In an age of round-the-clock news coverage, is there any relevance of liberal-dominated Sunday morning political talk shows?
Yet these programs continue to draw viewers and generate headlines, serving as weekly platforms for politicians and pundits to shape the national conversation — and conservative activist Ann Coulter tuned into several of these liberal spin programs for the first time in years on Sunday.
After, she came up with 3 brutal new nicknames for the Sunday morning political talk shows because of how often the host interrupts to “correct” Republican lawmakers.
They should be called: “Actually, Senator” or “We Should Note” or “I Apologize for the Interruption.”
Coulter noted a Sunday interview exchange on ABC News between “The Week” host Jonathan Karl and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C.
SCOTT: “Under Joe Biden, we’ve seen the movement to defund the police, leaving communities like the one I grew up in devastated and ravaged by a wave of violent crime that we have not seen literally in five decades.”
KARL: “Actually, senator … as you probably know, the latest stats on violent crime and on the murder rate, they’re actually down this past year.”
Almost simultaneously on NBC News, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-F.L., was being “fact-checked” by “Meet the Press” host Peter Alexander.
ALEXANDER: “[President Trump] called Milwaukee a ‘horrible’ city. The campaign later clarified, said he was talking about alleged voter fraud and the crime rate there. So let me take those one at a time. Murders in Milwaukee are down 39% since last year …”
DONALDS: “… I think it’s important for people to understand your murder rate may be down, but that doesn’t mean that violent crime, etc., are also lower …”
ALEXANDER: “Fine, but…”
DONALDS: “[Americans] are frustrated with what has happened to our country under Joe Biden. Immigration massively up and out of control. The labor markets are OK, not great. Wages are down when you adjust them for inflation. People are struggling to make ends meet …”
ALEXANDER: “Again I — I apologize for the interruption. A lot to get to. We should note it’s not just the murder rate. The overall violent crime has fallen during Biden’s presidency. It is now at a near 50-year low.”
This interaction highlights the common pattern: a Republican politician attempting to make a point, followed by a liberal host’s smarmy “fact-check” – devoid of the nuance and context necessary for viewers.
According to the actual data, the U.S. saw a significant spike in homicides in 2020, with a 30% increase – the largest single-year jump since the FBI began keeping records.
The following year, 2021, saw another increase. In 2022, preliminary data suggested a slight decrease — but this decline comes after two years of historic increases under President Joe Biden’s administration and almost exclusively in Democratic-controlled strongholds.
The misinformation around crime statistics across these shows proved Coulter’s point.
Almost at the same time, two liberal hosts cited recent decreases in violent crime and murder rates as rebuttals to Republican claims about rising crime.
However, these statistics are simply misinformation. Claiming violence is down because of a slight decrease after years of spiking crime is untrue.
The broader picture of violent crime is complex. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) for recent years has been hampered by incomplete data, with many major Democratic-controlled cities simply not reporting.
Meanwhile, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which measures both reported and unreported crimes, showed an increase in violent victimizations from 2021 to 2022. This discrepancy highlights the challenges in accurately measuring and discussing crime trends.
Most importantly, American voters have eyes and ears.
Do you feel safer in high-crime urban environments in 2024, compared to 2004?
The way political talking heads wield these statistics is often more focused on scoring points on Republicans than encouraging a real understanding of public safety.
Beyond crime, the shows touched on a range of issues from immigration to the economy, often with similar patterns of claim and counter-claim.
This exchange highlights another common feature: hosts steering conversations back to Democratic talking points, at the expense of Republican guests.
Thankfully, Coulter watched the “Actually Senator” and “We Should Note” shows… so you don’t have to.