Here Are 8 TV Show Hosts Who Bashed Donald Trump on Live TV

These hosts clashed with Donald Trump over controversies

For many years, hosts have used the tiny screen as a forum to voice their thoughts, which frequently results in contentious situations that have an impact well beyond the studio's walls. During his tenure as US president, Donald Trump—one of the most divisive personalities in recent political history—was the target of countless on-air criticisms. Some hosts bravely shared their opinions through caustic monologues and cutting comedy, helping to shape the conversation around the 45th President and illustrating how politics and entertainment collide on television. Here are 8 examples of TV program anchors who boldly spoke their beliefs and condemned Trump during live broadcasts:

1. Tucker Carlson

While Carlson held the coveted primetime position in Fox News' nightly lineup during Trump's presidency, the conservative newsman and the former president seemed to get along well. However, text messages that surfaced during Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against the network painted a different picture. "I hate him passionately. ... I can't handle much more of this," Tucker once allegedly wrote about the former president, per CBS News. Carlson slammed Trump on live TV once in 2020 amid the Black Lives Matter protests after George Floyd's death. "The president reassured America that he and his family were just fine. The federally funded bodyguards had kept them safe. He did not mention protecting the rest of the nation, much of which was then on fire. He seemed aware only of himself," Carlson said, per POLITICO.

2. Brian Kilmeade

Kilmeade has always been a vociferous supporter of Trump, however, even Kilmeade's backing faltered in March 2023 when Trump played a video of imprisoned January 6 insurrectionists singing the National Anthem while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Kilmeade blasted Trump on Fox & Friends, saying that he spent too much time complaining about his legal problems during his campaign and labeled his choice to honor the rioters as "insane." The host added, "He should be running from that, period. I don't care about his point of view, that is not a good thing for him. I thought that was awful."

3. Alyssa Farah Griffin

CNN made the contentious choice to hold a town hall for Donald Trump in May 2023. Under intense questioning over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump remained silent when asked if he supported Vladimir Putin's brutal goal. "The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump advisor, was one of the people who took issue with Trump's answers to inquiries on the Russian leader. "America got to see who he is last night: a ranting, raving lunatic who sided with Vladimir Putin," Farah Griffin said on the show.

4. Chris Wallace

Declaring war on the media, Donald Trump tweeted in 2017 that, except for Fox, he saw all major news networks as "the enemy of the American People." One of The Donald's Ten Commandments of Media Coverage—that is, no one should state that Barack Obama accomplished something greater than him—was broken in response by Fox News Sunday presenter Chris Wallace. "Barack Obama whined about Fox News all the time, but I got to say, he never said that we were an enemy of the people," Chris said to Trump's chief of staff at the time, Reince Priebus.

5. Joy Reid

Joy Reid, the host of MSNBC, can now brag that she was one of the journalists who drove Donald Trump so crazy that he had to go on X and vent about her. Reid once guest-hosted All In with Chris Hayes, where she viciously attacked Trump's speech at a 2019 GOP event, making sure to draw attention to his mispronunciation of "Mike Pence" as "Mike Pounce." As she continued to recap the event, Reid said, "Trump went on to treat the gathered Republicans to some smoking hot beauty tips." Reid then played clips of Trump complaining that LED lightbulbs give him an orange sheen.

6. Don Lemon

Don Lemon is not a fan of Donald Trump, or vice versa; in a previous tweet, the TV anchor was called "the dumbest man on television" by the former president. Lemon didn't hold back when it came to expressing his thoughts about Trump before being fired from CNN. "The President of the United States is racist. A lot of us already knew that," he said on CNN Tonight in 2018.

7. Nicole Wallace

Wallace slammed Trump after he was fined $10,000 for violating his gag orders during his trial. "I have vizslas, and so all of the training of that breed is about impulse control: teaching them not to run after the squirrel, not to roll in horse poop. Trump has less impulse control than a hunting dog," she said on Deadline: White House. "Couldn't keep himself out of trouble."

8. Lawrence O'Donnell

Long before Donald Trump was elected president, the anchor of The Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell, was one of his staunchest critics. "NBC has created a monster and it is called Donald Trump," the MSNBC host said during a 2011 episode of his show, about Trump teasing that he might run for president. "All of this, every bit of it, is as fake as Donald's fake reality show where he pretends to fire some very sad people," said O'Donnell of the media circus Trump's talk of a potential political career had created.