Fox News: Celebrities Who Almost Love MAGA and the Damn Dirty Democrat Earthquake!
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 4/7/24
Last week Fox News featured a cavalcade of celebrities with grievances - a Latina pop star, a children’s book author, a couple of international movie stars, a comedian, and an aging rapper turned country star as proof of a MAGA revolution that really wasn’t much of anything.
The Colombian singer Shakira said her young sons didn’t like the record-breaking film “Barbie,” U.K. author J.K. Rowling promoted her usual criticism of trans women, actor Michael Rappaport said he was angry with Joe Biden because the president wasn’t supporting Israel, and Arnold Schwarzenegger made a vague comment made a vague remark about immigrants.
The biggest blow to Joe Biden came from the actor and wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson who said he wouldn’t endorse Biden for president in 2024 as he had in 2020. During the same interview the megastar didn’t endorse or offer any praise for former President Donald J. Trump.
Johnson appeared on the network to promote his return to professional wrestling via the WWE which is part of Fox Sports.
The only celebrity who enthusiastically sang the praises of Trump was the former rapper turned country singer, Kid Rock, a long-time supporter and sometimes golf buddy of the former president. Rock famously bragged that Trump showed him maps of North Korea and asked his opinion about strategies to deal with the hostile nation.
Kid Rock also donned a Budweiser branded cap while appearing on “The Ingraham Angle,” while failing to mention that Busch Light, a Budweiser brand, is a major sponsor of his latest music tour. Rock famously fired a semi-automatic rifle at cases of Bud Light beer as a form of protest after the beer company partnered with Dylan Mulvaney a trans influencer.
Fox News also whipped up fear and paranoia about the border crisis, spent a lot time trashing trans Americans and strangely figured out a way to make an earthquake about corrupt Democrats.
Anyone watching a lot of Fox News last week might have missed out on several updates in the Israel-Hamas war and war in Ukraine or Biden’s commitment to strengthening U.S. relations with Japan amid furthering tensions between China and its neighbors. As always a lot of news happened last week that Fox just didn’t mention.
Shows I covered last week:
Fox & Friends - 1st hour
The Five
The Ingraham Angle
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and His Decision to NOT Endorse Joe Biden.
I initially had absolutely no interest in a brief interview that Johnson gave on “Fox & Friends,” as the political opinions of movie star/wrestlers aren’t vitally important to the state of the nation.
I decided to revisit the brief exchange when a clip of the same interview blew past three million views on Twitter. Something that shouldn’t have been newsworthy suddenly became newsworthy as the actor was criticized and praised for his non-endorsement of the sitting president.
On Friday Johnson sat down with Will Cain on “Fox & Friends,” to discuss his return to professional wrestling at the age of 51. During the brief six-and-a-half-minute interview Johnson brought up his past endorsement of President Biden.
“Am I happy with the state of America right now? Well, that answer is no. Do I believe we're going to get better? I believe in that. I'm an optimistic guy and I believe we can get better. The endorsement that I made years ago with Biden was what I thought was the best decision for me at that time. Am I going to do that again this year? That answer's no. I'm not going to do that. Because what I realized what that caused back then was something that tears me up in my guts. Back then and now, which is division.”
Johnson’s statement came across as an attempt to not alienate his fans on either side of the political spectrum. Fox News decided it was a harsh rebuke of Joe Biden and a glowing endorsement of Donald J. Trump.
Doocy Went Rogue When He Pointed Out “The Rock” Didn’t Endorse Trump
During the same broadcast of “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy noted that Johnson didn’t endorse Trump.
Ainsley Earhardt started the discussion by bringing another celebrity.
“Remember actor Joe Rapaport, he was on the beaches of Tel Aviv saying he was not going to support he was going to vote for Joe Biden. And now you hear “The Rock” saying he is not going to endorse him (Biden) this time.”
She was interrupted by Doocy.
