♪ ♪ howard: the news broke last night with catherine cortez masto projected to win in nevada after mark kelly's victory was called in arizona friday night, the democrats retain control of the senate. that's' a far cry from how it seemed when we headed into election night, and everyone -- meaning those of us in the media political complex -- were certain of a red wave, a huge night for republicans. a democratic disaster so deep they were already pointing fingers before it happened. >> i've been through a lot of these waves in my life.

they're almost impossible for the incumbent party to win. >> a wave like this, we should know that night, basically, who won the senate and the house. the polls show democrats sinking and republicans rising. >> i'm not saying there won't be a red wave, i'm just saying we won't know until tomorrow. howard: so how did the punditry and polling business botch this sod badly even with republicans still favored to win the house just by a handful of votes, and where are the mea culpas for this media malpractice? there was too much breathless reliance on each survey, and many predicted a 30-seat house pickup for control of the house. abortion rights which were said to have faded but, again, based on polls which spurred turnout among many women. and then there was the trump factor. even some on the right now saying that some of donald trump's hand-picked maga candidates lost races that easily could have been won. look at this cover in the

conservative post. and trump -- new york post. and trump himself always looms large, now a top advisor confirming he will announce his run this tuesday night. so what happens next? i could go on, but as we've just learned, making predictions in this polarizing atmosphere is risky business. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." ♪ ♪ howard: the day after the election journalists and commentate theres tried to understand why the republicans didn't score a resounding victory in the midterms, and president biden had a lengthy news conference where he enjoyed tweaking reporters. >> it was a good day, i think, for democracy. while the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn't happen. >> that big sound that you hear is democrats having a big sigh

of relief across the country because people woke up scared this morning. >> i think republicans had a wave in exactly one state, florida. >> you and i have known donald a long time. if this guy were an inside plant from the dnc, he couldn't have hurt their party more. >> i don't know about you guys, i'm shocked it was no red wave. some of these candidates are garbage or the money's not being well spent. but trump sitting on a massive war chest in mar-a-lago, where'd that money go? we don't know. >> this is, obviously, a huge political endorse endorsement joe biden as president of the united states, and i know people are going to give me a hard time for saying that. >> it is not about any one person. if the voters conclude that you're putting your own ego or your own grudges ahead of what's good for the country, they're going to look elsewhere, period. howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage, mollie

hemingway, editor-in-chief of the federalist and fox news contributor, and in new york, liz claman, host of "the claman countdown" at three eastern on fox business. mollie, the media belatedly recognized republicans wr going to take over the house, and now without a moment's introspection, they came back as if they got nothing wrong to explain the election they had blown. >> yes. they're not in a good position to explain. but it really is a confounding situation. it wasn't just the actual polls about elections. we have a situation where the vast majority of the country thinks we're going in the wrong direction. president biden has low approval ratings. the economy is poor, border, crime, foreign policy, all of these things are very bad. howard: and yet -- >> so it's not -- but clearly, what the problem with polling is that it's designed to explain how an election will go on election day, but we don't have election day anymore. we have a vast, long election

season, and it looks like the democrat party has done a very good job of exploiting that in such a way as to make sure that they bank ballots throughout that long election season. and so the problem is that our polling needs to reflect our new way of voting which is radically different than the way it was for many decades. howard: right. and then we all have to wait for those ballots to be counted. liz, what's intellectually dishonest is the washington post, for example, saying the big red wave that some on the right predicted. the everywhere. and now it's that passive voice like ronald reagan's, mistakes were made after iran contra. for example, pretty politico, dems defying prediction. foregone conclusions. whose predictions? whose foregone conclusions? [laughter] >> well, the media's. i mean, none of those predictions really are aging well, definitelyings ors that is true -- howard: so diplomatic of you. >> well, yeah, you know, we're trying to be diplomatic on a

