Trump's 60 Minutes Interview Was a Ratings Flop

By Yohana Desta, Vanity Fair

17 October 18

The president’s interview got about half the viewership that Stormy Daniels got back in March.

he universe has granted Stormy Daniels a small, petty win, just one day after her defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump was dismissed by a federal judge in California—and just a few hours after the president gloated about the case on Twitter, belligerently calling the adult-film star “horseface.” According to the A.P., the president’s 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night reached 11.7 million viewers, just over half as many as Daniels pulled for her own blockbuster 60 Minutes interview back in March. Around 22 million viewers tuned in then to watch Daniels discuss her alleged 2006 affair with the president. That interview got the program’s highest ratings since a 2008 interview with Barack and Michelle Obama.

Trump’s episode also flopped in comparison to his 60 Minutes interview in 2016, which drew 20 million viewers. In the latest interview, conducted by Lesley Stahl, Trump was asked about an array of topics, from the tariffs he’s slapped on China to his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. “I’m not a baby,” he said when Stahl rattled off a quick list of accusations surrounding Kim, pressing Trump to explain his adoration for the dictator. “I know these things.”

The president also spoke about Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and his Mississippi speech, the one in which he mimicked the professor and essentially accused her of lying about her sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh (who denied the accusation). “I’m not gonna get into it because we won,” Trump said when asked if, in hindsight, he thought had been disrespectful toward Ford. “It doesn’t matter. We won.”

While his bombastic quotes hurtled around the Internet, one particular image from the interview also got attention: a painting that now hangs in the White House and shows Trump sitting at a table and having drinks with Republican presidents of the past, including Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. Titled “The Republican Club,” the piece is by artist Andy Thomas and was a gift to the president from Rep. Darrell Issa. Viewers also got a glimpse at a jar full of red and pink Starburst candies within arm’s reach of Trump’s desk.

Sunday night, it turns out, was a bit of a ratings pit for Trumps across the board, including the president’s principle Saturday Night Live mimicker, Alec Baldwin. The actor’s new talk show, The Alec Baldwin Show, debuted to a frail 2.2 million viewers. Per Entertainment Weekly, it was the lowest-rated show of the night for that demo on a broadcast network. In the episode, Baldwin chatted with Taraji P. Henson and Robert De Niro.