostly being a "dog's breakfast of D-list talent."
As co-host Alisyn Camerota burst out laughing at his jab at Republicans, fellow panel member and CNN Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter jumped in to slightly tone down his colleague's negative assessment: "Well, a B-C list."
Earlier in the segment, Stelter and Byers recalled that, in contrast with the Republican debates which received record viewing numbers, the convention so far has not outperformed previous years. Co-host Chris Cuomo pointed out that Trump's big speech is not until Thursday, so it is perhaps expected that his involvement would not pull in many new viewers until the night he is featured.
Byers then made his over the top jab at the GOP speakers lineup:
And tonight should be different. And suddenly you're getting a little taste of Trump, except there isn't that much star power in the arena outside of Trump. I mean, certainly, Mike Pence's speech was a big deal. you know, Laura Ingraham is sort of a big deal among the right, but so many of these people who are coming out is sort of just this like dog's breakfast of D-list talent.
An amused Camerota exclaimed, "Dog's breakfast!"
Stelter then jumped in:
Well, a B-C list, but I would say: Where was Trump on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday? You know, I'm surprised he chose not to speak more. Now, listen, if he had spoken more, if he had given long speeches, we probably would have ridiculed him and said he was trying to make it all about himself.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, July 21, New Day on CNN:
6:51 a.m. ET
BRIAN STELTER: The ratings are not that high, and that might be a harbinger of a problem for the GOP in the fall.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: So the ratings for this one are not as high as for 2008 and 2012.
STELTER: That's right. They're basically mellow. They're not much higher, but they're not much lower. You would think that with Donald Trump, with the Trump show, you would have had a Trump ratings bump. But we haven't really seen that. So there's these timing issues, some production problems, and there hasn't been a sense of must-see TV, except on cable where we've been covering the election all year.
DYLAN BYERS: This guy blew the debate ratings out of the water. You go back to the first debate when those debates in the summer.
STELTER: Twenty-five million viewers.
BYERS: Yeah, and they should have had, what, three million in an average election year? And here he's having this convention which was supposed to be the showbiz convention, and we're not even seeing the ratings from past cycles.
CHRIS CUOMO: But what's the difference? The difference is, in the debates it was all about Trump. He was on the whole time. That's why you were watching. Here you're only getting a little taste. Until tonight.
BYERS: Until tonight. And tonight should be different. And suddenly you're getting a little taste of Trump, except there isn't that much star power in the arena outside of Trump. I mean, certainly, Mike Pence's speech was a big deal. you know, Laura Ingraham is sort of a big deal among the right, but so many of these people who are coming out is sort of just this like dog's breakfast of D-list talent.
CAMEROTA: (laughing): Dog's breakfast!
STELTER: Well, a B-C list, but I would say: Where was Trump on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday? You know, I'm surprised he chose not to speak more. Now, listen, if he had spoken more, if he had given long speeches, we probably would have ridiculed him and said he was trying to make it all about himself.
