MS NOW viewers keep asking Eugene Daniels, ‘Are we going to be okay?’ He’s taking that seriously & listening

Eugene Daniels knows the people who run Washington, D.C. Lately, the question that stays with him comes from people who wonder whether Washington has any idea what it is doing to them.“Are we going to be okay?”He heard versions of it during MS NOW’s September 26 gathering at the University of Texas at Arlington, Daniels told The Advocate in an interview Wednesday. The event brought the network’s journalists face-to-face with viewers for conversations about democracy and the approaching midterms.“It reminds me that, oh shit, people are looking to us to provide them with information about their lives,” he said.Daniels has an answer, although it comes with an assignment. “If we’re going to be okay, it’s going to be because of you.”That belief in the people watching helps explain his enthusiasm for MS NOW’s new membership program, which gives paying subscribers opportunities to question the journalists who usually ask the questions. It also comes at a moment when his employer and his former newsroom, Politico, are fighting alongside CNN over whether the president can punish unfavorable coverage by shutting reporters out.Related: MS NOW hosts leak their group chat conversation about politics & culture in new ‘Clock It’ podcastA familiar face, a different conversationDaniels was feeling unusually optimistic Wednesday. He had recently finished recording a conversation with Rachel Maddow and was thinking about the ordinary people behind the movements that expanded American freedom.Everyone, he said, has some capacity to contribute.“You got 20 more minutes of this sweetness,” he said.MS NOW’s membership service launched on September 9, offering live television, additional programming, and interactive conversations. Its Saturday “Weekend Brunch” sessions, held at noon Eastern, rotate among Daniels and his The Weekend co-hosts, Jonathan Capehart and Jackie Alemany.Semafor reported when the program was announced that MS NOW is trying to expan