Max Miller Destroys His Career in Disastrous, Shambolic CNN Interview

Well. That was an unmitigated disaster. 

In today’s edition of Save My Career, embattled Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) appeared on CNN yesterday evening, where anchor Jake Tapper cross-examined him — live on the air — about allegations of spousal abuse, child abuse, and drug use. And it was certainly a memorable performance for all the wrong reasons.

Why’d he go on CNN? 

We’ll get into that in just a sec, but we must first identify Miller’s PR objectives:

1. Reassure Republican voters so that he doesn’t face pressure to drop out of his reelection race. (GOP abandonment is his #1 vulnerability. If he loses MAGA’s base, his career is kaput.) He wants us to believe that Team MAGA still needs him.
2. Put his latest scandal(s) behind him. (This has “already been addressed” and is therefore “yesterday’s news.”) Time to move on.
3. Appear credible, honest, and trustworthy — so we believe his denials.

Now let’s reverse-engineer Miller’s PR strategy: The benefit of using CNN — as opposed to Fox News, where the ratings (and Republican audience) are over triple the size — is threefold:

1. By appearing on CNN, Miller is signaling that he’s unafraid of tough, hostile questions. You can accuse him of many things (some of which are admittedly horrific), but you can’t accuse him of seeking a softball interview. He wants us to conclude, “If Miller had anything to hide, he wouldn’t have gone on CNN.” Thus, he must be innocent.
2. Jake Tapper was also a perfect foil because GOP audiences are already expecting him to be rude, nasty, and antagonistic towards Republicans. In a verbal conflict between Tapper and Miller, conservatives are STRONGLY predisposed to side with Miller because Tapper has made false accusations against Republicans for years. (Plus, since Joe Biden’s senility so spectacularly fooled Tapper, he’s clearly not that bright, and Miller probably figured he’d steamroll him.)
3. Since CNN’s Republican audience is so small, more Republicans will hear about his interview than see it. This means Miller can claim credit for entering the “belly of the beast” (and answering all the tough questions without flinching), while spinning any problematic moments on X, conservative podcasts, Fox News, Newsmax, etc. — where the MAGA audience is more concentrated.

I understand why Miller adopted this strategy, but it was still PR malpractice. In fact, it was such an unholy trainwreck that his career is likely over.

The smarter PR approach would’ve been to sidestep the controversy instead of litigating it point-by-point: “I love my little girl more than life itself, and it just kills me that she’ll read all these horrible lies about her daddy one day. That’s why I’ll never say a bad word about my daughter’s mother — even when it exonerates me.”

That’s all he had to say!

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