President Donald Trump took a victory lap on mocking the rebranded MS NOW for its name change this week, calling it a desperate attempt “to get away from the stench of their fake news” and “disassociate” from the “garbage that they created.”
“MSNBC is doing so poorly in the ratings that they are looking to change their name in order to get away from the stench of their fake news product,” Trump wrote in an all-caps Truth Social post early Thursday. “So much fun to watch their weak and ineffective owner, ‘Concast,’ headed by dopey Brian Roberts, hopelessly and aimlessly flailing in the wind in an attempt to disassociate itself from the garbage that they created!
“MSNBC is a failure by any name!!!”
MSNBC announced its rebranding in the most dramatic identity shift in its nearly three-decade history. Later this year, the left-leaning cable network will drop the NBC brand and Peacock logo, relaunching as MS NOW — shorthand for My Source News Opinion World. The change is part of Comcast’s plan to spin off its cable properties into a standalone entity, Versant, under CEO Mark Lazarus.
Executives argue the move will clarify distinctions between NBC News’ straight-news operations and MS NOW’s opinion-driven programming.
Leftists are outraged.
Progressive staffers and loyal viewers vented online and internally, with some calling the rebrand a “demotion” that strips MSNBC of the prestige long tied to the NBC name.
“MS is the new BS,” one employee quipped.
Conservatives, meanwhile, have cheered the shift as evidence of decline. Nicknames like “Most Surely No One Watching” and “Majorly Skewed News Overly Woke” have ricocheted through social media.
The numbers underscore MSNBC’s struggle.
In the first quarter of 2025, the channel averaged 593,000 total day viewers and just 57,000 in the key 25–54 demographic. Apart from Rachel Maddow’s prime-time program, few MSNBC shows crack the top tier of cable news ratings.
Analysts warn the rebrand could backfire, making the network appear diminished at a time when cord-cutting and digital disruption are already eating into its audience. Still, network president Rebecca Kutler insists MS NOW will remain true to its editorial mission, backed by a major marketing push.
“This gives us the opportunity to chart our own path forward, create distinct brand identities and establish an independent news organization,” Lazarus wrote in a memo to employees, The New York Times reported.
Kutler acknowledged the weight of the change in her own note to staff.
“For many of you who have spent years or decades here, it is hard to imagine the network by any other name,” she wrote, adding that the decision followed “significant debate.”
She emphasized that the rebrand would not alter the network’s editorial mission.
“While our name will be changing, who we are and what we do will not,” she said, the Times reported.
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