“Well what Rapaport said, was voting for Trump is on the table. It's interesting what he (Johnson) said, and he doesn't say he's not going, I'm talking about “The Rock,” he doesn't say he's not going to vote for Joe Biden next time. What he's saying is he took, I think, in reading what he said and watching Will's interview and we got more in the Will interview coming up. I think he just took a lot of heat.
And Brian, to your point, you know, if the country is half and half, half the country didn't like the fact that he said vote for the other guy. And so all he's saying is, I'm not going to tell you who I'm going to vote for. He's just not going to endorse anybody. He's not saying I'm going to, you know, vote for Trump or I'm not going to vote for Biden. He just said, I'm not going to tell anybody what I'm going to do.”
Doocy was correct as Johnson’s comment could easily be seen a slight dig to Biden’s presidency when he mentioned that he wasn’t happy with the state of the country. At the same time the wrestling star did not endorse or sing the praises of Donald J. Trump.
It appeared more like Johnson wanted to distance himself from politics all together. Fox Sports holds the rights to broadcast the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) the same wrestling league Johnson was promoting on his appearance on “Fox & Friends.”
Another Migrant Caravan is Coming!
As always Fox News also promoted fear and paranoia about the border crisis.
On Friday March 29th “Fox & Friends” featured a 30 second headline news clip about an approaching caravan of migrants.
“A migrant caravan headed towards a US southern border. The group of about 2000 people formed on Monday near Mexico's border with Guatemala. The caravan is expected to arrive in El Paso, Texas in just a few days. This as another 200 National Guard troops have been deployed to that border city and Atlanta,” said Carley Shimkus.
The same night on “Hannity,” Jason Chaffetz brought up the caravan again.
“The New York Post is reporting that thousands of migrants are headed heading towards El Paso in just the latest caravan.”
Producers cut to Sara A. Carter, Fox News contributor, reporting from the border.
“And right now, we're expecting that group to start arriving on Monday. A good portion of that group. But don't expect them to arrive as a full 2000. What they're expecting is groups of 10 to 30.”
A group of 10 to 30 migrants crossing the border wasn’t exactly the terrifying mass of humanity Fox had promised its viewers.
By Monday of last week, the network completely dropped the story.
The Damn Democrat Earthquake!
On Friday around 42 million Americans on the East Coast experienced a mild 4.8 magnitude earthquake that was centered near Lebanon, New Jersey. The quake was the songs in New Jersey since 1783 and the strongest felt in the New York City area since 1884
There was no major damage or deaths reported from the quake but it was a bit of excitement for an area that rarely experiences seismic activity.
The cast of “The Five,” found ways to make it all about Democrats.
Jesse Watters complained about New York Mayor Eric Adams’ slow response to the quake.
“But leave it to liberal New York to screw up the response. It took the geniuses who run the city's emergency alert system nearly 40 minutes to blast out one of those high pitched super annoying phone alerts,” said Watters.
Greg Gutfeld made a strange ‘whataboutism’ take.
“But hey, at least if the media were just as affected by real calamities, whether it is a border or it's a crime wave or it's inflation, hey, I don't need a McDonald's. Why do I care? But my God, my bookshelves. They shook and my two-story walkup. my God. Someone call an expert on earthquakes. Nobody was freaking out. Speaking of the view, those earthquake things go off in their studio all the time. Whenever anybody crosses their legs, the whole place just shakes.”
Guest host Katie Pavlich brought up the Clintons.
“That was a little scary. But I will say I'm just glad that there wasn't enough damage for the Clinton Foundation to swoop in and cause even more problems.”
Then Jesse Watters shared how he explained the phenomena to his toddler aged son.
“I explained to Jesse Jr. He asked me, well, Dad, what is an earthquake? Well, I just think tectonic plates. And that's all I know. You know the Richter scale? No. So, I said I said I said, ‘earth is hungry. You know, when you get hungry and your stomach starts growling,” And then I said, so we need to feed Earth. So we went out, we took a sausage. Are we shoved on the ground? All right. Well, anyway, we're fine, America. We're fine. Don't worry.”
Matt Whitaker Continues to Lie About Clinton’s Sock Drawer.
