UPDATED: Hating The President Is Not a Strategy, As Bill Kristol Just Learned

Townhall

On cable TV, one network in particular has abandoned decades of journalistic tradition and ethics, devoting its resources to a relentless, nakedly partisan crusade to savage President Trump: CNN. Its ratings, predictably, are in the tank — in October, CNN fell behind both the Hallmark Channel and Home and Garden Television.

"Going all in on attacking President Trump isn’t proving to be a particularly effective business strategy for media outlets. 
"The Weekly Standard, a 28-year old neoconservative institution, is reportedly headed towards dissolution after its founder, Bill Kristol, devoted almost three years of work to attacking the President and his supporters.
"It’s not just Kristol. The entire world of clickbait Trump-hate seems to be in jeopardy, including sites that cater to the liberal base. " . . .
"What’s actually crumbling are Kristol’s reputation and legacy. Happily, it appears that the bulk of the late Standard’s funding will be reassigned to its thus far fair-to-Trump sister publication, The Washington Examiner. 
"It turns out that trying to build resistance credentials by demonizing President Trump isn’t just lousy for journalism, it’s terrible for business."

CNN mourns the end of the Weekly Standard  . . . "The Weekly Standard was founded in 1995 by Kristol, Fred Barnes, and John Podhoretz. It was initially published by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation before being sold to Clarity Media Group in 2009. During the presidency of George W. Bush, it was widely considered to be aligned with the administration and with neoconservatism broadly.
"Under Hayes' leadership, The Weekly Standard has remained steadfast in its criticism of Trump. Trump's supporters have lashed out at The Weekly Standard and its influence in Republican circles has dwindled.
"But while The Weekly Standard's influence in Republican politics has declined, its web traffic has increased, people familiar with the data said." . . .  

UPDATE by Thomas Lifson: The Weekly Standard a casualty of Trump Derangement Syndrome

The person most identified with the brand is Kristol, by far.  He stepped down as editor at the end of 2016, but his public persona still defines the magazine: his bitter, flippant, or sarcastic tweets about Trump and Trump supporters are the Weekly Standard's brand in the public's eye.  Few people look at the masthead of a magazine closely enough to realize when a prominent editor such as Kristol has been replaced by a less prominent once [sic] such as Steve Hayes – and because Kristol remains on the masthead as editor-at-large, ordinary readers have even more cause for confusion.  ('Editor-at-large' sounds a lot like 'editor' to most people, but in fact usually means 'ex-editor.')
Fairly or not, Bill Kristol is the brand.

I understand where TWS was coming from as I disliked Trump considerately in the primaries, finding many of his statements most distasteful. Most offensive to me was his insult of Carly Fiorina's looks (which I consider most attractive), then on to "Little Marco" and "Lyin' Ted", to name just two. (Full disclosure: I could tolerate "Crooked Hillary", but in William F. Buckley's words, "some of my instincts are reprehensible").
But it must be said that Trump is a bulwark standing between us and the likes of Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters, Bernie Sanders, (pretty much any TV talk show host) and those we saw scowling at the President during his State of the Union address along with their propaganda sources at CNN and MSNBC.  The Tunnel Dweller.