MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace continues to face backlash two days after wishing 13-year-old DJ Daniel a “long life” as a police officer while adding that she hoped he would never have to confront a January 6-style insurrection.
The controversy has reignited scrutiny of her ratings, which have remained at rock bottom since President Donald Trump’s victory last November, a report said on Friday.
Wallace, who hosts Deadline on weekdays from 4 to 6 p.m. EST, was sharply criticized by Trump and his allies for what they saw as a backhanded compliment that also served as a veiled jab at the president. Daniel, a guest at Trump’s congressional address on Tuesday, has been battling brain cancer for seven years and was honored by Trump as an honorary U.S. Secret Service agent during his speech.
“I hope he has a long life as a law enforcement officer. But I hope he never has to defend the U.S. Capitol against Donald Trump’s supporters. And if he does, I hope he isn’t one of the six who loses his life to suicide. And I hope he isn’t one who has to testify against the ones who carried out acts of seditious conspiracy and lived to see Donald Trump pardon those people,” Wallace told network colleague Rachel Maddow on Tuesday night following the president’s remarks.
That may be the most attention she’s gotten in months.
Wallace’s show, Deadline: White House, averaged 1.6 million viewers from early 2024 through Election Day but experienced a sharp 35% decline following President Trump’s victory. Throughout November and December, the program drew roughly one million viewers per day as much of its liberal audience disengaged—a broader trend that has impacted MSNBC’s entire lineup.
Key segments of the Deadline: White House audience may never return, Fox News reports. Among viewers aged 25-54, Wallace’s daily audience has dropped to 93,000, down from 144,000 before Election Day—a decline that signals to advertisers that she is no longer a prime draw for consumers.
Embarrassingly, Wallace trails non-news programs in the key demo, including “Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives” on the Food Network and BET’s “Tyler Perry’s Sistas.”
Wallace made additional comments about young DJ as well following Trump’s Tuesday evening speech.
“I think this was a lesson in finding one thing that you let yourself feel,” Wallace said, also responding to DJ’s viral moment during Trump’s speech. “And I let myself feel joy about DJ, and I hope he’s alive for another, you know, 95 years and I hope he lives the life he wants to live. He wants to be a cop. He knows what he wants to do, and maybe when you have childhood cancer, that crystallizes for you,” she said before bizarrely adding in the January 6 reference.
Maddow also disparaged Trump while appearing to provide cover for all Democrats in attendance who refused to stand up for the young cancer survivor and clap, much less recognize him in any way.
“For the record, and this is disgusting, the president made a spectacle out of praising a young man who thus far survived pediatric cancer, as if the president had something to do with that,” she said.
“This was in the midst of him praising [the Department of Government Efficiency],” she added. “The DOGE cuts, among other things, have cut off funding for ongoing research into pediatric cancer.”
For the record, Trump never took credit for Daniels’ recovery. Rather, he simply recognized the teen’s horrendous survival journey and credited his enduring positivity and ambition to become a law enforcement officer when he becomes an adult.