What Trump Trial? There are PROTESTERS ON COLLEGES!!!!
A condensed overview of 19 hours of Fox News for the week ending 4/28/24
Last week Fox News put most of its focus on chaotic protests on elite college campuses while downplaying Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan. The network also spent some airtime on Trump’s Supreme Court case where he’s attempting to claim presidential immunity from criminal prosecution.
When Fox News wasn’t getting its viewers worked up about college protests and Trump’s many legal problems it was aggressively promoting his candidacy for president. As Trump staged events with friendly construction workers Fox interviewed vetted MAGA super fans in Midwest diners.
While Fox played up protests in support of the Palestinians in Gaza, it largely ignored the developments in the Israel-Hamas war. Fox viewers might not even realize Hamas and Israel might be close to a deal that would include a sustained ceasefire and the release of hostages. Fox News hosts mentioned the negotiations but only as an afterthought.
Anyone watching Fox exclusively last week would have missed on stories about flooding in China, political unrest in India, and several other cases facing the Supreme Court this session.
Shows I covered last week:
Fox & Friends - All three hours on Monday and Thursday
The Five
The Ingraham Angle
The Revolution WILL Be Televised
Fox producers repeatedly cycled through a handful of dramatic images from the pro-Palestinian college demonstrations. One brief media clip was of a scrawny white female student clad in a dirty cropped t-shirt holding a burning homemade American flag.
Another short video featured a small group of young people circled around a flaming trash can being led by an Arab man built like a linebacker in a chant of “there is only one solution: Intifada, revolution.” As the group repeated his words they jumped up and down as the light from the flames made them seem almost demonic.
As always Fox was trying to scare the living daylights out of its audience. The network was also extremely selective about how it shaped the story.
While producers did include short scenes of the NYPD and Texas state troopers tossing students and faculty around like rag dolls the network spent most of time at Columbia University.
The Ivy League institution has a sprawling campus in Northern Manhattan with perfectly manicured lawns and buildings that mimicked ancient Greek structures. It was the perfect setting to show what Fox claimed were the spoiled and pampered children of the elite cosplaying as revolutionaries.
While some of these young people are likely scholarship students from humble backgrounds Fox played it off as if they would all end up on Martha’s Vineyard later this summer recalling their bravery standing up to the system while surrounded by well-paid security guards.
Of course, similar protests broke out on the CUNY (City University of New York) campus but Fox had very little interest in featuring the children of the middle and working classes advocating for Palestinians while criticizing U.S. policy towards Israel.
Will Cain - We Are Paying These Brats Loans
On Monday on “Fox & Friends,” Will Cain twisted logic into a pretzel to blame Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan for the student protests.
“I just wanna make a point, you know? This isn't just being tolerated. This isn't just being allowed. This is being subsidized. I want you to remember campaign, or rather, up college debt forgiveness program like these kids are all being subsidized by Joe Biden's attempts to continuously forgive student debt programs. This is what the plumbers of America are not just being forced to tolerate, but to pay for. You're paying for the student debts of these people you see on your screen.”
Only about 0.4% of all undergrad students attend an Ivy League institution such as Columbia University. Students from the wealthiest families in the United States disproportionately make up the student body at most elite schools.
Biden’s student loan forgiveness program has benefitted borrowers who have been making payments for 20 years or more or who have worked in the public sector.
Biden also made changes to the income-driven repayment plan that has reduced monthly payments for lower income borrowers.
According to Investopedia Black, Latino and Native American students are the most likely to struggle financially while in school and will incur the most student debt.
According to Lending Tree one in five American families hold student loan debt, Black families are more likely to take out student loans and carry more debt and the poorest families are the most likely to have the most problems paying off their loans.
Lawrence Jones Actually Speaks the Truth on Fox
On Wednesday Lawrence Jones dropped a truth bomb on “Fox & Friends.”
“Is the president willing to lose them based on doing the right thing with Israel? I mean, Brian has made this point several times. The people that are voting uncommitted, that want to stand with with the Palestinian cause. it's not like they're going to get a pro-Palestinian Donald Trump. Okay. He's going to take it to the next level.”
A brief rundown of Trump’s Israel policies when he was president.
Trump cut off more than $200 million in aid to the Palestinians
Trump helped Israel move its capital to Jerusalem which angered many Palestinians as the city is also sacred to the Muslim religion.
Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
Trump declared that the Golan Heights were part of Israel. The area was seized by Israel from Syria in 1967. Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 a move that was not recognized by the international community. Syria still claims the region.
David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel supported radical Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. He also suggested annexing the entire occupied West Bank for Israel and was against a two state solution. Friedman also had no diplomatic experience.
Trump banned Muslims from several Arab countries from entering the United States.
Trump has since vowed to deport protesters who support Hamas. This could easily extend to any non-U.S. citizen who supported the Palestinian cause.
Trump has also said he would try to ban Muslims again and bar refugees from Gaza if he wins the presidency. His planned Muslim ban, and deportation schemes would most likely be defeated in the court system but both programs could cause havoc for Muslim Americans and Muslims immigrants.