sunday morning. but what the media should really be regretful about, i believe, is pretty much their analysis, their. sloppy analysis. and if here is what i'm noticing on all of this, and that is that everybody -- including fox business, fox news -- they were asking polls, they were asking for surveys of what is the most important thing to you. people said inflation. okay? put aside the economy and inflation are always the most important thing. it's the economy, stupid, right? they took that and then triangulated it to mean that the democrats would lose. the more probative question should have been which issue is more important than that to you, more important than inflation that would get you to subjugate that as you walk in in and make your vote. and clearly, that is exactly what -- you had independent voters, swing voters and some centrist republicans saying, you know what? other things do matter more than inflation. howard: dana millbank did say my

colleagues in the political press blew it and reminded us that cnn had said bottom dropping out for democrats and, of course, axios' red tsunami watch. donald trump is facing something of a revolt be many media outlets. they say trump's maga candidates lost many winnable races. what do you make of this deep divide? >> i think it's been there for a long time that's becoming more out in the open, and this performance of this election makes it easier for that to happen. i do want to touch back, again, these polls indicated that there were going to be, that the republicans were going to do very well in the generic ballot, that they were going to get a lot more votes. that actually is true, it just wasn't in the places that mattered. they got millions more votes. the generic ballot swung 7 points from 3 points behind in 2020, 4 points ahead it looks like in 2032. but again, by targeting about 30-40 very key race9s -- races

in the house and maybe 5-7 in the senate and banking ballots, democrats were able to overperform despite the fact that, actually, these votes were there for republicans. howard: do republican leaders deserve some blame here? >> absolutely. you've got a lot of people in media pinning all the blame on donald trump who certainly bears some of the responsibility, but the people who were actually in charge of winning these elections, the people in the top of the leadership in the senate, house, rnc, they need to look very deep, and people need to think about leadership situations here given the failures that they have. howard: liz, many in the press overall are saying it's not just trump, it's trumpism, it's a trumpian party,ish say, with many election deniers getting elected but nobody who disputed the 2020 election winning for secretary of state, for example. now, i talked about the two the races that gave, means democrats will retain control. donald trump now charges there have voter fraud in the mark

kelly win in arizona, projected win. he wants a do-over. he says this was stolen from blake masters. i don't see any evidence of that. >> donald trump, you know, you've got -- and not just some conservative columnists, the ones who are most noted and whether that is, say, for example, "the wall street journal"'s kim strassel, rich lowry, peggy noonan, these are people who are saying, move on, that is not working anymore. the american people are done relitigating -- these are their words -- relitigating that election. i want to go back to something mollie quickly said only because i was looking at all of the weekend shows, cnn's political analyst who also writes for "the new york times," he said exactly that, that the red wave actually did happen. you had a lot of conditions that were still true for a republican success. illinois and new york, they were able to pull votes away if democrats and flip certain seats in those states.

but that said, the bigger issue became that independent and swing voters and is a lot of centrist republicans heard certain things, howie. and if you look at the abortion issue certainly, they didn't just hear, ooh, democrats are going to codify roe v. wade if they win, they heard, wait a minute, we don't want anybody tells us -- telling us what to do with our bodies. and i would argue because you had the new hampshire former head of the republican party speaking, jennifer horn on msnbc this morning, she was one as a republican that said that might not be all women, that could be men, and you start to think, did some men hear something different too like don't tell me not to have a vasectomy. howard: let me pick this up with mollie. donald trump has gone to war with many of the conservative media including in 2016. is it different this time? we don't know. mollie, what did the media missesome everyone seemed to

agree that the abortion issued that faded since this summer, and if you believe the polls -- some republicans may not want to talk to exit pollsters -- 27% said it was their top issue. >> and democrats clearly treated it like a top issue. they spent $391 million on abortion advertising. this was key. republicans, by contrast, even though they had to know that this was going to be a big issue, spent something like $11 million. that's a 35 to 1 disparity. howard: wow. >> and it's not a situation where the country does not support pro-life candidates. so much to -- some of those biggest wins were in florida which has an abortion ban, georgia, governor lee in tennessee had a big win, mike dewine, greg abbott, strongly pro-life governors. so the idea that everyone woman wants to have a right to kill an unborn child, that's just not true. but it is true that republicans cannot play this ostrich, head in the san approach particularly

