Donald Trump was impeached. Again.
And in one week he will no longer be the President of the United States. But the nature of the past week is something that likely expedited the inevitable: the fracture in the Republican Party is here and it will play out ferociously over the coming 12-18 months.
Typically, the minority party in Washington D.C. plays the dissenting voice and is united. It’s easy to be the unified party when you’re the one without any power. But that won’t be the case for the Republican Party moving forward.
The fracture is real. Several Republicans voted to impeach the President this time around, something that wasn’t given much consideration at this time one year ago during his first impeachment.
But the divide within the Republican Party has also played itself out in the news talk space this week. There are those who will hang onto the belief that the election was stolen from Donald Trump, those who are ready to move on and accept Biden, those who still believe following the President’s lead is the way to future success for the Republican Party and then those who want to excommunicate him and move on for good.
There’s no way of knowing what the future will hold for the party and conservatism in general, but we’re hearing it play out in real time on talk radio.
In many ways, the last week has been the least enjoyable week of working in an industry I’ve loved since the first time I cracked a microphone. Why? It’s normal in News Talk to not please everyone. Heck, you can’t. If you’re doing your job right, you’re not supposed to. The difference the past week is that you could please no one. Emotions are high and not only can no one agree, it seems like people are finding reasons to not agree with each other.
The unique space of talk radio that cable news, print, digital, and podcasts still can’t provide is the interactive nature of the show. And while overdoing things like phone calls is never ideal, getting the pulse of some good callers, regardless of their ideology, can always provide perspective.
I can hear this figurative Civil War play out within Republican circles every single day on our phones, text line, tweets, Facebook comments and e-mails. It makes for a dicey time for our business as we are now no longer on the same side of the coin, but lively debate and some arguing is happening on the same side of the coin.
To prevent these conversations from spiraling out of control, we’ve made an effort on KCMO Talk Radio to continue our move back to when we are at our best with local talk and we’ve had the stories to do it: New COVID-19 business restrictions in Kansas City, calls for the KC Police Chief to resign, oh, and the Chiefs getting set to take on the Browns in the AFC Divisional Round!
All of these stories and more have given us a reason to not avoid the national news of the week, that’s impossible and would be irresponsible, but to give the audience a show that is moving quickly from topic to topic, not getting bogged down by the Republican infighting (but picking and choosing when the right call, text or tweet might spark something), and continuing to provide the listener the appropriate variety of national and local news.
It’s a constant balancing act and in my experience it’s never been harder than it is right now to try and put on that perfect show that informs, entertains, brings strong opinions and pleases enough of the audience. But despite the potential landmines, we’re living through history.
There will be a time when things slow down again and we will look back at this moment in time and say to ourselves, “Remember when?” So for now, enjoy the rollercoaster.
Pete Mundo is a weekly columnist for Barrett Media, and the morning show host and program director for KCMO in Kansas City. Previously, he was a fill-in host nationally on FOX News Radio and CBS Sports Radio, while anchoring for WFAN, WCBS News Radio 880, and Bloomberg Radio. Pete was also the sports and news director for Omni Media Group at K-1O1/Z-92 in Woodward, Oklahoma. He’s also the owner of the Big 12-focused digital media outlet Heartland College Sports. To interact, find him on Twitter @PeteMundo.
