No one would call Kasie Hunt a conservative. But as the host of CNN This Morning, Hunt did regularly include actual Republicans, most often Brad Todd or Matt Gorman, on her panels.
If not MAGA per se, Todd and Gorman are solidly mainstream GOP, and regularly, and ably, defended Republican and Trump administration positions.
But one week ago today, Audie Cornish replaced Hunt as host of CNN This Morning. And--poof!--Trump-friendly Republicans have virtually disappeared from the show.
Today marked the fifth episode of CNN This Morning with Cornish at the helm. Let's review the panels Audie has assembled, identifying any Republicans or conservatives.
Cornish set the new tone with her debut show on March 3rd. No Republican on the panel. Jonah Goldberg was present. And while Jonah has been an authentic conservative intellectual, he has been strongly critical of Trump, as is reflected in The Dispatch, of which he is co-founder. He's brought on CNN to attack Trump.
On March 4th, not even a nominal Republican or a conservative.
On March 5th, Cornish did grant a spot to her first Republican, Kristen Soltis Anderson. Anderson is a pollster, not typically an opinioniator. And while she is not a Never-Trumper, neither is she expected to be a defender of the president.
On March 6th, Cornish created an all-female panel with no Republican or conservative in sight.
March 7th was once again Republican-free. Michael Warren, a former CNN reporter and current editor of the aforementioned Trump-unfriendly Dispatch was on the panel. Warren also worked at Bill Kristol's Weekly Standard, but he's followed Kristol into CNN-pleasing territory.
Which brings us to today. Doug Heye was on the panel. And while a Republican, Doug is anything but a Trump fan. In 2016, he announced that he would not vote for Trump if he won the nomination, denouncing him as "a charlatan posing as a conservative — and a dangerous demagogue." During the 2024 campaign, Doug appeared on an Anderson Cooper segment in support of the notion that Trump lied when he dared to criticize the Biden administration's response to Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.
In contrast with the absence of Trump-friendly panelists, Cornish has peopled her panels with a number of former Biden administration officials, all too happy to tear into Trump.
Cornish is a former co-host of All Things Considered. Like they say, you can take the journalist out of NPR. But you can't take the NPR out of the journalist!
C'mon Audie. Seventy-seven million Americans voted for Trump. How about inviting onto CNN This Morning panelists who firmly reflect their voices? Your show would be all the more interesting and entertaining for it!
