Why Donald Trump hates ABC – but not David Muir, whose “Central Casting” debate moderator

Donald Trump has spent weeks preparing for his crucial debate against Kamala Harris on Tuesday, launching one attack after another against the ABC News moderator.

Calling the network “dishonest,” “fake” and “the worst network,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Wednesday that he expected the network to refer questions to Harris, adding that the “head of ABC,” Dana Walden, is “her best friend.” (Walden is co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, which oversees ABC.) Trump also attacked the network’s star anchor, George Stephanopoulos, calling him “George Slopadopoulos” and mocking his height, saying, “I took him this far,” while pointing to his chest.

But Stephanopoulos is not involved in the debate – and instead Trump has remained eerily silent towards the two moderators: David Muir, moderator of World news tonight, and Linsey Davis, the Sunday anchor of the same show.

Trump’s silence on Muir provides an interesting glimpse into the former president’s life. He has a long-standing relationship with the anchor that, unusually, has not resulted in Muir being attacked. (In contrast, Trump will meet with Davis for the first time on Tuesday.)

“David Muir seems to be a key hire for Donald Trump,” Trump’s longtime adviser Kellyanne Conway told the Daily Beast. A former ABC News employee also said he heard Trump describe Muir as “handsome.”

Conway reported how Trump was informed on Labor Day 2016 that his team had declined an interview with ABC after the network requested it. The interview would have aired on Good morning America And World news tonight, she said. But after hearing that his rivals Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine had agreed to meet with Muir, he requested a similar joint interview with Pence.

“If it’s David Muir, I want to do it,” Trump said, Conway reported. Trump and Mike Pence were interviewed by Muir at the Canfield County Fairgrounds in Ohio and on Trump’s private plane.

The moment is indicative of how much Trump recognized ABC News’ reach: Several current and former ABC News employees and Trump advisers told the Daily Beast that Trump liked the 50-year-old anchor because of his high ratings.

In a statement, an ABC News spokesperson said: “David Muir is one of the most prolific, trusted and respected journalists in America – he is tough but fair, which is why ABC World News Tonight has been the most watched news program for nearly a decade. His work speaks for itself.” The Trump team did not respond to a request for comment.

Muir’s ratings exceeded those of NBC’s Lester Holt and CBS’s Norah O’Donnell for years – so much so that ABC noted on Monday how World news tonight has earned the eighth consecutive year ahead of Holt’s Evening news in total viewers and is five years ahead in the 25-54 age group, the yardstick advertisers use to rate news programs. According to the network, it was also the most-played program on television – with and without sports – for 23 weeks this season.

“Trump likes people who are number one in the ratings, and David is number one,” said an ABC News reporter.

Muir’s on-screen prominence is likely to be of importance to the television producer in Trump, who has spent years on television screens as the host of The Apprentice and his celebrity spin off.

“As the star of NBC’s number one show, Donald Trump knows a thing or two about getting ratings,” Conway told The Daily Beast.

A former Trump adviser agreed, saying that a conventionally attractive television host who gets good ratings is just Trump’s type. “It’s kind of part of the package,” the adviser said.

Ida Mae Astute/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

Trump’s warm relationship with Muir continued throughout his presidency. Muir secured the first television interview with Trump after his inauguration, asking the then-president about his false claims of election fraud – much to Trump’s chagrin. Trump complained about some of the questions, but was much more measured than when he lashed out at CNN’s Jim Acosta just weeks earlier at a press conference in New York.

In May 2020, Muir also managed to conduct the first television interview with Trump outside of Fox News during the Covid pandemic. While he was criticized for not putting more pressure on Trump, including by then-CNN commentator Oliver Darcy, he was also praised by left-leaning broadcaster Vox.com and the Poynter Institute, which studies journalism.

Muir’s interviews were spared the verbal sparring with Trump that other anchors, such as Stephanopoulos and his ABC News colleague Rachel Scott, have engaged in. He has never spoken about his political views. His party affiliation is not listed in New York’s public records – Muir lives in New York City and has a second home in his hometown of Skaneateles in the state’s Finger Lakes region.

And Muir has not given Trump any material to attack by avoiding the public impression of partisanship – unlike Stephanopoulos, who moved into journalism from being then-President Clinton’s press secretary. He was forced to apologize in 2015 for failing to disclose to ABC bosses a $75,000 donation to the Clinton Foundation.

Trump is now suing Stephanopoulos after an interview in March The week with Republican Rep. Nancy Mace about her support for Trump. He asked how she could support someone who was “found guilty of rape.” Trump was found guilty of sexual abuse and responded by filing a defamation suit for the conflation. (The judge overseeing the civil damages trial clarified that the “sexual abuse” for which Trump was found guilty was “rape” in the ordinary sense.)

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Muir and Davis were announced in May as moderators of the Sept. 10 debate, when the ABC debate was set to be a second showdown between Trump and Joe Biden. The networks had been battling for the debates when both the Biden and Trump campaigns ditched the traditional presidential debate commission to run the debate alone. (CNN was the other winner; Biden’s disastrous performance in their June debate led to him making way for Harris.)

In May, Trump sued Stephanopoulos, which would have made it impossible for him to moderate a debate. Whether this played a role in Trump’s decision to agree to the ABC debate is unknown – but it certainly helped increase public tension between Trump and the moderator.

However, there were also tensions between Stephanopoulos and the broadcaster – because of Muir.

Stephanopoulos nearly quit in 2021, CNN reported, because Muir had been made the face of special reports and the effective “head anchor.” To appease Stephanopoulos, the network provided him with a production company, gave him a hefty raise and put him in charge of morning breaking news — but Muir remained in charge of all other special reports. He then went on to lead ABC News’ election coverage of the 2022 election in Stephanopoulos’ place.

Muir seems to be aware of Trump’s obvious affection for him – albeit in jest. A few days before the 2020 election, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel took a jab at Muir for Trump’s affection for him in his May 2020 interview. “I also think your hair looks the way he thinks his hair looks,” Kimmel said.

“Well, I won’t touch that,” Muir said.