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I hope you will forgive my attempt at a pun in the headline — that we have some news for you that will be a “joy to read.” 

But the network that features the execrable Joy Reid just took a well-deserved hit right in the ratings after the election. Looks like they’re hemorrhaging viewers after the election.

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MSNBC averaged 1.1 million viewers during the month of October but plummeted to an average audience of 736,000 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week following President-elect Donald Trump’s historic landslide victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. MSNBC’s remarkable 31% drop comes as Fox News Channel’s viewership grew by 61% over the same time period. 

MSNBC also shed 26% of its year-to-date totals, but things got even worse in primetime. 

During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, MSNBC averaged 1.8 million total viewers in October but viewership of “Alex Wagner Tonight,” “All in with Chris Hayes” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” have averaged only 808,000 total viewers since election night. The 54% drop represents more than half of the network’s primetime viewers, and MSNBC is also down 51% from its year-to-date totals while Fox News is up 58% in primetime compared to 2024 averages.

MSNBC is also down 16% among total day viewers and 57% during primetime among the critical demographic of adults age 25-54, which is most coveted by advertisers. 

A “longtime TV news executive” told Fox that MSNBC can’t expect a Trump bump and that “even liberals are rejecting its condescending tone and the divisive rhetoric of its new standard-bearer, Joy Reid,” 

MSNBC’s Sharon Waxman, the founder of The Wrap, encapsulated it well, saying she hasn’t been able to watch “more claptrap from the same claptrapping apparatus.”  She says they got it wrong and “failed to gauge the actual mood of the electorate.” 

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Exactly, they were speaking in a bubble of what they wanted to hear, not speaking about the reality of what the American people were truly thinking. 

Listen to what Jen Psaki says here about how the focus on the Never Trumpers was wrong. Just one of the many, many things they were wrong about. 

Both Harris and MSNBC engaged in that as though the endorsement of folks like former Rep. Liz Cheney meant something when it wasn’t worth much of anything. And it probably alienated people on the left with memories long enough to remember when the Cheneys were despised by them. 

So, as they cast around for blame, it’s funny that they’re picking up on this point about the Never Trumpers. How long did it take them to realize this? It sounds like the Never Trump talking heads may be about to get less time over there, and that also couldn’t happen to a more deserving group of folks. 

What a joy that would be. 

READ MORE:‘Identifying With Whiteness’: MSNBC’s Uber-Racist Joy Reid Blames Black, Latino Men for Trump Win

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At this point, what MSNBC should do is reevaluate their whole approach, but they’re so used to pitching nonsense I don’t think they can dig their way out from under it. 

On top of all that, Comcast said it was considering spinning off its cable networks — which include CNBC and MSNBC — into a separate company due to the decline in TV viewership. Some speculated that could lead to a potential sale. Paging Elon Musk to the courtesy phone — this might be a good next purchase to make. But if that were true, all these folks who have bombarded us with ridiculousness for so long might just find themselves out on their ears.