It's not an idle question anymore.

It all began as a joke, but It now appears that Elon Musk is seriously thinking about buying MSNBC, partly to make liberal heads explode and partly for the serious reason that a cable news network more aligned with Musk's free speech and expanded Overton window has an appeal.

This idea is pure Elon Musk, mixing his quixotic sense of humor with a serious musing about something he could do to solve a problem he sees. Throw in a boatload of F-you money, and you get a pure Elon Musk idea.

One like buying Twitter...

Lots of people in Elon's circle keep bringing this idea up in a half-but-not-quite joking manner, and he may be warming to the idea. For instance, Joe Rogan has promised to take over Rachel Maddow's slot and dress like her to troll her.

That seems to be an offer that tempts Musk...

The leftist “news” channel MSNBC is facing a ratings crisis, with some of its advertiser-coveted viewership dropping to a two-decade low, according to Nielsen data reviewed by Fox News.

During the week of Nov. 6, MSNBC averaged just 38,000 viewers among adults 25-54, its lowest-rated non-holiday weekday since July 19, 2004.

As reported by Fox News, this demographic is widely prized by advertisers and is crucial for network revenue.

Low viewership impacted shows like The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle and Jose Diaz Balart Reports, both of which saw their smallest audiences ever.

Other shows—including Chris Jansing Reports, Deadline: White House and Katy Tur Reports—saw their worst days ever among the demos.

Several shows lost over 50% of their 25-54 audience. Among those shows are The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, All In with Chris Hayes, Chris Jansing Reports, Inside with Jen Psaki, The Rachel Maddow Show and Joy Reid’s ReidOut.

This slump couldn’t have come at a worse time, as MSNBC’s parent company, Comcast, announced cuts to cable channels, excluding NBC News and Bravo TV. CNN reports that MSNBC will be moved into “SpinCo,” a publicly traded cable programming company.

Tech mogul Elon Musk has hinted at purchasing MSNBC, while journalist Jack Posobiec says he’s recruiting investors to take control of the left-wing network.

Podcast host Joe Rogan joked about replacing Rachel Maddow if Musk buys MSNBC: “I will wear the same outfit and glasses, and I will tell the same lies.”

Along with viewership and Comcast scandals, MSNBC is under the scrutiny of its viewers after Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski met with Donald Trump, despite having previously compared him to dictators.

Al Sharpton faces ethical scrutiny after his nonprofit quietly took a $500,000 donation from the Harris campaign ahead of his interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.

MSNBC conceded that Sharpton blindsided them with the donation. “MSNBC was unaware of the donations made to the National Action Network,” an MSNBC spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon.

MSNBC fans who are disappointed in the progressive-leaning network after Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election may no longer have it to kick around.

The cable-news outlet could have to consider changing its name and familiar markings under a spin-off of the bulk of the cable assets of parent company Comcast, one of the nascent company’s new top executives suggested to an assemblage of MSNBC staffers Wednesday morning, according to two people familiar with the gathering.

Mark Lazarus, who will lead the spin-off after it separates from Comcast, told an audience that included Rachel Maddow, Chris Jansing and Katy Tur that he was not sure whether MSNBC would have to change its identity as part of the transaction, which will split the cable network and its business-news sibling CNBC from NBC News and NBCUniversal. If the two networks are no longer part of the NBC corporate entity, attendees wanted to know, will they still be able to carry marks that are part of their former home?

MSNBC’s newsgathering process may also be ripe for transformation in the coming transaction, with people familiar with the meeting indicating the executive did not have immediate answers about whether a unit for collecting and verifying news separate from that of NBC would have to “built from scratch.”

The prospect of being separated from NBC News has raised alarms among journalists at the company, because MSNBC and CNBC routinely share reportage, contributors and more, and because much of MSNBC’s daytime schedule is filled with correspondents affiliated with the more traditional NBC News, not the opinion programs that are MSNBC’s most-watched properties.

Like other cable networks, MSNBC is facing significant business challenges. More of the viewers who settle in each evening to watch a few hours of commentary on MSNBC are migrating elsewhere. MSNBC is projected to shed approximately 10.5% of its subscribers between the end of 2023 and the end of 2025, according to estimates from Kagan, a market-research firm that is part of S&P Global Intelligence. Rivals Fox News Channel and CNN are seen experiencing similar erosions in that period. MSNBC could be left with an average of 61.3 million viewers at the end of 2025, compared with 68.5 million in 2023 — and this with an election year, typically an event that brings viewers back to news, between the two milestones.

During the meeting, Lazarus described the new company as “a well-funded start-up,” these people said, and indicated the new entity would have a presence in Manhattan, but noted that executives weren’t certain at present where the corporation would be based.

He also suggested the company might look to such entities as a TV-station group or a sports operation as potential acquisition targets, these people said.

There has long been an argument for overhauling the MSNBC identity. The network originally launched in 1996 as a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC, which is how executives arrived at its letters. As the years progressed, the network ventured further into politics and opinion programming, tapping hosts that ranged from Phil Donahue to Tucker Carlson. Microsoft would divest its stake in the TV network in 2005 and its interest in MSNBC.com in 2012.

MSNBC will cancel host Joy Reid’s show, The ReidOut, this week. The show has aired in the 7 p.m. timeslot on the network since July 2020.

The move was initiated by MSNBC’s new president, Rebecca Kutler, the New York Times reported on Sunday. Reid’s last show will be sometime this week. Reid’s 7 p.m. slot will now be filled with commentary from the current co-hosts of MSNBC’s weekend morning show, The Weekend, Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez.

Reid has used her platform over the past many years to show disdain for Trump and Republican supporters. In an infamous Thanksgiving special last year, Reid vindicated liberals who might not want to share their holiday table with conservatives: “Make your own dinner, MAGA,” she said.

“You right-wingers shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences of your votes? ‘You don’t want to be around me because I voted for fascism. No fair. I am coughing on you with COVID, but you want me to wear a mask for your safety? No fair. My body, my choice.’ Well, here’s an alternative thought — make your own dinner, MAGA. Make your own sandwiches, wipe your own tears, troll amongst yourselves with Elon, and leave us alone,” she said.

Reid also bashed Latinos who supported Trump in November’s election, saying last year that pro-Trump Latino voters “own everything” that happens to their families...

What’s more, Alex Wagner, who has hosted weeknights at 9 p.m. save for a Monday night led by Rachel Maddow, is expected to be named a contributor, according to three people with knowledge of current talks. Wagner, who has been working as a correspondent across the U.S. during the first 100 days of the new Trump presidency while Rachel Maddow anchors each day at 9, is unlikely to return to her weeknight slot, these people indicated. Jen Psaki is expected to take over at least one of the hours, according to one of these people. MSNBC is also in talks with Eugene Daniels of Politico and Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University who specializes in the regulation of sex, marriage, caregiving and reproductive rights that would have them join the network in unspecified capacities, according to one of these people...