Donald Trump is watching.

TV, that is.


Seemingly every morning brings another series of tweets from the president responding to what he watched on television.

On Friday morning, Trump tweeted out a link to a law and national security blog, minutes after “Morning Joe” talked about it.

On Thursday morning, CNN caught the president’s eye as he tweeted his disapproval of an interview “New Day” anchor Chris Cuomo had with Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

These tweets and the many examples that preceded them have been noticed by powerful people, who are now scrambling to get on the TV programs that the commander-in-chief watches faithfully every day.

Senior staffers on Capitol Hill say morning hits on “Morning Joe” and “Fox & Friends” are “hotter” gets. One Republican strategist who has worked on presidential campaigns said he now advises clients to promote their message in outlets the president is watching.

"They have a chance to be more impactful with this president than previous presidents,” the strategist said. "It’s not new, obviously you’re always trying to get media coverage for your clients to influence the debate. What is new is the degree to which the president is so greatly influenced by media and a specific few television shows and print outlets . . . It ups the ante in terms of getting your message into outlets he’s watching.”

Whereas former President Barack Obama was public about how little cable news he watched, preferring ESPN instead, Trump is a voracious media consumer, from the front pages of The New York Times to MSNBC's “Morning Joe” to Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” in the evening.

“He watches CNN all the time,” CNN anchor Anderson Cooper told Seth Meyers during an interview on "Late Night” this week. “This is not in dispute at all, because he has texted about people I’m interviewing while I’m interviewing them . . . He watches me on CNN probably more than my mom watches me on CNN.”

Just like the advertisers who are snapping up commercial time on the TV news shows Trump is watching, people with a message are clamoring to get booked as guests. And the people behind the shows are feeling a new spotlight on their work — and worrying whether the president will turn his crosshairs on them.

"We are getting a lot more interest than we did before January 20,” said a cable news producer for a show Trump regularly watches. "A lot of members of Congress are coming on the shows that he watches when they're unveiling legislation that they want him to pay attention to or their colleagues to pay attention to, knowing full well [the president is] watching and seeking his blessing, or approval, or support."

An anchor for a show on a different network Trump regularly watches says the number of people calling to get on the air has increased.

"There is an effect, an effect of people knowing he's watching,” the anchor said. “All the Trump surrogates like to come on my show and they all told me that he watches every night."

Aside from just tweeting about what he watches — whether that takes the form of criticizing reports on CNN or mimicking what he sees on Fox News, as he recently did with a segment about violence in Chicago — Trump has also been known to take action after seeing someone on television.

Rep. Elijah Cummings experienced this firsthand when just a few days after the inauguration, the Maryland Democrat made a direct plea to Trump on “Morning Joe” about prescription drugs.

“Mr. President, I know you’re watching, so I’m looking forward to meeting with you . . .” he said. “Call me. I want to talk to you.”

It worked. Trump soon picked up the phone and had a five minutes conversation with Cummings. (A Cummings spokeswoman declined to comment further.)

Most anchors and producers claimed knowing that Trump is watching doesn’t change what they put on the air.

Fox News host and Trump supporter Sean Hannity said it doesn’t affect him in the slightest knowing that Trump is likely watching.

“No. I am serving my audience with a lot of information every night, a lot of news every night,” Hannity said in an interview with POLITICO last month. “My opinions are mine, and they are honest and truthful.”

But some types of segments are known in the television world to get a rise out of the president. Producers and anchors said segments about his credibility, crowd sizes, staffing decisions, relationship with Russia, approval ratings and family business will get reactions.

Often those reactions don’t show Trump at his best, and there have been reports that his advisers are trying to limit his exposure to TV. Meanwhile, some journalists have expressed alarm that such direct attacks by the president on their work could lead to threats or even violence against the media. But many anchors and producers said knowing he’s watching — and that a killer tweet may be just moments away — has only made them sharper.

“We know that this administration takes its broadcast and cable media very seriously. We know we have to be on our toes and doing our jobs the best,” said a producer for CNN’s “New Day." "It’s probably been helpful to the journalists at CNN that they’re so tough on us, because it makes us even better.”

Alex Weprin contributed to this report.