{"id":906623,"date":"2026-11-05T09:46:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T09:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/906623\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T09:46:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T09:46:10","slug":"does-donald-trump-ease-up-on-late-night-and-anchors-post-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/906623\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Donald Trump Ease Up on Late-Night and Anchors Post-Midterms?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe massive showing<\/a> by Democrats in Tuesday\u2019s midterm elections enmeshes in the lives of all Americans. But the entertainment industry has a particular role to play, given its charge to tell stories \u2014 to explain America to itself. <\/p>\n

\n\tAnd now, suddenly, there\u2019s a whole new chapter to write.<\/p>\n

But man, that sounds awfully high-minded. There are far more concrete examples of how politics<\/a> will change the entertainment industry. Here are six realms that could look a lot different after Tuesday\u2019s domination.<\/p>\n

Bring on the film money?<\/p>\n

The federal film tax credit has had a little bit of momentum<\/a> with both Republican lawmakers like Tim Scott, Brian Jack and Nathaniel Moran and Democrats such as Adam Schiff, Laura Friedman and Linda Sanchez, all of whom introduced a bill last month to establish the 20% credit for certain labor costs. Where does Tuesday leave it? <\/p>\n

Well, the good news is all the lead champions in Congress have won re-election<\/a> and will be back to work next session (though Scott may have to spend a few extra minutes in the morning wiping egg off his face for his \u201cunequivocal\u201d assertion<\/a> that Republicans would maintain Senate control).<\/p>\n

The question is whether they can rally enough fellow lawmakers behind it. On paper, Republicans would want to join the cause, as it\u2019s a win for them at a time when those won\u2019t come easy. Doubly so for President Donald Trump, who will be eager to crow about\u2026something, and bringing some jobs back to the U.S. allows for the chirp.<\/p>\n

The snag is that the tax credit reduces the U.S. tax base at a time of both a massive deficit and when many Democrats are promising a restoration of benefits \u2014 i.e., the kinds of things you need a deep tax base for. Supporters will argue that this is tax revenue that wouldn\u2019t have happened anyway if productions are shipping overseas (sometimes but not always true) and that it will benefit workers (yes, it will trickle down, but the actual rebate goes to producers, not all of whom need the cash). On paper this should still stand a decent shot. But Congressional turnovers can mess with priorities. Put this in the unknown column.<\/p>\n

Texas artists saw it all along<\/p>\n

No one around the cable-news dial could quite believe that Texas had elected <\/a>a Democratic senator for the first time in 38 years or governor for the first time in 32. Harry Enten was so in disbelief he almost got into a fight with his accent.<\/p>\n

We should have paid closer attention to creatives. They\u2019ve been telling us how it\u2019s possible \u2014 telling us of another Texas \u2014 all along. Natalie Maines of The (then-Dixie) Chicks famously and at the expense of her career told <\/a>a London audience at the start of the Iraq War in 2003 that \u201cwe do not want this war, this violence. And we\u2019re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the idea has been creeping into plenty of other Texans\u2019 work too \u2014 in the films of Richard Linklater and his anti-exploitation 2006 movie Fast Food Nation and the arched-eyebrow-to-false-jingoism Last Flag Flying in 2017. Or Mike Judge, pushing back against George W. Bush-era compliance in 2006\u2019s retroactive documentary Idiocracy. Or even just the work of an Austinite like David Modigliani and his 2019 nonfiction piece Running with Beto. (Actually, Beto walked so James Talarico<\/a> could run.) We haven\u2019t always paid attention.<\/p>\n

No doubt we\u2019ll soon start hearing other artists around the country tell us a place is a lot more Democratic than its Republican politicians want to project. After Tuesday, it\u2019s worth listening to them.<\/p>\n

Anti-media trolling<\/p>\n

You know how you\u2019re going for some minor medical procedure and the doctor\u2019s like, \u201cIn the short term, it will hurt like hell, but then you\u2019ll feel a lot better?\u201d<\/p>\n

I suspect we\u2019ll get a whole lash-out at mainstream media figures by Trump and members of his administration after Tuesday\u2019s drubbing. \u201cOutlets are failing,\u201d \u201chosts should be fired,\u201d you know the lyrics. But lame ducks tend to get lamer as their term wears on, and I suspect once Trump sees how little effect this is having \u2014 the meager few days of Jimmy Kimmel suspension\u2019s after the Charlie Kirk joke last year will practically look like a Colbert canning by comparison \u2014 we\u2019ll start seeing these instances fade as his attention turns elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Spasms from the FCC are still possible, Brendan Carr writing letters to this media company or that asking them to drop by<\/a> for a not-so-friendly visit. But how hard do you want to go on these when \u2014 oh yes, you\u2019re not a presidential cabinet department but an agency overseen and funded by\u2026.Congress? The Carr witch hunts and saber rattles of the past two years are going to get a lot quieter. Who knows? Maybe the media companies will stop quaking in their boots<\/a> and even restore a DEI program or two.<\/p>\n