when -- sand approach. howard: well, florida has not a total barnes but a ban after 15 weeks. liz, should the press also acknowledge, and i don't except myself from some of this criticism, that maybe president biden's strategy of lying low knowing he was unpopular and giving that partisan, saving democracy speech which i thought he should have been talking about the economy, wasn't as wrong as they had believed? >> the press has to be very careful that they don't make the same mistake they made in the midterms which was believing certain headlines. they should not believe simply that this is an absolute democratic win. i mean, the democrats definitely did fumble on certain issues, particularly crime. kathy hochul made it through, you know, by a kitten's whisker if you really start to look at what the voters in the entire state of new york were looking at. they have to be extraordinarily careful. but i would argue that this is not a, oh, you know, certain republicans are very much

against a woman, as mollie put it, having the right to kill her unborn child. people have to listen to what centrist are republicans kid. they crossed party lines. they jumped across the line -- howard: okay. >> -- in some cases to vote for if democrats because they didn't like what they were hearing on that. howard: yeah. there are lessons for both parties. when we come back, donald trump hits fox and two fellow republicans while some conservative outlets, as we've been discussing, break with the former president. ♪ ♪ his trusty crew... were delayed when the new kid totaled his truck. timber... fortunately, they were covered by progressive, so it was a happy ending... for almost everyone. ...tower cam for a - hey! folks, we seem to have a visitor. it looks like - looks like you paid too much for your glasses. ... who? anyone who isn't shopping at america's best - where two pairs and a free exam start at just $79.95.

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>> well, i think if they win, i should get all the credit, and if they lose, i should not be blamed at all. howard: a unique take from the former president on the

midterms. mollie, trump warned ron desantis nod to run, then -- not to run, and then he ran this long tweet. an average are republican with great public relations says he's average on covid, says he made desantis governor four years ago -- that part is undoubtedly true -- and questions his loyalty and class when desantis deflects any questions about 2024. so if desantis does get in, would much of the conservative media be on his side? >> well, i think it remains to be seen. one of the issues there is that conservative media has not always been totally supportive of donald trump themselves. whats' interesting here is donald trump is known for taking on establishment republicans, and that seems to go well for him. it's absolutely true that the establishment wants don desan -- ron desantis to run.

he's very popular, and he just had a very big win, and he isn't quite part of that establishment even though the establishment wants him to run presumably in order to take out donald trump. howard: liz, trump also hit virginia governor glenn youngkin saying it sounds chinese. are the media going to be sympathetic to these other candidates because others might or might not get into the 2024 primary if they run, and how long would that last? >> already there's an article by axios, i don't know if you saw it, and in i sense, the headline was trump backlash, is it already fading? [laughter] people have to be looking at every single minute -- yeah, i just saw that. every single minute of this campaign. these attacks and these things about jen young kin, outright -- gwen -- glenn youngkin, outright

racist. by the way, glenn youngkin, not asian. what because that say? all you have to do is look at the conservative media now saying relitigating the past and airing these kinds of grievances is yesteryear, it doesn't work. this election in many cases, not all, but in many cases just proved that, and the republicans have to move on. and it wasn't just the post saying desantis is defuture. by the way, to call him a mediocre republican or -- howard: average. liz: he flipped miami-dade county. howard: it was a huge win. >> and that's impressive. that's impressive, and democrats and republicans should look at that and say, you know what? he didn't get down in the mud with trump. even the day before the election, trump is trying to criticize desantis. if you want to win or not. howard: trump said on truth social that election night was somewhat disappointing but not for him personally, and then he

