'Reasons may surprise you': Attorney says he's leaving MSNBC -- and joining right-wing TV

[Bluetus]

51. That's probably a factor, but there really is little point in hanging at a "liberal" network

that really isn't allowed by their mega-sized very right wing corporate owner to say much of anything on air.

The most obvious example of this self-censorship that sticks with me was December 2020 when Trump fired all the top brass at the Pentagon and put in his henchmen (Kash Patel and friends). Rachel did report that, but it was like "Golly this seems a little strange, well what are you gonna do?" Then on the the next story. And when Jan 6 happened and the henchmen played a decisive role in denying National Guard support, it was 100% obvious how this all went down, but all we ever got from Comcast/MSNBC was "Golly, that's a tough break. Go figure." That's just one glaring example of how the MSNBC gang traded integrity for money, but it happens every hour of every day on that network.

MSNBC needs to go away. We need other outlets that can speak and act more freely, and not easily be bullied. That means a federated approach to getting the truth out. That is why Bluesky has become so popular so quickly. There are 50, maybe 250 good strong voices there with big followings, easily reaching a bigger audience than MSNBC gets these days. It will be hard for Trump and his thugs to bully all of them.

There are some good people at MSNBC. I hope they can make their escape sooner rather than later. Money is an issue. People need to make a living. They don't need to have $5M or $2.5M contracts, and if that is what Rachel is working for, I can live without her. I'd like to think that Nicole Wallace, Chris Hayes, Ali Velshi, Katie Phang, and Joy Reid could find a place in the newer media landscape that works for them.

Let's get real about audiences. MSNBC programs have audiences of 300-400K normally. Since the Trump/Musk show started, they are getting more people tuning into the "We hate Trump" programming. MSNBC makes its money by featuring Trump, not by being a liberal voice. Be that as it may, they are currently in the 700K range for their nightly run of "Trump is a poopy head" 4-hour show with no real information of use to people who want to actually make a difference. Meanwhile, over on Bluesky, which has really only been broadly open to new accounts for a few months, we have:

Mark Cuban: 1.3M followers
Mark Elias: 6325K
George Takei: 1.1M
Aaron Rupar: 350K
Meidas Touch: 850K
George Conway : 700K
Laurence Tribe: 300K
Brian Cohen: 725K
Mueller, She Wrote: 650K
Ron Filipkowski: 650K
Mark Hamill: 1.1M
AOC: 1.8M
Stephen King: 875K
Rachel Maddow: 825K
Chris Hayes: 625K
Robert Reich: 600K
Propublica: 525K
Pete Buttigieg: 500K
Rick Wilson: 475K
Adam Kinzinger: 625K

In other words, the reach on Bluesky is vastly greater than MSNBC, and you get uncensored information from all of those people listed above. Bluesky *IS* what we all wished MSNBC could have been but never was. Moreover, Bluesky is growing about one user per second. Most of the accounts listed above will reach in the millions before summer.

Now for some really bleak information. The top user (regardless of area of interest) on Bluesky is AOC with 1.8M followers. The only other national politicians (currently in office) in the top 100 are: Jasmine Crockett at #51, Elizabeth Warren at #85 and Bernie Sanders at @87. Where the F is the Democratic communication strategy?

https://vqv.app/stats/