Maddow, who has consistently vied for the first or second top-rated cable news program, was sixth on Monday evening, down almost 500,000 total viewers from the previous Monday, as was MSNBC’s second top-rated program in primetime, The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell. ... Within MSNBC, there’s an acknowledgement that the Trump-Russia narrative on which the cable network—and especially its primetime star Maddow—built monster ratings has fizzled for the moment. Insiders also claim not to be surprised that the conclusion of the long-awaited Mueller report—or at least the Trump-appointed attorney general's summary—was a whimper, not a bang for an outlet that has invested so much time and energy, in primetime and throughout its dayparts, in the notion that Trump is unworthy of the Oval Office and might at some point be forced to give it up. -Daily Beast

Not just NBC as a corporation made huge amounts of profit off this scam, but so did their stars & personalities. They become unimaginably rich for life by peddling a fraudulent story for 3 years while purposely ensuring their audience never heard from those who questioned it. — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 27, 2019

And so, the "opposition party" at MSNBC is now hoping to pivot to the 2020 election - cutting back on conspiracy theorists such as Malcolm Nance who predicted hours before the Mueller summary was released that the report could "technically eclipse Benedict Arnold" in describing Trump's treasonous activity.

And while the network isn't likely to continue peppering Russiagate insinuations over their audience until the full Mueller report is released, "The hope now is that Trump’s conduct as president, along with the ramping up of the 2020 presidential campaign, will prove powerful storylines that will give MSNBC the opportunity to regroup."

According to a network insider, when asked what they thought of Monday's ratings and what the future holds, they replied:

"Time to pivot to 2020."