Fox News: A Presidential Debate, A Mug Shot and How the Deep State is Coming For Every American.
A condensed overview of 19 hours of Fox News for the week ending 8/27/23
Last week Fox News hosted the first presidential debate followed by a day of coverage dedicated to former President Donald J. Trump’s appearance at the Fulton County jail to post bail and be fingerprinted and photographed related to the criminal charges he faces in Georgia.
Surprisingly the network dedicated more airtime to discussions about the presidential debate than it did to Trump’s arrest. Even Fox News seemed exhausted by the never-ending legal problems the former president faces.
The network also seemed to subtly pivot away from the MAGA leader while Trump also positioned himself in opposition to the network by appearing on Tucker Carlson’s account on X (formerly Twitter) in a time slot that directly competed with the presidential debate.
I have no doubt that Fox News will realign with Trump if he gets the Republican nomination for president but for now it appears that Fox News could be hedging its bets a bit.
The network also managed to make a viral bluegrass song into a three-week story while continuing to insinuate that the president and his son were masterminds of a criminal enterprise despite the lack of any real credible evidence linking them to one.
As usual anyone watching Fox News exclusively would have no idea that climate disasters were raging all over the planet or that civil conflicts continue unabated in Africa and the Middle East.
Shows I covered last week
Fox & Friends
The Five
The Ingraham Angle
Jesse Watters Primetime & Hannity - Thursday Night
Fox GOP Primary Debate
After Trump the Government Will Come for You
Fox hosts and guests promoted the idea that Trump’s criminal indictment and subsequent arrest were signs that the government would eventually round up and imprison any dissenter.
On Thursday night while a guest on “Hannity,” Clay Travis echoed this sentiment.
“I think it depends on how Trump responds. What I want to hear from Trump is this isn't just about me. If they, and he says it sometimes, but this is a direct attack on America itself, because for 240 years, we haven't put the chief political adversary of \ of the party in power in prison. What they're trying to do is unprecedented, unjustifiable. Trump is the hero here,” said Travis.
Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump basically said the same thing on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“Well, I think they better, you know, because there's a two pronged effect here. Obviously, they want to prevent Donald Trump from ever becoming president again. That's been pretty clear for a long time now. But this is also about a warning to anyone who dares step outside and question anything that the government tells us to do tells us to think. This is about a warning to the rest of the country. Don't you step out of line. Because today it's Donald Trump. Tomorrow it could be you,” said Lara Trump.
Laura Ingraham seemed to follow the same unwritten script on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“Trump as the most egregious example of the politicization of our prosecutorial system on the state and federal level. You know, go after your political opponents. But as we were talking about earlier, this is happening in colleges and universities, high schools, junior high schools, in the workplace, in the military, where people who see themselves as traditionalist or maybe Christian or maybe they're Muslim, but they're more traditionalists in their outlook. They feel like they're targets, like they can't speak. They probably won't get a promotion. And everyone's walking on eggshells because, heaven forbid, the establishment bears down on them and decides to take them out, take them off the playing field or out of the workplace or out of the military,” said Ingraham.
Clutch Your Pearls - “How Dare The “Lock Him Up!”
On Thursday on “The Five,” Jesse Watters decided to scold his co-host Jessica Tarlov for her reaction towards Trump’s arrest.
“I think tonight when he gets mug shoted. I didn't like the way it looks with Rudy and I thought it was going to be a big viral moment. And you said something that really bothered me the other day and, it's been on my mind. I said something to you, and you go, Oh, yeah, well, ‘Trump's had been indicted and is facing life in prison,’ and you made it seem like that was a good thing. And that's actually a disgraceful thing. And it's a sad thing. And the fact that you're using that as a talking point is it's beneath you. Jessica,” said Watters.
Tarlov responded.
“Okay. So, couple of points of clarification. I never said Trump was facing life in prison. This was a conversation in the break. I don't know if we're going to start amplifying what happens in the break, but that's going to be worse for you than me. He's facing indictments in four different jurisdictions. That's what I said,” said Tarlov.
“You said it with a smile,” said Watters.
“No, that's just my disposition face. It is just my face,” said Tarlov.
When I watched this segment, I couldn’t help but think of the many time crowds of Trump supporters screamed, “lock her up,” about Hillary Clinton or the dozens of times on “The Five,” when Fox News hosts declared that President Biden would be arrested for the many imagined crimes, they were convinced he committed.
Trump’s Arrest Will Make Black Male Voters Love Him
By Friday Fox News hosts thought it would be a brilliant move to assume that Black male voters somehow saw a kinship with Trump now that he was arrested.
