The public break-up and increasingly bitter feud between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump is proving to be a big ratings winner across cable news, with CNN and MSNBC seeing an uptick in viewers last week compared to a typical evening.
According to AdWeek, citing Nielsen numbers, last Thursday (June 5) saw gains for both CNN and MSNBC, with Anderson Cooper and Lawrence O’Donnell benefiting the most.
Anderson Cooper 360 drew 776,000 total viewers and 124,000 in the key 25-54 demographic, making it the network’s highest-rated show of the day. This was up significantly on the Thursday prior, May 29, which drew 592,000 total viewers and 95,000 in the key demo.
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, meanwhile, amassed 1.486 million viewers and 120,000 in the key demo, securing its spot as MSNBC’s highest-rated show on Thursday. This was up on the week before, which drew 1.193 million viewers and 106,000 in the key demo.
Trump and Musk traded barbs back and forth on Thursday, just days after the Tesla CEO exited his position as head of the unofficial government DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency). Since then, Musk has slammed Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” and accused him of being in the files about the late convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
As cable news covered the ongoing drama throughout Thursday, nearly every show saw an increase in total viewers compared to the same time the week prior. On CNN, Kasie Hunt (623K), Jake Tapper (607.5K), Erin Burnett (714K), Kaitlan Collins (647K), Abby Phillip (583K), and Laura Coates (327K) all saw increases.
It was the same story on MSNBC, with Nicolle Wallace (1.149 mil), Ari Melber (1.203 mil), Weeknight (992K), Chris Hayes (1.190 mil), Jen Psaki (1.218 mil), and Stephanie Ruhle (967K) all up in total viewers compared to the Thursday prior.
Fox News, however, continued to lead the way despite many of the network’s anchors trying to downplay the Musk and Trump feud. Every Fox News show outdrew CNN and MSNBC programming in the same time-slots between 4 pm and 11 pm. Fox News’ The Five remained the top show of the day, with 3.279 million viewers and 314,000 in the demo.