NEWS AND OPINION:
Could Feb. 15 be a red-letter day for Nikki Haley?
The two-term conservative former governor of South Carolina and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is set to “deliver a special announcement on her vision for a strong and proud America” in seven days, and on her home turf in Charleston, South Carolina.
Press accounts insist that this day will mark the beginning of her 2024 presidential bid. News organizations are already contemplating the greater implications of her entrance into the race. It’s complicated.
The Daily Beast, for example, offered an examination of the possibilities titled “Inside the Trump Campaign’s Plan to Take Down Nikki Haley.”
The news organization quoted an unnamed Republican strategist who said that Ms. Haley was the “Carly Fiorina of 2024.”
For those who need a refresher, Ms. Fiorina — a high-profile business executive — ran for president in 2016. Sen. Ted Cruz named her as the person he’d pick as vice presidential running mate if he won the GOP’s White House nomination.
One more press account, however, has taken the possibility of Ms. Haley running for a higher office to a whole other level.
“A DeSantis-Haley ticket? Now, that’s the way Republicans move past Donald Trump,” wrote Jon Gabriel, an opinion contributor to The Arizona Republic.
LATE-NIGHT LIBERALS
Political persuasion can be a subtle thing, particularly when it flourishes in popular media. Such is the case of late-night talk shows, which are clearly dominated by liberal hosts and guests, according to a painstaking study.
“Late-night comedy shows ended 2022 with a unanimously liberal guest count and that trend continued until the very last day of January,” advises a Media Research Center analysis of six late-night comedy shows from Sept. 5 through Dec. 31.
The study tracked the political and ideological persuasions of guests who appeared on the shows in that time period, with noteworthy findings.
“Liberal guests outnumbered conservative guests 93 to 1. It was 99% liberal and/or Democrat,” wrote analyst Alex Christy. Among the 27 politicians who appeared during the studio period, 100% were Democrats, he said.
“Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O’Rourke, and former first lady Michelle Obama were the guests who appeared multiple times during the length of the study,” Mr. Christy wrote.
The study looked at the six late-night comedy shows that air each weekday night: ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” NBC’s “Late Night With Seth Meyers” and “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” CBS’ “The Late Show
With Stephen Colbert” and “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”
Fox News Channel’s “Gutfeld” — currently a ratings winner for the cable channel — was not included in the study, which was released Monday and can be found at Newsbusters.org.
IVY-COVERED HALLS, PT. 1
Here’s news from the world of higher education. Harvard Medical School will add “climate change” to their curriculum for doctors in training, set to become a full curriculum entry on July 1.
“The new climate change curriculum will examine the impact of climate change on health and health inequality, applications of these impacts to clinical care, and the role of physicians and health institutions in arriving at climate solutions,” according to the Harvard Crimson, the school’s student newspaper.
“Climate change’s negative health effects include the increased spread of infectious diseases, heat-related harm during extreme weather events, and lung disease due to pollution,” Harvard Medical School student Julia R. Malits told the student paper.
“It’s going to be increasingly important for people in leadership roles in healthcare and other industries to integrate climate change and climate-related hazards into their strategic decision making as they lead organizations,” said Caleb J. Dresser, a climate and human health fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.
IVY-COVERED HALLS, PT. 2
Health, wealth and happiness sounds like an ideal topic for discussion. This may not be the case Wednesday, at an Arizona State University event titled “Health, Wealth and Happiness.”
The event, hosted by ASU’s Barrett Honors College, features Charlie Kirk — founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative grassroots activist network for college students — and radio host and author Dennis Prager. Bestselling author Robert Kiyosaki (“Rich Dad, Poor Dad” is also on the roster of speakers.
Faculty at the esteemed school fired off a letter of protest and organized a petition against the event — signed by 37 of 47 Barrett faculty members as of Feb. 2.
Mr. Prager pushed back, offering a public pledge to “support free speech, open dialogue and every American’s right to engage in public discourse.”
He also cited a passage from the letter which referred to him — and Mr. Kirk — as “purveyors of hate,” with an “anti-intellectual agenda,” among other things.
“Our collective efforts to promote Barrett as a home for inclusive excellence demand that we distance ourselves from the hate that these provocateurs hope to legitimate by attaching themselves to Barrett’s name,” the letter advised. It also took issue with Mr. Kiyosaki, advising that “key calls in his best-selling book have been widely debunked.”
FOXIFIED
In the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 5, Fox News Channel bested its cable news rivals for the 103rd consecutive week with 2.3 million prime-time viewers according to Nielsen Media Research.
MSNBC attracted an average prime-time audience of 1 million viewers, while CNN drew 565,000 viewers. Fox News also aired 95 of the top 100 cable news telecasts that week.
As usual, “The Five” ruled the ratings roost with 3.3 million average daily viewers, followed by “Tucker Carlson Tonight” with 3.2 million and “Jesse Watters Primetime” with 2.9 million.
In the mornings, “Fox & Friends” topped cable rivals for the 98th week in a row, drawing an audience of 1.2 million, outdistancing both CNN’s “This Morning” (348,000 viewers) and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” (803,000).
POLL DU JOUR
• 38% of U.S. adults expect that the U.S. economy to be “in recession” in the next year.
• 24% expect the economy to be “slowing but not in a recession.”
• 18% expect the economy to be “holding steady.”
• 16% expect the economy to be “growing but not booming.”
• 4% expect the economy to be “booming.”
SOURCE: A CBS News Poll of 2,030 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 1-4.
• Contact Jennifer Harper at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
• Jennifer Harper can be reached at jharper@washingtontimes.com.
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