NEW YORK _ Defending President Donald Trump can be a lonely job, and this past week it has become particularly tough for the TV news shows to find someone to do it.
Executives and producers across the networks say the president's response to harshly received comments about last weekend's deadly clash between far-right groups and counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Va., has made it difficult to book guests to speak on behalf of the Trump agenda.
CBS News was turned down by 16 Republican members of Congress before finally booking Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., to appear on Sunday's "Face the Nation," said a network insider not authorized to comment publicly. And Scott has been a vocal critic of his party's president, saying his "moral authority has been compromised."
Chuck Todd of NBC's "Meet the Press," and Fox News anchor Shepard Smith also said they could not get Republican representatives on their shows this week as the rebuke of Trump's remarks _ in which many say he equated white supremacist groups with the protesters who opposed them _ grew stronger.
With Republicans dominating Congress, there is no shortage of available conservative voices. But being a Republican these days doesn't mean a person will speak in defense of the administration.
MSNBC, which courts liberal viewers in the evening, has several Republican contributors, including former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and Rick Tyler, who was spokesman for Sen. Ted Cruz's presidential campaign last year. The cable network's 4 p.m. EST hour is anchored by Nicolle Wallace, a communications veteran of the George W. Bush administration. They have all criticized Trump presidency as harshly as any Democrat.
Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist who is a contributor on CNN, uses the hashtag #PresidentLoco when on Twitter.
CNN kept pro-Trump Jeffrey Lord on its payroll because of a need to provide balance to its coverage. But Lord was criticized for his commentary. He was recently fired from the network after using the Nazi salute "sieg heil" on Twitter.
Even Fox News, where viewers tend to go for a more favorable reading on Trump's performance, is having moments in which its right-leaning commentators are grappling with how to rationalize the president's behavior.
Conservatives have been buzzing about the contretemps between commentators Charles Krauthammer and Laura Ingraham. Krauthammer called Trump's comments about white supremacists "a moral disgrace." Ingraham, a steadfast supporter of Trump's policies, told Krauthammer she was not going to pass judgment on "whether Donald Trump is morally on the same plane as you are, Charles."
James Murdoch, the chief executive of Fox News parent 21st Century Fox, joined the increasing number of business leaders who have gone out of their way to condemn Trump.
Fox News executives will watch to see if Trump's increasing unpopularity and questions about his competency will have an effect on the ratings of the cable network, which despite losing major on-air talent and addressing its sexual harassment problems has remained No. 1 in the ratings.
On nights when the news about Trump is particularly bad _ such as the fallout over his impromptu news conference Tuesday, at which he equates white supremacists with counterprotesters _ most of the Fox News commentators focus on bashing the media coverage they see as unfair to the president. But Fox has stiff competition. Fox News had a rare third-place finish behind CNN and MSNBC among viewers ages 25 to 54 on Tuesday, according to Nielsen.
While Fox News is not deviating from its conservative-leaning coverage, it is considering a change to its lineup.
Its discussion program "The Five" is expected to move out of prime time and back to the early evening when it was first aired. It probably will be replaced by a show hosted by Ingraham. "The Five" would replace "Fox News Specialists," which has been a ratings weak spot in the network's daytime lineup.
