David Muir, anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight, decided to open up a bit about his debate prep on Live with Kelly and Mark, brushing off the inevitable post-debate noise that comes with moderating a presidential showdown. But the backlash from conservatives wasn’t exactly a whisper. ABC’s debate last week with Muir and Linsey Davis moderating wasn’t received too kindly by Trump supporters, who felt it was more like a two-against-one sparring match.
Muir and Davis fact-checked Donald Trump five times, yet somehow Kamala Harris skated by without so much as a nudge. That little oversight didn’t go unnoticed, especially by conservatives who were quick to accuse the moderators of bias. Even Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America called foul on one of Davis’s fact-checks about abortion, claiming she got it “100% inaccurate.” So much for impartiality.
The backlash might have done more than just rile up Trump’s base. Muir’s World News Tonight saw a significant drop in viewers right after the debate—down 12% compared to its 2024 average. Sure, it’s still the top evening newscast, but a drop from 7.6 million viewers to 6.7 million can’t just be brushed under the rug. While other networks like CBS and NBC also saw slight dips, Muir’s nosedive was far steeper. Coincidence? Hard to say, but it’s not difficult to imagine that a few million Trump fans might have flipped the channel after seeing their guy get fact-checked while Harris walked free.
Trump, unsurprisingly, didn’t hold back. He called Muir’s moderation “one-sided” and claimed that Harris should’ve been grilled just as hard. “It was one against three,” he told Fox News, making it clear that the moderators were more like participants than neutral referees in his eyes. Trump wasn’t just taking shots in the dark, either. Many of his supporters have long believed the mainstream media leans against him, and this debate likely only reinforced that belief.
Some of ABC News’ defenders are pointing fingers at the two-week blackout on Disney-owned stations during a spat with DirectTV as a potential reason for the viewer dip. But here’s the kicker: the episodes of World News Tonight leading up to the debate were down only 8%, making that 12% post-debate drop even more suspicious.
Davis, in an attempt to explain herself, admitted that her aggressive fact-checking of Trump was influenced by the infamous June CNN debate where Joe Biden was left floundering. According to her, many were upset that Biden’s statements went unchecked by moderators. So, instead of learning how to fact-check both sides fairly, Davis apparently decided the answer was to just hammer Trump instead. Makes sense, right?