On Wednesday, on “Fox & Friends,” former acting attorney general under the Trump administration repeated misleading statements about audio recordings Bill Clinton kept in a sock drawer.
“What they're trying to get at is this Presidential Records Act argument, which is ultimately the Clinton sock drawer case. Right? I mean, Bill Clinton had personal recordings in his sock drawer, a court determined that they were his personal records. It didn't matter if they were classified. Didn't matter then because because Bill Clinton had determined after his presidency, they were his personal records.
Donald Trump has done the same thing. He said, these documents are my personal records. If you read the Presidential Records Act, Brian, it says all documents. It doesn't carve out defense intelligence information. It doesn't carve out classified, marked information. It says all records are presidential and that it has a process.”
Whitaker completely misrepresents the recordings Bill Clinton kept in a sock drawer after the end of his second term.
When Bill Clinton was president he was interviewed by historian Taylor Branch to create an oral history of his presidency from 1993 to 2001. After a book based on those interviews was published a right-wing group Judicial Watch asked the court in 2010 to declare the tapes presidential records under the Presidential Records Act.
The group wanted the National Archives to assume custody of the tapes and put them in the Clinton presidential library.
A U.S. District Court Judge ruled against Judicial Watch saying the Presidential Records Act distinguishes official presidential records from personal records. The recordings were never considered classified material.
In his brief appearance on “Fox & Friends,” and in other media appearances Whitaker implied that Clinton somehow declared protected himself by declaring or labeling the recordings as personal before he left office.
The recordings were never considered classified and it would not matter how Clinton described them.
The following statements are directly from the National Archives.
The Presidential Records Act (PRA) states that any records created or received by the president as part of his constitutional, statutory, or ceremonial duties are the property of the United States government and will be managed by NARA at the end of the administration.
The Presidential Records Act requires the president to separate personal documents from presidential records before leaving office. The PRA makes clear that upon conclusion of the president's term in office, NARA assumes responsibility for the custody control, preservation of and access to the records of a president. The PRA makes the legal status of presidential records clear and unambiguous, providing that the United States Reserves and retains complete ownership, possession, and control of presidential records.
There is no history, practice or provision in law for presidents to take official records with them when they leave office to sort through, such as a two year period. As described in some reports, if a former president or vice president finds presidential records among personal materials, he or she is expected to contact NARA in a timely manner to secure the transfer of those presidential records to NARA.
Fox News Continues to Trash Transgender Americans
The network featured several segments last week where transgenderism was reduced to some sort of plot by male athletes to best women in sports or a twisted sexual pervasion.
Transgender Americans have been frequent targets on Fox News for the past few years.
On Tuesday on “The Five,” Greg Gutfeld, reduced transgenderism to a sexual fetish.
“What has happened here is the trans activism has been basically controlled by narcissistic men with gynephilia. These are guys that get off wearing women's clothing. They are not attractive. They're not trans. They're just dudes in dresses. And they have a desire to see themselves as women. And now, for some reason, if you are if you do not indulge a man's fetish, that somehow you are offending his identity, she just by saying that they are men, that is attacking their identities.”
On Friday also on “The Five,” Jesse Watters also completely negated transgenderism.
“People are just gay or lesbian. And what they're doing is they're intervening in a regular gay or lesbian life. And that's a new experience. And it never used to be like that.”
Watters and Gutfeld have no training in psychology or medicine. They were just expressing their own bigoted opinions about trans people.
Although the term “transgender” wasn’t coined until the 1960’s according to the American Psychiatric Association evidence of transgender, non-binary and gender fluid people have been documented throughout history and across cultures throughout the world.
Fox vs. PBS - How Two Networks Covered an Israeli Attack on Humanitarian Workers in Gaza.
On April 1, 2024, the Israeli Defense Forces killed seven humanitarian aid workers employed by World Central Kitchen , an internationally recognized humanitarian organization. The workers were nationals of Australia, Canada/US (dual citizen), Gaza, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
Soon after the incident Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged that the Israeli military hit "innocent people", describing it as tragic and unintentional.
