Nolte: The Scandals Are the Least of CNN's Problems

CNN has a major scandal on its hands, but scandal remains the least of CNN’s problems.

But let’s start with those scandals…

What joy it brings to my heart to watch CNN’s ratings and reputational collapse. These evil, vindictive, pompous, petty, and violence-loving left-wing serial liars deserve every bit of disgrace, exposure, humiliation, and failure a just universe decides to heap upon them. I make no apologies for thrilling at the spectacle of the unjust getting walloped in the face with a sock full of justice.

Hopefully, there’s a lot more scandal to come. If Chris Cuomo, who now stands accused of a full-blown sexual assault, is going to win his upcoming $60 million lawsuit, it’s going to have to be loaded with two things, hypocrisy and dirt packaged as a form of blackmail — as in: Give me a big, fat, quick settlement or this becomes a two-year story as the court case drags out. You knew what I was doing to help my brother. You did worse. Here are the emails to prove it. — XXXOOO, Fredo.

Already, though, wow… Chris Cuomo fired — the top ratings guy. CNN chief Jeff Zucker forced to resign in disgrace. Allison Gollust, Zucker’s sidepiece and likely successor forced to resign in disgrace. Chris Cuomo’s brother, the governor of New York, who was on a glide path to the presidency, forced to resign in disgrace. Two CNN producers  — two! — facing criminal probes for unlawful sexual behavior with a minor. Primetime anchor Don Lemon about to go to court over a credible sexual assault allegation. The entire CNN team caught red-handed covering up Andrew Cuomo’s horrific scandals to turn him into an American folk hero….

And yet, CNNLOL is so broken, all of that is the least of its problems.

You see, it’s just a fact of life that if people like you, you can pretty much get away with anything.

Bill Clinton was a perfect example of this. When he was elected president in 1992, everyone knew he was a total scoundrel and adulterer. After he was caught lying under oath to cover up a sleazy adulterous affair with a much younger subordinate and credibly accused of the horrific rape of Juanita Broaddrick, his approval ratings hit the sixties and seventies. Why? Because people liked the guy. He’s a bit withered today, but at the time, Clinton was charming, down-to-earth, had a sense of humor about himself, was good-looking, and fallible. Because of this, he not only survived; he thrived.

Is that fair or just? Of course, it’s not. It just is what it is. Which brings me to CNN’s real problem…

If CNN were staffed with likable people instead of the most insufferable gathering of smug assholes in television history, these scandals would be background noise. Remember that CNN’s ratings were collapsing long before these sordid scandals went nuclear.

So one wonders if CNN’s new owners over at WarnerMedia-Discovery understand this; if they get that without replacing the faces of CNN, nothing will change ratings and, therefore, revenue-wise.

As I’ve stated before, I would sit down and have a few beers with Rachel Maddow any day of the week. We agree on nothing, but she at least comes off as a real person and actually has a sense of humor. Maddow is likable, and so are many people at MSNBC, which is why MSNBC crushes CNN in the ratings.

CNN is toxic with smug, self-righteous, self-satisfied, humorless, holier-than-thou on-air personalities. Everything is always all about them; their virtue and bravery and integrity and victim status. John Berman, Alisyn Camerota, Brianna Keilar, Jake Tapper, Don Lemon, Erin Burnett, Jim Acosta, Brian Stelter, John Avlon, Bill Weir, S.E. Cupp, Blitzer, Borger, Smerconish, Zakaria, and on and on and on…. These are just awful and unlikable and unappealing people, and nothing will improve at CNN until CNN bites the bullet and replaces the Herd of Frank Burns with real people who don’t sneer at the rest of us from Mount Pompous.

The other problem is that these are bad people. I don’t mean leftists. They are that, but not all leftists are bad people. CNNLOL is staffed with bad people, which on top of its ratings humiliation, is why it’s currently embroiled in this growing scandal.

You see, when you are staffed with bad people, with toxic narcissists who are unprofessional and unethical, what happens is exactly what’s happening at CNN. Everyone believed Jeff Zucker was cheating on his wife and doing so unethically with someone who reports to him. That left him ethically compromised, which allowed an unethical narcissist like Chris Cuomo to do all kinds of unethical things, like fake his coronavirus quarantine and serve as a political aide to Governor Brother. It allowed Jake Tapper to collude with the Deep State to foment a coup against Donald Trump. It allowed Brian Stelter to lie and spread conspiracy theories. It meant bringing back Jeffrey Toobin after being caught on video jerking off during a work meeting….

And then it all fell apart because that’s what happens to towers of corruption. Even for an institution as unethical as CNN, Chris Cuomo finally went too far and was fired. And what’s the result of firing a truly bad person like Cuomo? He rolls on you, and now Zucker and Gollust are out, and more is coming…

The only way out of this for CNN is for CNN to replace this godless herd of indecency and smugness with people who are decent, genuine, likable, humble, and relatable.

Good heavens, has everyone forgotten that this is still TeeeeeVeeeeee?

On TV, personalities matter above all else, and only a moron like Jeff Zucker would grab control of a television network and staff it with a bunch of dicks.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.