ripped the kiss honest fake -- dishonest fake news because he said many of the people i endorsed went on to sixtily, and the media with, they are truly the enemy of the people. sounds like he's bringing back the greatest hits. >> not a bad strategy for him to take. there are many fathers to this. many people in the media, everyone in the establishment republican party, they would like to blame donald trump as a way of avoiding responsibility for their own failures. it was their job to win the senate, it was their job to win the house, it was their job to understand that the way we vote in this country is through massive, unsupervised mail-in balloting, and you can complain about it, or you can run the game according to the rules that are there. so 'em donald trump can blame the media, and that's fine, they are, as always, opposed to him, but measured also be aiming some of his fire back on the establishments that -- establishment that's trying to take him out and his voters. he should remember who his primary opponents are. howard: liz, donald trump has

every right to slam the media and certainly we have many, many, many flaws. but enemy of the people sounds like he's going to that well yet again. >> yeah, the well that that is now dry because as you look at exactly what happened with the election, didn't work. let me point out, ronald reagan won on hope and the future. barack obama on hope and the future. look at ohio's mike dewine. look at kim reynolds in iowa. look at -- you could name greg abbott which we talked about as welsh brian kemp in georgia who outright took on donald trump. they are talking about how policy can even make this wonderful country better than it is and that government, when done properly, can work. this works for some democratic governors as well. but, clearly, this is the most important point. that's the message republicans want to hear now. howard: all right. one quick thought which is it will be up to actual republican

voters to decide if they want to move on from donald trump, and, you know, he is predominant figure, has a real grip on those who identify with him and want him to be president again. it's not up to the media for those certainly drenched in all kinds of stuff. all right, liz claman, mollie hemingway, thanks so much for joining us. up next, kari lake, the former tv anchor, in a cliffhanger race for governor of arizona issues an unusual warning to the media. ♪ ♪ ♪ the only thing i regret about my life was hiring local talent. if i knew about upwork. i would have hired actually talented people from all over the world. instead of talentless people from all over my house.

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howard: kari lake, the trump-backed moderate candidate for arizona governor, is locked in a razor thin race, and the other day the woman who was a tv anchor for 25 years had harsh words for the assembled reporters. >> i'm going to be your worst freaking nightmare for eight years, and we will reform the media as well. we're going to make you guys into journalists again.

howard: joining us now to analyze the coverage, robbie suave say and mara liasson, national political correspondent for npr. robbie, is that a winning strategy for republican candidates that say you'll be their worst freaking nightmare? >> clearly not, right? [laughter] it literally didn't work because she might not get over the finish line. howard: she might. >> it's a lot closer than it was expected to be. i think, actually, republicans should remember that they're not actually running against the media, they're running against democrats, and they need to explain to voterses why their policies will benefit the lives of voters more than the democrats' policies were. i have so many criticisms of the media, totally valid to hold them accountable. but at the end of the day, the pitch to republican -- to voters has to be that republicans' policies are going to been fit them. and there's a focus on the media that can get in the way, it can get in the way, i think. i think we're seeing that it has.

howard: mara are, what did kari lake mean when she said she's going to reform journalism? send them off to reeducation camp in. >> i have absolutely no idea, and i don't know if she does either. this is part of the use the media as a foil thing that donald trump took too far and she's been the most polished acolyte of donald trump with all her tv experience. so far this approach doesn't seem to have worked to win a lot of races. howard: well, kari lake is down about 30,000 votes, a lot of votes still to be counted, so we see whether she overtakes her opponent. she's questioned the competence of election officials, her opponent is secretary of tate katie hobbs. and, robby, saying this reminds her of stolen election of 2020 and a state official then fired back and said this was offensive because people were working 14-18 hours a day to count these uncount toed ballots. >> we're all really frustrated with how long this is taking. i don't think this is