On the shows I covered on Fox News last week the story was reduced to a 30-second segment on “Fox & Friends,” on Tuesday.
“Central Kitchen is suspending operations across the Middle East after seven of its workers were killed in what's believed to be an Israeli airstrike. The IDF responding to the tragedy just moments ago,” said Ainsley Earhardt
The short media clip featured an image of a vehicle that had been hit by an airstrike. The roof was ripped open by a large crater.
The producers cut to a prepared video statement by a uniformed representative of the IDF.
“We also express sincere sorrow to our allied nations who have been doing and continue to do so much to assist those in need. We have been reviewing the incident in the highest levels to understand the circumstances of what happened and how it happened,” said the un-named IDF spokesperson.
On the PBS NewsHour the story was treated quite differently. On Tuesday the network dedicated four and a half minutes to the story.
Amna Nawaz, a co-anchor of the NewsHour opened the segment.
“Israel killed seven members of the charity World Central Kitchen, one Palestinian and six foreigners, including one dual American Canadian, as well as an Australian and Europeans. The president of the U.S. called the group's founder, the chef Jose Andres, to express his heartbreak. Israel called the killings unintended and vowed to investigate. Nick Schifrin begins our coverage.”
The producers cut to the same image of the destroyed vehicle Fox also featured.
“In the words of the World Central Kitchen, this was a targeted attack, a direct hit on the group's armored vehicle, incinerating everything and everyone inside,” said Schifrin.
The next image was the interior of the car which was reduced to twisted metal and ash.
“All that was left intact, a metal plate with the group's logo. They came here from all over the world to feed the hungry. They leave in the white body bags worn by this war's more than 30,000 victims. Among them, the group's Palestinian driver, Saif Abu Taha,” said Schifrin
As Schifrin was speaking the producers cut to an image of white body bags being zipped up and a short clip from a funeral service for the Palestinian driver.
“This was all a mistake, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,” said Schifrin.
The next clip was from Netanyahu’s official statement about the incident translated to English from Hebrew.
“Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic incident of an unintended strike of our forces on innocent people in the Gaza Strip. This happens in war. We are checking this thoroughly. We are in touch with the government, and we will do everything for this not to happen again.”
“But World Central Kitchen says it coordinated with the Israeli military as a convoy left its warehouse in Deir el-Balah by the sea in central Gaza,” said Schifrin.
The next image on the screen included an aerial view of the area and the path that the World Central Kitchen vehicle took on route to Southern Gaza.
“Israeli munitions hit an initial vehicle. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that World Central Kitchen workers then moved to another vehicle that was struck and then a third vehicle that was struck as they traveled on or next to the coastal road that Israel designates for humanitarian aid.”
That was just the first half of a longer segment about the military strike. PBS also followed up with other segments about the tragedy.
PBS included perspectives from both the charity and the Israeli government as well as including specific details about the attack. Fox News did little more than air the IDF statement.
Last week the shows I covered on Fox News dedicated 1% of total airtime to the Israel-Hamas war while it was the top topic covered on PBS NewsHour taking up 21% of its airtime.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I’ve watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Updates on the Israel-Hamas war
Israeli forces left Al-Shifa hospital after two weeks of battling with Hamas forces around the complex. During the fighting around 200 Palestinians were killed while hundreds were arrested.
A second ship loaded with humanitarian aid and food arrived in Northern Gaza.
In Israel thousands of anti-government protesters demanded early elections and the release of hostages.
Israel suspended leave for all combat units in case Iran retaliates against an Israeli strike that killed Revolutionary Guard commanders in Damascus, Syria. Iran has vowed revenge on Israel for the attack.
Following pressure from President Biden Israel opened three land crossings into Gaza for humanitarian aid.
Israel dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others over a drone strike that killed seven workers from World Central Kitchen, a humanitarian aid agency on a mission to feed Palestinians in Gaza. Israel said the officers mishandled critical information and violated the army’s rules of engagement.
