David Muir, the brooding sphinx of ABC News, finally revealed himself on Tuesday while moderating the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. The 50-year-old host of World News Tonight with David Muir is the highest rated media personality across all networks. The reasonably attractive (by journalist standards) and physically fit (ditto) anchor gets paid an annual salary believed to be in the eight figures to read news off a teleprompter every weeknight to millions of lonely seniors and nursing home patients who fell asleep hours earlier.
Industry observers attribute Muir's success to his carefully crafted reputation as an unbiased, opinionless news drone who works hard and works out even harder, hence the impeccably toned physique. Whether on vacation or touring a war zone, Muir is particularly fond of flaunting his biceps while posing provocatively in a tight black T-shirt. Unlike industry peers such as Anderson Cooper, however, Muir has yet to bare it all in sultry, shirtless fashion. He's managed to maintain this mystique in a media era teeming with overly emotional personalities.
But as Hannibal Lecter might say, "not anymore." Up until Tuesday, Muir had largely abstained from the snarky political commentary and social media wisecracks that many of his media peers are unable to resist. That all changed during the debate when Muir ditched the teleprompter and relentlessly "fact checked" Trump while repeatedly pressing the former president to stay on topic. By contrast, Muir and his ABC News colleague Linsey Davis gave Harris free rein to dodge questions and recite pre-scripted talking points. "Madam Vice President, thank you," Muir said in his distinctively syrupy voice, almost every time Harris finished speaking, rarely bothering to follow up.
Muir's fellow journalists (and other outspoken Democratic activists) absolutely adored his biased moderating. "Incredibly commendable," wrote Puck "media reporter" Dylan Byers, best known for exposing your humble correspondent's Trump donations. "Superb," wrote Vanity Fair's Michael Calderone. CNN's Abby Phillip, among others, applauded the "asymmetrical fact checking" during the debate. Moderates and conservatives weren't as thrilled by the moderating. For many ABC News viewers, it was the first time they had ever seen Muir unmasked, forced to use his brain to construct sentences out of words rather than read them off a teleprompter in studio. A cipher no more, Muir the highly rated news drone revealed himself to be no different than his media peers—a liberal partisan eager to do his part to "save democracy" from Trump.
If history is any indication, Muir may ultimately pay a steep price for showing his true colors on national television. World News Tonight wasn't always the highest rated evening news program. The title was previously held for many years by Nightly News on NBC.
But NBC News has lost its cherished top spot under the embarrassing stewardship of Lester Holt, whose reputation outside the New York-D.C. corridor took a massive hit in September 2016, when he moderated a presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton. Like Muir, Holt was previously regarded as a nonpartisan newsman. The mask came off during the debate, however, when he aggressively fact checked Trump about New York's racially charged "stop and frisk" tactics. Holt was praised by other journalists for defending the truth, but his reputation as an unbiased media figure was damaged beyond repair (a 2017 interview in which he badgered Trump about Russia made things even worse). Muir surpassed Holt as the highest rated nightly news host in May 2018 and never looked back. But after Tuesday night's revealing debate performance, Muir and ABC News will be lucky to avoid a similar fate.
In the meantime, Muir should consider himself lucky to work in Manhattan at the ABC News headquarters, which is located on the Upper West Side a short walk from Equinox, a premiere fitness club. This allows the mysterious anchor to stay in shape and keep those black T-shirts fitting tightly without straying too far from the anchor desk, should "breaking news" and the teleprompter call. There is also, fortunately, an Equinox at the Hudson Yards complex in Lower Manhattan, where ABC News is planning to move in 2025. Muir won't even have to leave the building to get his pump on.
