Fox newsfire donald trum3/9/2023 ![]() ![]() This was one for the history books.Īnd yet the 24-minute conversation failed to adhere to the most basic expectations of journalism. The first network to get the interview with the newly-relieved President is a big deal, and that is even with ex-Presidents who didn’t fire up a crowd to stop Congress from accepting his loss, watch as a mob stages an insurrection at the Capitol and then almost immediately face impeachment for inspiring an insurrection. What was out of the ordinary was that Trump’s appearance on Fox was also his first interview since leaving Washington and skipping the Inauguration of his successor, Joe Biden. Limbaugh’s death at age 70 after a public battle with cancer was a seismic and sincere event on the conservative media landscape, but not surprising. It was Hemmer and Faulkner, anchoring that stretch of coverage of Limbaugh’s death, who had to navigate the moment truly no producer could have prepared for. Sean Hannity will forever carry buckets of Trump’s talking points, while the likes of Bill Hemmer and Harris Faulkner keep the partisan jousting at least rooted in defensible truths. While the primetime, opinion-based hosts still count themselves members of the Make America Great Again legion, the daytime anchors try to keep in the realm of facts. In the run-up to last year’s elections, Trump seemed to indicate that he had landed a deal to do a weekly appearance by phone on the network’s morning show - something the network tried to quash. It’s embarrassing to be seen as a de facto defensive tackle for the Trump White House while getting taken down by your own captain. I’d link to the pro-OANN and -Newsmax promotional material that the President sent, but they’re now deleted.Įventually, it became too much for the network. ![]() 15, according to Nielson.) Trump was openly campaigning for Fox alternatives until Twitter told him his tweets were too toxic to exist at all. (The network’s total viewership surpassed CNN’s on Feb. You can’t ignore the fact that the total number of eyeballs on the network’s broadcast slipped in January to their lowest point in 20 years, trailing CNN and MSNBC simultaneously for the first time ever. ![]() But there was nothing they could do to stop it Trump had great ratings and his rivals did not.Īs President, Trump tried to have it both ways with Fox, both using it as a bullhorn and punching bag, saying it had drifted too far from what he saw as its core identity as a safe space for center-right news consumers, aggrieved conservatives and QAnon-heeding conspiracy theorists. Trump didn’t need to get out to Iowa or up to New Hampshire every week his voters were glued to Fox, top consultants to Trump’s rivals bemoaned. ![]() Fox-and Limbaugh, whose radio show had the highest ratings in the country-gave Trump the outlet he needed to spread those lies.Īs a candidate, Trump continued using Fox as a crutch, infuriating his primary rivals who were told they had to be in a studio if they wanted to appear on a show while Trump literally phoned it in. After all, Trump didn’t have room to promote the baseless conspiracy theories about former President Barack Obama’s birthplace on his own show. As much as his reality show, The Apprentice, the Fox open-invite kept Trump in the zeitgeist. He’d call in from his Trump Tower perch nine blocks north of Fox HQ and haul off on the topic of the day. Before he started running for President and then as a candidate, Trump was a regular fixture on Fox programs, especially its morning show. ![]()
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