PERFECT PLATFORM

Humiliated Trump Rushes to MAGA-Fied Network for First Interview Since Election Disaster

CBS has shifted right under new ownership.

The president is scrambling to a network owned by a Trump-friendly billionaire for his first in-depth interview since Republicans suffered sweeping losses in the midterms.

Trump is slated to tape an interview Friday for Sunday’s 60 Minutes, CNN’s Brian Stelter reported on X. The sit-down is Trump’s first in-depth interview since the Republican Party’s midterm losses on Tuesday, and CBS News sources confirmed the plan to CNN while cautioning it hasn’t taken place yet.

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The White House schedule lists “a pre-tape interview” at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. It is a high-profile stage, since 60 Minutes is the highest-rated newsmagazine on American TV.

The interviewer is Ross Douthat, a conservative former New York Times columnist who joined 60 Minutes as a correspondent and has frequently been critical of Trump. He previously interviewed Vice President JD Vance for his Times podcast. In a column earlier this week, Douthat depicted the midterms as a failure of “the New Right.”

The day after the midterms, Trump spoke to reporters at the site of his $600 million White House ballroom project without mentioning the election results once.

CBS News reported Thursday that Trump will use his lame-duck period to prioritize building his presidential library in Miami. “The president’s attention is all over the place,” a former White House official who remains close to the administration told MS NOW. “How many people are preparing briefs on what marble to pick for X project?”

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One longtime Trump adviser said the 80-year-old president is not as upset about the midterms as people might expect, since he can return to “his happy place” of overseeing renovation and real estate projects. “His skyscraper just got cut down by 30 percent, and he is gonna find a way to rebuild,” the adviser said.

Trump last appeared on 60 Minutes in April, in an interview with Norah O’Donnell that turned contentious. He called her a “disgrace” and said, “You’re horrible people.”

He refused a traditional pre-election 60 Minutes interview in 2024. His opponent, Kamala Harris, sat for one, and Trump then sued CBS, claiming it was deceptively edited. Legal experts said the suit was frivolous, but CBS’ owners at the time paid Trump $16 million to make the matter go away, sparking outrage across the news industry.

Trump-friendly billionaire David Ellison acquired CBS’ parent company Paramount last August and installed Bari Weiss, pro-Trump cofounder of the conservative outlet The Free Press, as its head of news. Under Weiss, the network saw upheaval and internal tension that led to the exits of several of its biggest anchor stars, much of it stemming from her changes to 60 Minutes.

Weiss also shelved a segment critical of the Trump administration’s decision to deport migrants to a notorious prison in El Salvador, part of her efforts to overhaul the show.

Producers at the show are questioning whether it is worth pursuing “politically sensitive” stories if Weiss will not “stand behind them when the Trump administration inevitably lashes out.”

“Why take the risk of pursuing a tough story, the thinking goes, if the people at the top might throw you overboard at the first sign of political blowback?” wrote Status’ Oliver Darcy.

The White House has been contacted for comment.

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