Trump’s Defense - So Many Porn Stars
Kerri Kupec Urbahn, former Trump administration official and Fox News legal editor, offered a novel legal defense for Trump’s criminal hush money case while she was a guest on “Fox & Friends,” on Monday.
“So since they have said that the statute has expired, but they're still going to do it anyway. I mean, I used to do political opposition research for a living. The amount of politicians that have paid people off. Do they all stand trial now? Because this is what they're essentially saying. And there's a ton of them.” said Lawrence Jones.
Urbahn responded.
“Yes. And, you know, look, we don't know if Donald Trump's done this in the past long before he decided to run for president . . .But, you know, we don't know if this is something that he's done his whole life,” said Urbahn.
“But it didn’t affect the election in 2016 we knew that going that into election. They knew about Karen McDougal,” said Ainsley Earhardt.
Will Cain interrupted Earhardt.
“That's really not your point on that is if he's done it his whole life. It shows it wasn't part of an attempt to influence the campaign.”
“He doesn't want bad stories out there about himself. And again, even if we get to the campaign contribution aspect of this case, they still have to reconstruct compensation for an NDA into an illegal, unreported contribution to himself. You know, it's the whole thing is just it requires such a leap,” said Urbahn.
Another Staged Trump Event that Fox News Tried To Play Off As Spontaneous
On Thursday Trump’s campaign organized a moment outside a construction site where Trump met with handpicked and vetted Trump supporters. Fox didn’t do much to pretend that it was a spontaneous event.
On “The Five,” Dana Perino made a statement that made it seem like Trump just happened to wander up to a group of adoring construction workers.
“Trump starts his day by getting up and going to visit construction workers, surprising them,” said Perino.
Alexis McAdams openly gave up the game while she reported live from the street directly across from the workers.
“Well, they had heard about it through some of these people who are, you know, they'd be vetted and cleared right from security. So in terms of who was out here, it was probably people that kind of knew about it and from the Trump team so they could have some people out here who are supporters. . .So, this isn't too far from where he is right now right at Trump Tower. So that's kind of why they chose this specific construction site. And then they had it set up so we can meet and greet with this construction workers here and union team members, but we don't know how long it was on the schedule for.”
Charlie Hurt also pointed out that many of the folks assembled to see Trump weren’t even construction workers.
“There are a lot of hard, hard hats there. But it also looks like there's some other people who are not in construction gear on site,” said Hurt.
“There. That's right. Yeah. These are supporters that knew that the former president was going to be here, they're shaking hands with them as well. I think that he's dealing with the Republican Party chair. I think he's still doing it. That's Ed Cox. and so, the team chose that specifically because they think that the, area here had all these union workers. They said it's been planned for quite some time,” said McAdams.
Little Old Ladies Hanging out in Diners Wrapped in a Trump Flags
On Tuesday Fox News sent Lawrence Jones to a diner in Allendale, Michigan. The segment opened with Jones going directly to the first table which included an elderly couple who were seated on one side while a lone woman in her late 60’s or early 70’s sat across from them wrapped in a Trump flag.
“I was talking to this young lady right here. Hey. How you doing? Good morning. we were talking about the former president being under prosecution right now. What do you make of it? Do you think that is fair?” asked Jones.
“No, I don't think it's fair. It's ridiculous. They're just trying to keep him busy so he can't run,” said the woman as she looked like she was on the brink of tears.
“You were telling me yesterday that as you thought about the case and you were watching about what was going on in New York, that it brought you to tears. Why is that?” asked Jones.
So clearly Jones had asked this woman to come to the diner. She also didn’t seem to know the couple she was sitting across and had only an empty coffee cup in front of her.
“Because we need Trump back, or else we're going to lose our country. We're going to lose our country. And it just. And what's happening with these protesters is heartbreaking. It's history happening all over again. And they don't understand how bad it could get or will get if we don't get Trump back in,” said the woman.
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.
Climate disasters
Authorities evacuated over 100,000 people from the populated Pearl River Delta in Southern China due to extreme flooding caused by recording-breaking rainfall.
According to a new report by European Union's climate and weather service man-made climate change is causing Europe to warm faster than any other continent on the planet. Heat related deaths have increased 30% in the past 20 years.
Updates in the Israel-Hamas War
The top security official in Israel resigned over his role in not preventing the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th.
Israel ordered new evacuations in Northern Gaza labeling the area as a dangerous combat zone.
An Israeli drone strike on a car in Lebanon killed two. The strike followed a Hezbollah attack along its southern border that killed an Israeli citizen.
An Israeli airstrike in Rafah killed six people including four children.
The U.S. and 17 other nations asked Hamas to release all hostages. The Hamas leader has refused the ceasefire deal even though it meets most the organizations’s demands.
A top Hamas political official told The Associated Press the Islamic militant group is willing to agree to a truce of five years if an independent Palestinian state is established along pre-1967 borders. The current Israeli leadership is opposed to the deal.
