Jimmy Fallon's ratings aren't as high as they once were, and some say it's because of Donald Trump. A new article in the New York Times explains that the more political late shows are stealing Fallon's viewership:
Once the undisputed juggernaut of the late-night category, Mr. Fallon’s “Tonight Show,” a celebrity-friendly cavalcade of games and gags, has seen its ratings decline in recent months. Meanwhile, his politically pointed competitor Stephen Colbert, who hosts CBS’s “The Late Show,” has closed what was once a formidable gap of nearly one million viewers.
The problems began arising after Fallon invited then-candidate Donald Trump onto his late night show and basically just had a funny conversation. Fallon didn't try to nail him on politics, and -- at the end of the interview -- Trump even gave Fallon permission to tousle his hair. That image -- of Fallon happily running his fingers through Trump's hair -- came to affect how his fans perceived him. They wanted him to be hard-hitting toward the man who would become President.
Instead, they accused Fallon of "humanizing" the candidate. “I don’t want to be bullied into not being me, and not doing what I think is funny,” he told the New York Times. “Just because some people bash me on Twitter, it’s not going to change my humor or my show.” However, the criticism did affect the comedian. “If there’s one bad thing on Twitter about me, it will make me upset. So, after this happened, I was devastated. I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just trying to have fun.”
Fun seems to be his specialty, not hard-hitting, politically polarizing attacks.
The conservatives at National Review believe Jimmy Fallon is just fine because, unlike the radical left, they don't believe everything has to be about politics. "There is a valuable place for sheer fun, for a good laugh, for solid entertainment. This is a positive good in the life of a country (not to mention in our personal lives as well)," David French writes. "It has a tempering effect. It keeps from driving us to extremes. It serves as a pressure valve from the stresses of the day and the antagonisms of the time."
He then pointed out that we need more of this:
And less of this:
French points out what everyone instinctively knows: liberals and the liberal media refuse to let people just live their lives. They intolerantly demand 100% compliance on all issues -- and that means buying into #TheResistance no matter what. Watch the interview below to see what all the fuss is about -- and ask yourself if Democrats are doing themselves any favors by branding themselves as the party of humorless scolds:
