Nicolle Wallace has long been a fixture of MSNBC’s liberal programming, but with Democrats out of power and President Donald Trump back in the White House, her relevance—and her ratings—are in freefall.
Since Trump’s election victory, Wallace’s show, Deadline: White House, has suffered a staggering 35% drop in viewership, shedding hundreds of thousands of viewers who, it seems, no longer have the appetite for her particular brand of resistance-style commentary. Before the election, Wallace averaged 1.6 million viewers—not bad for MSNBC. After Trump’s win? She’s barely cracking one million, a steep decline that suggests the left-wing audience she once catered to is tuning out rather than facing political reality.
And in the key advertising demographic of 25-54-year-olds—the one networks actually care about—her numbers are even worse, dropping 35% from 144,000 viewers to just 93,000. To put that in perspective, Wallace’s show is now pulling in fewer viewers than Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives and BET’s Tyler Perry’s Sistas.
But instead of focusing on rebuilding her audience, Wallace has doubled down on her inflammatory rhetoric—most recently with a stunningly tone-deaf attack on a 13-year-old cancer survivor.
Trump’s recent address to Congress featured an undeniably heartwarming moment when he honored DJ Daniel, a young boy who has been battling brain cancer for six years. Trump surprised him by making him an honorary Secret Service agent, a gesture that was widely praised—except, of course, by Nicolle Wallace.
Wallace began her MSNBC coverage by acknowledging the inspiring nature of DJ’s story, but then, in a jaw-dropping turn, linked him to the January 6th riots and the suicide of Capitol Police officers.
“I hope he has a long life as a law enforcement officer,” Wallace said. “But I hope he never has to defend the United States Capitol against Donald Trump’s supporters, and if he does, I hope he isn’t one of the six who loses his life to suicide.”
The backlash was immediate and brutal. Wallace’s comments were seen as not just inappropriate, but downright disgusting—taking a moment meant to celebrate a child’s resilience and hijacking it for a political attack.
The controversy reached all the way to the White House, with Trump himself calling for Wallace’s resignation.
“Frankly, what Nicolle Wallace said — I’ve never been a fan of hers, and she’s not very talented, but I will tell you what she said the other day about the young man is disgraceful. She should be forced to resign,” Trump stated on Thursday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed that sentiment, putting Wallace on blast during Wednesday’s press briefing.
On social media, Wallace faced overwhelming condemnation, with major outlets including The New York Post, Newsweek, TheWrap, Daily Mail, and The Baltimore Sun covering the backlash.