A delegation from Egypt arrived in Israel to help negotiate a stalled ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
PBS produced a segment about how 160,000 displaced Israelis and the families of Israeli hostages are observing Passover.
Norway has called on international donors to resume funding to UNRWA the UN agency for Palestine refugees. Former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said that Israel failed to substantiate its claims that Hamas had infiltrated the aid organization.
Mourners gathered at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. to honor the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers who were killed by an Israeli airstrike.
Updates in the war in Ukraine
As part of the $61 billion foreign aid bill to help Ukraine the U.S. added new air defense systems and weapons
A Russian strike broke a T.V. tower in half in Kharkiv, Ukraine which disrupted T.V. signals throughout the city. No one was injured in the attack.
PBS NewsHour produced a segment about Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. The city has endured nearly daily attacks by the Russian military. All three power plants supplying electricity to the city have been hit. Children attend school in classrooms built in the underground subway system. The population of the city remains defiant despite the attacks.
PBS produced another segment about the Russian’s attempt to wipe out Protestant churches in Russian occupied territory. Over 40 religious leaders have been killed in Ukraine while an additional 45 have been imprisoned since the start of the war.
Vice President Kamala Harris announced new rules for nursing homes that receive federal funding. The new standards will increase the number of nurses and nursing aids. Most facilities will be required to have a registered nurse on staff 24 hours a day seven days a week.
On Earth Day President Biden announced he will add an additional $7 billion for solar projects and jobs programs as part of this American Climate Corp expansion.
Twenty-three top Chinese swimmers tested positive for a banned substance. Chinese officials cleared them for competition and the global authority for policing doping in the sport chose to not intervene.
The Supreme Court will hear a case about the Biden administration’s appeal over the regulation of difficult-to-trace ghost guns that had been struck down by lower courts. Ghost guns are assembled at home through parts or kits and are not registered as firearms.
The Supreme Court will hear a case that challenges an a local law from a town in Oregon that fines homeless people up to $300 for setting up camps in public parks.
The Supreme Court will hear a case brought by Starbucks that seeks to limit the National Labor Relations Board’s power to obtain intervention by judges when companies are accused of violating labor laws.
The Supreme Court heard a case involving challenges to Idaho’s strict laws regarding abortion and emergency care. A federal law requires that hospitals must provide stabilizing care for patients experiencing medical emergencies. In Idaho nearly every case of abortion is banned including when a pregnancy complication could result in an emergency life threatening situation.
Five migrants, including a child, died trying to cross the English Channel by boat. The overcrowded boat included 112 people.
Police cleared migrants from street encampments in Paris, France. Activists say it is part of the countries “social cleansing” ahead of the Summer Olympics.
The FTC banned all future non-compete agreements while also voiding all non-compete agreements for workers other than senior executives. Critics of non-compete agreements say they hurt workers and harm competition.
PBS produced a story about the political unrest in Northwest India as national elections approach. In the region of Manipur a Christian minority is targeted and harassed by a Hindu majority tribe. Hundreds have died while thousands have been displaced. The federal government has not done much to quell the fighting.
The Arizona House of Representatives voted to repeal a law from 1864 that put extreme restrictions on abortion. Three Republicans broke from their party and voted with Democrats to strike down the law.
The Biden administration issued new protections for airline passengers. The new rules will require airlines to provide automatic cash refunds to passengers when owed and protect consumers from costly surprise airline fees.
Last week marked the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. Twelve students and one teacher were murdered by two other students at the school. The shooting was one of the first where footage of the murders from surveillance cameras inside the school was released to the press.
Ariel Henry formally resigned as the Prime Minister of Haiti after being locked out of the country for weeks. A nine member council is tasked with finding new leadership.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on Thursday to reclassify broadband as a public utility returning to the net neutrality rules that existed before the Trump administration. The changes should ensure faster, safer and more reliable internet access for customers.
The fist cargo ship exited Baltimore Harbor via a new channel since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse
Venice, Italy became the first city in the world to charge an entrance fee for tourists. The small fee is meant to combat excessive tourism.
The EPA issued new regulations for fossil fuel power plants a move many experts say will completely eliminate coal from most electrical grids. In order to meet the new standards coal plants will have to capture 90% of their emissions by 2032.
New USDA regulations will require poultry producers to reduce salmonella bacteria. Salmonella poisoning accounts for more than 1.3 million infections and about 420 deaths each year
Tesla’s autopilot feature is still under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency is looking into if a recall issued for two million cars did enough to improve safety. The recall was prompted after NHTSA reviewed hundreds of collisions and 13 fatalities allegedly involving Tesla’s Autopilot feature.
Rep, Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ) died at the age of 65 after suffering a heart attack brought on by complications of diabetes. Payne entered politics after the death of his father in 2012. Payne represented Newark and the nearby communities for over 11 years.
Trump’s bible thumpers might be a little off put when they see trump’s number is 666…the amount of times his name is mentioned on Faux. The devil’s number.
One thought: Maybe divide Palestinian protest (when calculating times mentioned, Faux v NPR) into pro and con. I know! Asking you to do more :) Brava!