The new era of CBS Evening News, under the editorial direction of Bari Weiss and featuring new anchor Tony Dokoupil, is off to a rough start. Weiss is meddling and pouting, Dokoupil is not ready for primetime, and the ratings are already slumping compared to last year's numbers. These guys need a win, badly. On Tuesday, they tried to get one by securing an exclusive interview with President Donald Trump at a Ford factory in Dearborn, Mich.
Everyone knows the most effective way to interview a head of state is to stand on a factory floor with him and shout questions over the sound of cars being made, and so that's exactly what Dokoupil gave his viewers. The 12-minute conversation began with Dokoupil seemingly desperate to get Trump to commit to going to war with Iran, then, as is typical, moved into a lot of uninterrupted ranting by Trump. When Dokoupil attempted to bring up the struggling U.S. economy, Trump shut down his line of questioning by pointing out that his presidential election victory is the only reason the news anchor even got a promotion.
"We had a dead country—you wouldn't have a job right now," Trump said. "If [Kamala Harris] got in, you probably wouldn't have a job right now. Your boss, who's an amazing guy, might be bust ... Let me just tell you, you wouldn't have this job. You wouldn't have this job, certainly whatever the hell they're paying you."
Hey, when he's right, he's right.
Dokoupil isn't equipped to be an effective nightly news anchor, and he's not the best option to interview a deranged president who can rightly point out that his current career trajectory is entirely owed to the rise of reactionary forces in the country. Surely, this former morning show host has something else to offer. Perhaps we can't judge him until we've seen him fully unleashed on Whiskey Fridays, as reported by Zeteo's Prem Thakker:
New: CBS News seems to be preparing a new segment called "Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil," per sources.Some staff were only first made aware of it as they encountered CBS testing out set designs of a faux-stocked bar in the newsroom, featuring a large sponsor banner for Jack Daniels.
— Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T21:20:29.127Z
Is this the exact sort of idea that I've personally seen cooked up by a beleaguered sales team at a struggling digital media company? No comment, but that doesn't make it any less awesome. The CBS News ratings are going to go through the roof as soon as Dokoupil is allowed to get behind this desk and say, "Welcome to Whiskey Fridays, presented by Jack Daniel's, where we drink like we mean it and report like we give a damn."
Update — Here is what the new apparent CBS News segment "Whiskey Fridays with Tony Dokoupil" may look like:
— Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) 2026-01-13T23:01:05.027Z
It's probably a good idea to start planning your own Whiskey Friday watch party, because there's going to be a lot of competition. I'd suggest inviting every guy you know who "only reads non-fiction." Suit and tie is the dress code, of course, so you'd better be ready to do journalism like a damn gentleman. Oh, and don't forget the stogies—
UPDATE: Jack Daniel’s parent co. Brown-Forman tells me it has nothing to do with CBS’ “Whiskey Friday” concept. “Jack Daniel’s is not involved in any such segment, nor do we have any awareness of the segment and any potential partnerships or sponsorships.”
— Dave Infante (@dinfontay.com) 2026-01-14T14:44:22.886Z
Damn! We were this close to finally having a news broadcast for men.