acceptable. that should be a nonpartisan issue, that we need the election's wrapped up, we need the votes counted effectively and efficiently. look, again, that pitch in terms of a strategy that can win and that can get republicans elected is failing. to complain about the last election and to reflect on, well, there's some fraud or something's wrong, that was clearly not persuasive to enough voters, to the independent voters, democrats who maybe even some democrats who were worried about schools or covid or whatever it was, the kinds of coalition that republicans promised they were building that service going to contribute to this wed wave -- red wave, somewhere they got distracted. and we can see the rugs. >> i take that a little bit differently. it did matter. it worked against them -- >> yeah, sure. >> it made suburban women voters and independents think, whoa, these people are not willing to accept the results of a free and fair election. howard: i would remind you that she could still win. >> yes. howard: but also it just seems that bashing the press is

popular in a way among many republican voters because it's like they hate the press, so you just must be one of us us if you're -- >> but the press isn't one thing. look where we're sitting. fox news is a big, powerful media organization, and a lot of those people that those republican candidates are trying to reach watch it 24/7. howard: okay. let me get another break here. next on "mediabuzz," ron desantis, huge landslide winner in florida, now the media want to know is he, in fact, going to jump into the 2024 race? ♪ ♪ sleep plus next day energy with melatonin to help you fall asleep naturally... plus extended-release b-vitamins. wake up feeling refreshed. pure zzzs. sleep better. wake up your best.

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thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. please call or go online right now to give. if operators are busy, please wait patiently. or go to loveshriners.org right away. howard: ron desantis won a sland ride victory in florida, trouncing charlie crist, excuse me, and bringing him a surge in national media attention. >> we will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. florida is where woke goes to die! [cheers and applause] howard: some media conservatives

urging the above to run for president -- the governor to run for president. here's another new york post cover: as desantis weighs the possibility of taking on donald trump, and there's a "wall street journal" headline, trump is the gop's biggest loser. so, robby, since "the new york post" and "wall street journal" are owned by our sister company, some people are saying, oh, the murdochs have turned against trump. others were talking up ron desantis as well. an interesting dynamic. >> it is very interesting. i think it's clear that there's a lot of support for ron desantis among. conservative media. i think that just had to be -- has to be conceded. there is some diversity, and there's certainly some in conservative media that a want to find out what voters think. they want to know if the base is ready to move on because you can't throw trump under the bus if the base says, no, they're still with trump. we'll find out. it could be that the base says, you know what? we still love trump, but ron desantis is great too, we

appreciate what he's done in florida, he has a winning path, and if they say we prefer desantis because he's proven effective and actually win, a -- then we'll see. howard: but with trump announcing tuesday night and we don't know when or if desantis gets in, we wouldn't hear from the actual voters for another year. if desantis does run, would much of the media give him sympathetic coverage just to get rid of trump? >> first of all, the media's going to be one thing. they will go out and talk to conservative cable news, some cable news shows will want to give him probably a pretty positive look, especially ones that believe like many conservatives do believe that trump is now a loser. he's lost three times in a row -- howard: 2018, 2020 -- >> -- and 2032. however, desantis endorsed all the same candidates that lost that donald trump did too. yes, there's no doubt that desantis is attracting

tremendous positive interest in the conservative world. howard: right. >> but, look, we have seen this before. criticisms of trump after access hollywood, after january 6th, and then they evaporate rate because he has such a rock solid hold on the base, and we're going to find that out eventually. howard: right. and desantis has never run a national campaign, so we'd have to say how he does. john fetterman, even after that disastrous debate for the recovering stroke victim, beat dr. oz pretty handily in pennsylvania. did partisans help rehabilitate him by having these friendly, we see it there, closed captioned interviews where he sounded much better? >> oh, absolutely. that was a travesty. you felt sorry for him watching him. this is someone who has a very serious medical situation that is not ready for the kinds of stress and attention that a national campaign get. i think that was so clear. it's, i think it's baffling to many of us that voters still decided they would vote for

