Longtime Fox News anchor Shepard Smith announced he was leaving the network on Friday, heading for greener pastures, no doubt, where he can flaunt his liberalism without a revolt from the television-viewing audience. His departure was met with a round of thunderous praise from TV liberals across the dial…and a bit of light mockery from President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Smith ended his broadcast with these parting words: “This is my last newscast here. Thank you for watching today and over the decades as I traveled to many of your communities and anchored this program, Studio B, and Fox Report, plus endless marathon hours of breaking news. It’s been an honor and my pleasure. Even in our currently polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalist will thrive. I’m Shepard Smith.”
Asked about Smith’s abrupt exit, President Trump replied, “Is he leaving because of bad ratings? Tell me, I don’t know. He had terrible ratings. If he’s leaving, I assume he’s leaving because he had bad ratings.”
Smith has yet to quantify exactly why he’s leaving the network, but Trump isn’t wrong about the ratings. Smith managed to win his afternoon time slot, but that’s only because he was snugly ensconced in the juggernaut that is the Fox News brand.
Within the network itself, Smith’s program was regularly the lowest rated, and that was due in no small part to how off-message the liberal anchor usually was. Often seen carrying water for whatever the latest Democrat talking points were on the Trump administration, Smith seemed like the Twilight Zone version of a Fox News host, regularly trading barbs with primetime personalities like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. His exit alone should improve the network by at least 15%.
Naturally, though, his work was praised exuberantly by left-wing TV pundits from all corners of the airwaves.
“Bad day for those who respect and value factual, courageous reporting. You will be missed, @ShepNewsTeam,” tweeted CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“News that Shepard Smith is leaving Fox News is a bombshell in the world of television journalism. Smith has been a pro and a straight shooter as a reporter and anchor. His departure suggests a bigger story, but I wish him well in his future pursuits,” tweeted Dan Rather.
“Shep Smith has been the best breaking news anchor of his time,” wrote Joe Scarborough. “There has not been a better news broadcaster over the past decade.”
Okay, Joe. Whatever you say.
No doubt, some liberal network or another will be happy to pay Smith to join their team and tell them all about how evil and conservative and Trumpish Fox News has become. We doubt he’ll find any contract in the neighborhood of what he was making at Fox, but we assume that the newfound admiration he’ll get from his liberal colleagues will be priceless.
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