Read This: CBS News staffers sound off about "useful idiot" Tony Dokoupil

In the pretty brutal story, anonymous staffers refer to Dokoupil as a “useful idiot” and “deeply lacking in self-awareness.” Says one producer, “Tony has the biggest case of imposter syndrome out of any anchor or correspondent I’ve ever worked with. And they’re filled with it, because they’re all full of vanity. But Tony knows he wasn’t ready for the chair.” As for the Cronkite comment, one former executive says, “I just don’t even understand how you could say something like that. He completely lost the room.” One journalist calls the Rubio segment “outrageous,” saying, “This is what happens when you get somebody who’s only ever worked on a morning show, where he just thinks, Oh yeah, why don’t we dedicate two minutes of this 19-minute broadcast to glazing Marco fucking Rubio?” 

It doesn’t sound like Weiss has made it particularly easy for him, however. The article opens with an anecdote about Dokoupil’s first night giving the broadcast wherein Weiss asked to see and change the script at the last minute to add a line flattering President Trump, leading to an on-air hiccup. “Of course she writes it in the wrong place,” says a producer. A former anchor adds, “Honestly, I would’ve fucking killed her. Are you serious? On the first night?” The article also claims that Weiss wanted a “name” like Brett Baier or Anderson Cooper for anchor, which she was clearly unable to secure. Some of the staff sound plainly confused by Weiss. Says one: “All of us agree that she’s an ideologue with an ideology that she invented herself, and we’re sort of left here trying to psychoanalyze her and make sense of her and try to find motivation and understanding. And it’s fucking crazy!”  You can read the whole Vanity Fair story here.