Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov Talks Giving Trump His Flowers & The Persistent Power Of Cable News On The ElectionLine Podcast

Dominic Patten and Ted Johnson

6 December 2024 at 10:10 am·3-min read

Running throughout most of the past year, the Deadline ElectionLine podcast is now spotlighting the aftermath of the 2024 election. In that, we are still focussing on the often blurred lines between politics and entertainment in modern America. Hosted by Deadline political editor Ted Johnson and executive editor Dominic Patten, the podcast features commentary and interviews with top lawmakers, media and entertainment figures. As Donald Trump’s second term, policies and cabinet comes together, follow everything on the ElectionLine hub on Deadline.

“When everyone was saying cable news is dying, I would say, show me a news cycle that didn’t start with a cable news interaction,” Fox News’ Jessica Tarlov says, flipping the common post-election hot take.

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“Cable news is still setting the agenda largely, and that doesn’t mean you don’t need to future proof everything,” The Five co-host adds today on the Deadline ElectionLine podcast – as you can hear above.

With ex-Congressman Harold Ford Jr, political strategist Tarlov is the lone non-conservative voice on cable news’ longtime most-watched show up against Greg Gutfield, Jesse Walters, Jeanine Pirro and former White House press secretary Dana Perino. Tarlov may outnumbered ideologically, but she stakes out her ground and plants the progressive flag day after day on the Murdoch-owned outlet.

Jessica Tarlov on Fox News’ Super Tuesday 2024 primary election coverage in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)

A portion of that is shining a light on what some would consider an overlooked aftermath of the 2024 election and the return of Donald Trump to the Oval Office.

“Besides the kind of iconography of Donald Trump, you can take a whole host of lessons from this election about what Dems did wrong on the local level,” Tarlov told Deadline on this week’s podcast.

“To me, this was a local election more than it was a national election,” she notes. “Where people are just saying, my public school is flooded with undocumented kids. I don’t have a problem with undocumented kids. I have a problem with my kids suffering because of this problem that’s a federal problem, and that the Biden administration didn’t help us with. I have a problem with how much my groceries cost.”

Take a listen to the podcast for Tarlov’s take on the former Celebrity Apprentice host’s potential “cabinet of revengists,” why CNN “doesn’t have an identity,” and the symbolism of Trump appearing on that most establishment of shows Meet The Press this weekend.

Staying in the Comcast metaverse, major changes are in store for MSNBC, as the left-leaning network will be part of Comcast’s plans to spin it off into a new company along with other linear cable properties.Yet, despite a drop in post-election ratings and a backlash to Morning Joe, as well as Elon Musk’s musing about buying the network, Ted and Dominic discuss how likely is it, really, that MSNBC will transform itself into something else?

After all, the network got some traction this election season, particularly in outperforming CNN during major news events. In the fallout from the election and Trump’s win, traditional media is taking a hard look in the mirror – what’s the reflection?

Subscribe to the Deadline ElectionLine podcast on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart and all podcast platforms.

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