fetterman over dr. oz -- [laughter] well, that shows you candidates matter. and for as much as the expectations were high on republicans, people like dr. oz, blake masters, herschel walker didn't connect with voters. they had everything going for them, and that's their weakness rather than the strength of the democrats, i think. howard: you brought up herschel walker, the georgia runoff between him and raphael warnock set for december 6th. it's not as important nationally now that the democrats will retain control of the senate, but ill -- state it still could be a big deal. when herr herschel walker slugged off the abortion scandal, georgia media said this is all about the gop taking control. i don't see the media saying with democratic voters and fetterman they only care about -- >> i actually disagree. i think that fetterman and walker are very, very similar,

and they were both testing the proposition that nothing matters anymore. we've seen polls of democrats and republicans, over 60% of those voters said they would be willing to stick with their candidate even if he had a personal, moral or health problem. in other words, we're so tribal in the senate, you're basically to be in there just to be a vote for your team, different than running for governor. people stick with their candidate. herschel walker was running ahead in the poll averages up until the last minute, within the margin of error -- howard: yeah. >> -- but he was doing pretty good. >> but kemp won decisively, right? >> he didn't have all those -- >> just saying, right, there are many voters who said, who were happy, probably some independents, democrats, centrists who said, yeah, i'll vote for governor kemp, he's been a good governor, but i can't wait for this herschel walker guy, and that's happened over and over again. howard: all right. so nancy pelosi gave a very emotional interview to anderson

cooper talking about how capitol police woke her up to tell her that her husband paul had been attack ad and his condition. and around -- attacked and his condition. and around the same time, donald trump had something to say about the house speaker. let's take a look. >> it really, it's really sad because it is a flame that was fueled by misinformation and all the rest of that. >> i think she's an animal too, you want to know the truth. [cheers and applause] they'll say, oh, what a horrible thing he said about nancy. she impeached me twice for nothing! howard: first, robby, could that have reminded some people what they don't like about trump's hyper-aggressive style? >> i think so. i think most normal people hear the story that a crazy person broke into someone's house and attacked an old man, woke him up in the middle of the night and regardless of who that is, doesn't matter if it's paul pelosi, that story disturbs people. and the right thing to do is say

that's horrible and that should not have happened and, you know, the police need to do something else. you look at security, things like that. but the normal reaction from people is that's bad. and if you're trying to put some spin on it, i think it plays so badly -- >> don't forget, it wasn't just donald trump. there was lots of jokes that came from republicans. i think that went into the soup along with overturning roe, along with election denial, along with weird ads from blake masters about a handgun. all those things convinced independents and suburban women that republicans were not mainstream, they were extreme. howard: well, i'm not saying that nancy pelosi can't be criticized prettily -- >> certainly not -- politically. howard: in that environment, certainly gave me pause. before we go, donald trump made a proposal that i wonder if cnn could possibly resist. he said that cnn should start a conservative network and only have me on. [laughter] and it'll be the biggest success in the history of broadcasting. somehow i don't see that happening. all right, after the break,

how badly did pollsters screw up the midterms? frank luntz is on deck. ♪ ♪ should be your style! plop plop fizz fizz, with alka-seltzer plus cold & flu relief. also try for fizzy fast cough relief! hi, i'm jason and i've lost 202 pounds on golo. so when i first started golo, i was expecting to lose around 40 pounds and then i just kept losing weight, and moving and moving and moving in a better direction. with golo and release, you're gonna lose the weight.