David Ellison<\/a>\u2019s true colors<\/p>\n

For months we\u2019ve been told by Ellison apologists \u2014 and David Ellison \u2014 that the new owner of Warner Bros. wasn\u2019t actually a Trumper; he just played one at UFC fights. Ellison needed Trump to get his deals through, so it was all realpolitik. Well, now he doesn\u2019t need that \u2014 in fact, if anything, a Trump association hurts him with a new Congress. So does he reveal himself to be the pragmatist his defenders say (or even the liberal on many issues that he says he is)? Or, with his Trump cover falling away, does he just unmask as the conservative he\u2019s been all along? First test: Alex Gibney\u2019s Musk documentary, coming in a few months on HBO. Does Ellison still release it despite its targeting of the leading GOP donor? Musk just paid a lot of money<\/a> to Skydance, potentially so HBO doesn\u2019t air it, though he has bigger challenges to worry about right now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd there will be all sorts of other markers \u2014 films to buy, TV shows to air, news divisions to revamp \u2014 for one of the bigger moguls operating today. We\u2019ll see what he\u2019s really made of soon enough. At the very least John Oliver can rest a little easier today. <\/p>\n

Speaking of Musk, and of getting things right, Alex Gibney\u2019s idea that if we just pull back the curtain his weakness will be revealed was practically borne out verbatim on Tuesday as Musk\u2019s half a billion <\/a>went for naught. \u201cThe Great and Terrible Oz kept people in check because they were afraid of his visage that loomed over everybody, and he used that power to exert an enormous amount of control,\u201d Gibney told<\/a> THR last month. \u201cBut when a little dog pulled aside the curtain, and you can see a frumpy man operating gears and levers, suddenly he wasn\u2019t so terrible and he wasn\u2019t so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

One loser in this Democratic midterm surge: Rob Bonta and the AGs who garnered a\u2026modest settlement <\/a>from Ellison over his WBD acquisition as pressure mounted from various politicians and leaders. Had the attorneys general just held out six more weeks, they would have had all of Congress and a whole new vibe on their side.<\/p>\n

\n\tCelebrity\u2026non-activism?<\/p>\n

The Hollywood model this electoral season has been really interesting. Many people you talk to around the entertainment business and beyond in recent weeks have suggested some version of \u201cHollywood\u2019s been sitting this out.\u201d That\u2019s not exactly true. Entertainers lent plenty of financial muscle to these midterm campaigns \u2014 see under: all the fundraisers thrown by A-listers, from Damon Lindelof for James Talarico to Shonda Rhimes for Jon Ossoff, along with all the donations from the likes of<\/a> Chuck Lorre, Sally Field and Casey Bloys. Don Henley alone gave<\/a> a half-million dollars to various candidates<\/a> in Texas.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat happened a lot less were public campaign appearances. Celebrities did that nonstop in 2024, and it either didn\u2019t help or got them (and their Democratic candidates) pulverized. If your party\u2019s message is \u201creturn power to the people,\u201d then some very rich red-carpet types standing there telling the people how to do it sort of jams the signal and generally casts an elitist cloud over your message. We ain\u2019t in 2004 anymore.<\/p>\n

\n\tNo doubt 2028 will bring plenty of big names stumping for candidates. People want to help, and famous people want to help famously; nothing wrong with that. But after the stark contrast between 2024 and now, we might see a different tack. Maybe a candidate doesn\u2019t turn down Beyonc\u00e9 who wants to show up at a campaign event. But maybe also Beyonc\u00e9 thinks better not to offer? It\u2019s not like stumping makes celebs\u2019 lives easier, either.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne other change: the idea of celebs running for office. A time-honored tradition. But Michele Tafoya just rode her Sunday Night Football popularity to the Republican nomination for Senate in Minnesota \u2014 then got trounced<\/a> by 14 points. I mean, if a celebrity can\u2019t get elected in Minnesota<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n

That said, if McConaughey scratched his political itch<\/a> and tossed his cowboy hat in the ring for, say, Ted Cruz\u2019s seat in four years, how many of us would object?<\/p>\n

AI pullback<\/p>\n

What kind of actual regulation we\u2019ll get on AI remains to be seen. Ed Markey may have promised<\/a> all those subpoenas for tech executives, and there\u2019s a general air<\/a> of bring-Big-Tech-in, but actually stopping Silicon Valley from developing new models and products is hard. It would be like trying to stop politicians from issuing press releases \u2014 it\u2019s what they do. Also, there\u2019s a pacing misalignment, with Congress moving slowly and writing laws and tech companies moving fast and writing code. Also also, tech companies have a lot of money and a lot of lobbyists.<\/p>\n

All those caveats said, the winds blow differently now. Many of next term\u2019s roughly 259 House and 54-56 Senate Democrats got there by promising tougher oversight on AI, particularly on data centers, and they\u2019ll be incentivized to make some moves. And even if Trump won\u2019t sign bills of that ilk, the numbers are now lopsided enough that Senate Democrats would just need to peel off a few Republicans to get a 60-vote filibuster. (Josh Hawley, John Curtis and John Kennedy of Missouri\/Utah\/Louisiana come to mind; they\u2019ve all expressed Big Tech-skeptical leanings.)<\/p>\n

All of this could slow down how quickly the models get developed and thus how fast they get adopted by studios\/consumers. Good news for creatives, most of whom are fine with AI as a limited-use tool, less so as a soul- and job-destroying blunt instrument of automation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The massive showing by Democrats in Tuesday\u2019s midterm elections enmeshes in the lives of all Americans. But the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[11987,18205,13961,88,69123,378712,111],"class_list":["post-906623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-candidates","tag-david-ellison","tag-election","tag-entertainment","tag-james-talarico","tag-midterms-2026","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}