So recently, the president said “Fox News isn’t working for us anymore”, based on their coverage recently. This started a controversy involving Fox News, where they’re apparently very irritated saying they don’t work for him, etc…
Anyone else find this hilarious? Both that Trump thinks that Fox isn’t doing *enough *for him, and that the Fox people think that they’re somehow independent?
It seems so absurd that it should be the tagline on the Onion, or a skit on a sketch comedy show to me.
Trump watches Fox News for hours a day to get his marching orders and performance feedback, but he thinks he’s calling the shots. Bless his pudgy orange heart.
Whatever small independence Fox news has exhibited will fold to the pressure of the MAGA cult. I fully expect they will be brought in line as loyal Trump propagandists that they are.
It’s funny because there used to be just the thinnest layer of plausible deniability about it. It’s like telling a cop that you couldn’t walk a straight line even if you were sober! On the bright side, people that leave the administration certainly have no trouble working for Faux. (And vice versa, naturally.)
This is “Our pet rabid dingo bit us in the ass!” funny.
Nah, this is just “working the refs.” The more he derides them for the slightest bit of even-handedness, the more pressure they’ll be under to drop it like a hot potato.
Trump’s competent in only one thing, but he’s really good as a bully.
He’s so skilled at being a bully that he was the inspiration for Biff Tannen from the Back To The Future movies.
Yeah the organization seems to be
rich ideological zealots -> media echo chambers -> republican politicians and voters
Part of me wonders if Trump’s trade war dropping the dow was somehow related to this. Did Trump finally piss off the rich who truly run the GOP and their media propaganda outlets?
Perhaps the other way round. He claimed to have spoken to the Chinese, a claim they quickly refuted. According to an article I found (and then lost) online it was a pure fabrication intended to boost the Dow back up. Did he really think that would work?
Of course he did. What am I saying?
Before I chuck this thread into The BBQ Pit with all things Trumpian, could the OP construct an actual thesis for debate?
What everyone (especially Donald Trump) seems to forget is that Fox News was around before Trump, and Fox News intends to be around after 2021, or 2025, or whenever the current resident finally is dragged from the White House.
Trump probably thinks he’s responsible for Fox News’ success. He’s wrong. If anything, Fox News is responsible for Trump’s success, and Trump better remember that.
Conservatives need to understand that that eventually, Trump turns on everyone. If he hasn’t turned on you, it just means he hasn’t got around to you yet.
Far be it for me to defend Donald, but in general the network’s purpose is to promote the Republican Party. He sees their mentioning of negative polls as being contrary to their electoral prospects and thinks they’re being disloyal. Like most Fox viewers, he expects to see news that reinforce his preconceptions and doesn’t understand that the desired reality differs from objective reality.
And John Roberts was summoned into the Oval office to make sure the state news network gets back in line.
*
“Fox News senior White House correspondent John Roberts had just finished his 3 p.m. live shot on Thursday when President Donald Trump beckoned him into the Oval Office.
The President had one argument to make, according to an internal Fox email Roberts sent about the meeting provided to CNN.”
"A White House aide familiar with the Oval Office meeting with Roberts said that Trump also voiced his displeasure about Fox News anchor Shepard Smith’s skeptical reporting about the Alabama map.
The President summoned Roberts “to hit back at Shepard Smith,” the White House aide said."*