Updates on the war in Ukraine
NATO allies agreed to plan for long-term military support for Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones attacked a drone factory and oil refinery deep inside Russia.
Ukraine has lowered the age for military conscription from age 27 to 25 to help replenish troops.
Ukraine said it destroyed six military aircraft and damaged eight other in an airfield in Russia. Russian defense officials claimed they intercepted 44 Ukrainian drones and that only a power substation was damaged in the attack.
A Russian drone attack in Ukraine’s second largest city killed at least four. A missile attack in Ukraine killed 8 and wounded 12 others.
The Florida Supreme Court upheld a ban on abortion after 15 weeks.
PBS produced a segment about navigating the SNAP benefits program also known as food stamps as part of its series on the American social safety net.
The main opposition party in Turkey had major wins in the last national election. The election was for city mayors, district mayors, and other local officials who will serve for the next five years.
PBS produced a segment that featured Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer as she spoke about the Michigan Family Protection Act which protects surrogacy and IVF treatments in the state.
The White House held a scaled down IFTAR dinner in honor of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. Many Arab and Muslim American community leaders declined the President’s invitation to attend the event.
A fire at a nightclub in Istanbul killed at least 29. The club was undergoing renovations at the time of the fire, managers of the venue were held for questioning.
Three nonprofit groups, including Action on Smoking and Health are suing the Biden administration over a stalled ban on menthol cigarettes.
Uganda’s Constitutional Court upheld an anti-LGBTQ law that includes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” despite widespread condemnation from rights groups and others abroad.
Officials were able to open two alternate shipping channels around the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. The bridge collapsed in the early hours of March 26 after it was hit by a large cargo ship that had lost power.
Federal prosecutors criticized the judge presiding over Trump’s classified documents case. In an unusual order, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon had asked prosecutors and defense lawyers to formulate proposed jury instructions for most of the charges even though it remains unclear when the case might reach trial. Those records, prosecutors said, were clearly not personal and there is no evidence Trump ever designated them as such.
PBS produced more than one segment last week about Donald J. Trump’s use of anti-immigrant rhetoric during his campaign. The former president has cast migrants as dangerous criminals and has said they are “poisoning the blood” of America.
FEMA implemented the most significant update to disaster assistance in the last 20 years. The new guidelines should make it easier for victims of natural disasters to apply for financial assistance faster and with fewer rules, red tape and delays.
A federal court ruled that migrant children held at open air desert camps at the border need to be in safer facilities.
The Biden administration bolstered protections for federal workers in case Donald J. Trump wins the next election. Trump has said he plans to have mass terminations across several government agencies.
President Biden met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss shared concerns about provocative Chinese military action in the Pacific. The two also discussed a Japanese company’s plan to buy U.S. Steel. President Biden opposes the plan.
Experts are saying that Austria could be completely free of ice in the next 45 years due to climate change. All but 1 of 93 glaciers in the country have receded.
Meta, the social media company that owns Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp, announced its new policy on content generated by artificial intelligence (A.I.). According to the new policy all videos and images created by A.I. must be labeled as “Made with AI.”
A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist national poll found that 28% Republicans, 18% Independents and 12% of Democrats - agreed violence might be necessary to get the country back on track. When asked “Do Americans need a leader who is willing to break the rules to set things right? - 56% Republicans, 37% Independents and 28% Democrats said yes. In the same poll Biden led Trump by two points.
Lou Conter, the last known survivor of the USS Arizona that was attacked on Pearl Harbor died at the age of 102. Conter, who was a 20-year-old quartermaster at the time of the naval assault, was on the back decks of the battleship on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese forces decimated the U.S. Pacific fleet.
Sent to a friend so s/he, like me, can experience Faux vicariously. Thanks!
The usual long list of stories Fox News doesn’t cover makes a case that it’s not really a news provider at all. I’m not sure they would disagree. It’s simply slanted segments aimed at “owning the libs,” and making their viewers feel good about themselves for hating America.
Impressive work. It’s good to see this report to know what we’re up against.