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howard: the polling biz is under few scrutiny after helping create the red wave that never materialized. joining me now on set, frank luntz. so you predicted the republicans would wind up with 233-240 house

seats, outdoing the gains from 1994. how did you get it wrong? >> everybody got it wrong. it's a line that i used from simon and garfunkel, a man hear what is he wants to hear and disregards the rest. all the information -- because i've been polling campaigns for saw years -- 15 years. i'm getting told all these numbers, and everything showed that republicans were moving towards a wave, particularly in the last 10 days. we've looked at it since the election, and three things come to mind. number one is donald trump was a negative. i hate doing this on your air, because right now people are getting ready to tweet that i'm wrong. howard: say what you think. >> trump was a negative. biden was neutral, trump was a negative because -- and the second point, the reason why so many people said that the numbers would be so, would help the republicans, the economy was so bad. inflation was so bad. howard: yeah. >> the president was so unpopular. our foreign policy's a mess, and yet democrats do as well that as

i -- as they did? it was simply inconceivable. and the last point, independents and undecideds broke for democrats on the final day. howard: you also said republicans would control the senate. and, by the way, i give you credit, you reposted your predictions, and you said you were being deservedly roasted. >> you have to tell the truth. it's number one value in america. when they look at a show like this, they want the truth. i want to show them what i said, explain why it was wrong, and we have to look at how we get it right in the future which is you don't want talk about what you want to be -- you don't talk about what you want to be, you talk about what is. so many people believed that red wave even if the data didn't show is it. i don't think the polling was all that bad. i think the pundits were all that bad. taking information that they know suggested a republican success. i got all the quotes right here of all the personalities, and it's a mess.

i believe they were voicing their desires concern. howard: wishful thinking. >> exactly. howard: all right. well, there's a media debate about how much of a factor was donald trump. obviously, he's not on the ballot, but a lot of his hand-picked candidates lost when more conventional republicans might have won in these key states, and and that ends up with democratic control of the senate. and we forget that in the end it's not just about the issues, it's also about the character traits, the attributes and the history of the candidates. candidates matter. and if you're going to nominate the worst candidates, don't be surprised when the results don't end up your way. howard: so what does that say about donald trump and the are republican party? he's announcing tuesday night. >> how do you announce, how do you announce when you had such a bad showing? his candidate lost in pennsylvania, his candidate in arizona, his candidate is losing in georgia, his candidate lost in -- i could fill up the entire segment on how many trump candidates lost. i don't know how he announces. maybe he just doesn't get the

message. howard: or maybe he thinks the republican party will rally behind it as it has so many times after he's appeared to be mocked down. >> -- tock tock the knocked down. >> a simple question i would ask him right now, why are you attacking the florida governor who just won in a landslide, the virginia governor who's one of the most popular republicans? why are you going after people who actually won the race rather than focusing on why your candidates lost the race? howard: well, he doesn't want them to up run existence him. >> this is a democracy. this is a republic. this is serious now. we just had an election where republicans did not do as well as expected, democrats dud better. in the end, it's not just about elections, howie, it's also about generations. what is the right thing for this up country? we do not need to put more ugliness and negativity into our political system particularly now, and what he said about nancy pelosi which i had not seen until your show right here, it was disgusting. come on. we're human beings. you and i know each other, we

have conversations. we care about each other's families, we care about the future. don't insult someone who just had their husband attacked in a violent are way. howard: joe biden took a lot of heat, including from me, for that prime time speech on saving democracy. was that more of a factor in this election than you expected? certainly more than a lot of republicans expected? >> it is a part of where we are right now as a nation, how do we find these building blocks to bring us together. i know -- by the way, you're going to get more hate tweets out of this segment than you've probably gotten in a month. i don't care. in the end, we have to be willing to tell the truth. look people straight in the eye and tell the truth. it's the number one value that americans think has been lost in this country. it's what they dislike most about the media. they don't think they're getting the truth from what they see on tv or -- howard: well, there's huge distrust of the media. -- and we have to do better than that. howard: i ask you this because you're an expert on polling, not

