Sunday morning talking heads: Border-wall shutdown, 2020, Syria, and climate change

It’s the end of the year, but other than on CBS, looking back won’t be a major theme on the Sunday morning shows today. Three of the five shows will have backup anchors in the final weekend of 2018, but the topics will focus more on 2019 than 2018, and perhaps even more on 2020 than 2018 too.

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The ongoing shutdown fight over funding for the border wall will certainly come up. On ABC, fill-in anchor Martha Raddatz will grill CBP commissioner Kevin McAleenan on border security and the deaths of two children in US custody this month. ABC roundtable participant Reihan Salam appears to discuss his argument against open borders, which should make things very lively on immigration. Donald Trump’s political consigliere Kellyanne Conway drops in on CNN and Fox, presumably to affirm that Trump’s not bluffing on the shutdown. CBS and CNN have several members from Capitol Hill on hand, presumably to discuss legislative options in the next session of Congress.

Trump’s withdrawal from Syria will no doubt take up some of those discussions as well. ABC will talk with former Afghanistan-theater commander Stanley McChrystal, while Dana Bash will talk with GOP hawk Lindsey Graham on CNN. If 2019 is too short term for anyone, there should be some presidential-election chit-chat as well. Michael Bloomberg will lead off NBC’s Climate Change Hour (no, not kidding), while Terry McAuliffe drops in on CNN for no other discernible reason. For that matter, so does former Bernie Sanders press secretary Symone Sanders.

If retrospectives are your thing, though, stick with CBS and their “historians panel.” Or take a peek at CNN’s Reliable Sources for a year-end perspective on #MeToo with Ronan Farrow, who demolished his credibility on the topic with a political smear job on Brett Kavanaugh. Don’t expect too much scrutiny on that point from Brian Stelter, though.

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  • ABC’s This Week — Martha Raddatz sits in for George Stephanopoulos; CBP commissioner Kevin McAleenan; Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); Gen. Stanley McChrystal; roundtable with Mary Bruce, Matthew Dowd, Mary Jordan, Reihan Salam.
  • CBS’ Face the Nation — Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Jon Tester (D-MT); Gayle Smith; historians roundtable with Peter Baker, Michael Beschloss, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jill Lepore.
  • CNN’s State of the Union — Dana Bash sits in for Jake Tapper; Kellyanne Conway; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Terry McAuliffe (D-VA); roundtable with Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI), Rick Santorum, Linda Chavez, Symone Sanders.
  • Fox News Sunday — Sandra Smith sits in for Chris Wallace; Kellyanne Conway; Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA); Allianz chief economic adviser Mohamed el-Erian; roundtable with Marc Thiessen, Anne Gearan, Philippe Reines, Charles Hurt.
  • NBC’s Meet the Press — Michael Bloomberg; Jerry Brown; roundtable with Craig Fugate, Kate Marvel, Rep. Carlos Cubelo (R-FL), Michèle Flournoy.

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