because you're polling campaigns these days, but is the polling industry broken beyond repair? this time it was in the other direction, the last two rex elections in the in the direction of republicans. >> the numbers themselves aren't, they're not great, but they're not that bad. in the end, we have to ask the democratic congressional campaign committee and the republican congressional campaign committee, did your people, did the people who are paid to do this, did they get it right or wrong? i know that the republican leadership is projecting much higher numbers than i had. and that was based on the polling they were being given. was the polling that wrong, or were they simply misreading the numbers? that's a legitimate question to ask. i actually think they were misreading the number -- howard: who was? >> the leadership was misinterpreting it because everyone thought that there's no way this could be a democratic success with all that's going on. howard: saw seconds. -- 15 seconds. did the media rely too much on

bad polls? >> we should be talking about policy, not just politics. we should be talking about what the candidates say and what they believe, not just where they stand in the numbers. i wish pollsters would do less to give us more information about what's really going on in america. howard: all right. frank luntz putting it all on the table. thanks very much. still to come, a reporter asked president biden if elon musk is a threat to national security. we'll show you that and his answer next. ♪ ♪ psoriasis really messes with you.

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howard: president biden's presser, bloomberg reporter jenny leonard asked whether elon musk should be investigated by federal authorities. >> reporter: mr. president, do you think elon musk is a threat to u.s. national security? >> i think that elon musk's

cooperation and/or technical relationships with other countries is think offing being looked at. -- is worthy offing being looked at. whether or not he is doing anything inappropriate, i'm not suggesting that. howard: now, the way the bloomberg reporter asked the question was highly inappropriate, trying to get the president of the united states to single out a major corporate leader as a threat to national security. but that's somehow okay because it's elon musk. the media hate the guy. they think his free peach approach would ruin twitter -- free speech. and widen, as you saw -- biden, as you saw, should have deinnocented the question. he should be not calling for an

investigation. now a democratic senator had earlier asked for a treasury department review of the takeover because saudi arabia is the company's second largest investor, but potus shouldn't be putting his thumb on the scale. and here's the irony for all these media types who are hyperventilating about musk owning twitter and vowing to go off to digital siberia. elon hasn't changed the rule against hate speech, offensive content one bit, but the company is in chaos with musk warning it may not survive an economic downturn. several top executives just resigned in a vote of no confidence prompting the ftc to warn it must comply with an old court set settlement on pryce's and security. one engineering manager told to cut hundreds of employees vomited in a garbage can, "the new york times" said. others were told they would be fired if they didn't meet a tight deadline for the subscription twitter blew. musk

realized the firings went too far and tried to hire some people back especially those in charge of money-generating products that, well, nobody else knew how to run. musk way overpaid for the company, is desperate to raise cash and is counting on a major chunk of revenue from that $8 monthly verification fee that many are resisting as a ripoff, and it's been put on hold after those verified miraculously included jesus christ. plus, advertisers are holding back to see if twitter becomes toxic. along with twitter's staff firings, mark zuckerberg just laid off # 1,000 staffers at meta/facebook a company that's lost 70% of its value this year. tough times for tech. elon musk tweeted the other day that twitter will do lots of dumb things. that's fine, but he needs to move quickly to get rid of the stupid things and keep the smart stuff. the clock is ticking. that's it for this edition of

"mediabuzz," i'm howard kurtz. sub vape to my podcast, media buzz meter. apple itunes is a good place to do it. we are back here next sunday 11 eastern with the only media an cyst show on -- analysis show on national television. ♪ ♪ can he stand on his own... once he's all on his own? this is financial security. and lincoln financial solutions will help you get there. as you plan, protect and retire. ♪ [school bells] when pain says, “i'm here,” i say, “so are they.” ♪ aleve - who do you take it for? the hiring process used to be the death of me. but with upwork... with upwork the hiring process is fast and flexible.

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number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. arthel: democrats keep control of the senate after the foxnews decision desk projected last night that nevada senator will hold onto her seat to feeding republican challenger. her when gives democrats the seats they need to control the senate with vice president kamala harris the tie-breaking vote in the georgia senate seat is still in play. hello. i am arthel neville. eric i am eric shawn. thank you fo