While on “The Ingraham Angle,” Raymond Arroyo featured a brief clip of Black spectators watching Trump’s motorcade drive past them in Georgia.
“When Trump was in town about to be processed. Watch this,” said Arroyo.
The clip included a couple of Black people standing on the sidewalk watching Trump’s motorcade drive by.
“It might have been him right now. That might have been him. That was him. That was Trump right there,” said the onlookers.
This was supposed to be proof of some sort of endorsement of Trump when it looked more like curious people excited by the drama of the event.
Arroyo continued.
“Laura. This was like a parade going by. I mean, look, Trump got 12% of the Black vote last time, which was a 4% improvement. There are polls showing he could get 18% to 20% of the Black votes. If that happens, it's all over. It's totally over now,” said Arroyo.
The presidential election is decided by electoral college votes not the popular vote. If Trump did increase his numbers in the Black community that would be bad for President Biden but it would be no guarantee of a win for Trump.
Later, in the same program Ingraham invited on Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) to talk about her theory that Trump’s arrest would make him more popular among Black male voters.
“I specifically wanted to say the mug shot itself mirrors the mood of the public because I'm sensing it across ethnicities, racial lines and African-American men after telling them for years that the justice system is corrupt and crooked. They're looking at this, you know, in some of the videos we've seen today and featured, they're looking at some of this going, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. But now they're targeting him. Do you see that or am I overstating it?” said Ingraham.
Notice the phrasing Ingraham uses here. She said, “after telling (Black men) for years that the justice system is corrupt and crooked.”
Ingraham isn’t acknowledging that the criminal justice system is racist, she’s saying that the Democratic Party tells Black men that the system is racist and corrupt.
Donalds responded.
“No, you're absolutely right Laura. That's what's happening. And look, Americans are pissed off. You're talking about a government and Department of Justice that ignores the crimes of the president's son and frankly, the president himself,” said Donalds.
Donalds also pivoted away from Black men. He used the term “Americans” instead of Black men and then transitioned to President Biden and his son.
Earlier on “The Five,” Jesse Watters made a similar comment.
“The Democrats, you can tell, are nervous because the media understands how powerful imagery is and it's their business. And they have handed this guy a huge political gift which will last until eternity. It's a cultural phenomenon. Now he's banking off of it and everyone's talking about it. Black Americans online, some of them are saying, I'm voting for Trump now because they, too, have sometimes felt they've been unfairly targeted by the criminal justice system. And, you know, in this country, nationally, one or 2% of the black vote swinging to the Republicans. That's the election right there. So the Democrats have overplayed their hand. They've done something that no one else has ever been able to do, and that's make Trump a sympathetic character,” said Watters.
One Black Lady I know.
Raymond Arroyo took the concept to the next level.
“Well, Laura, look, I want to add to what you touched on early in the show. That mug shot situates Trump in a cultural context that I'm not sure his enemies may have anticipated. Now he joins Frank Sinatra. He joins Elvis Presley. He joins Johnny Cash and Tupac Shakur. And he didn't only know some of these people, meaning he is now seen by nonpolitical folks as a rebel, an outsider with swagger. And as one black lady, I spoke with earlier today here in New Orleans said Trump's a gangsta and that means he has cred,” said Arroyo.
Suburban Women Voters Are Stupid
On Thursday while a guest on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Ned Ryun, the CEO of American Majority a conservative activist organization, had some interesting things to say about suburban women.
“My concern is, first of all, I think this is going to galvanize the base. I don't want to say that I don't think the primary is over. I never want to say that, but I think it's going to galvanize them. I do think Trump will be the nominee, and I think this moves the ball down the court for him. My concern, if I'm being completely honest, is that the low information Chardonnay sippers in the suburbs next fall are going to think, well, he must have been guilty of something. Surely this is legitimate and that might damage him in the suburbs in this country,” said Ryun.
Jesse Watters agreed.
“You know, people don't understand innocent until proven guilty. Once someone's arrested or you get mug shot and they're guilty in people's eyes, rightly, that's the place we are at the point now,” said Watters.
Doocy and Ingraham openly dissed Trump
The network seems to be hedging its bets in the case of Trump. The former president not only opted out of the Fox News debate he appeared on Tucker Carlson’s streaming show on X (formerly known as Twitter) in a competing time slot.
On Thursday on “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy openly dissed Trump.
“You know, the good thing about last night, without Donald Trump there, we could actually hear all of those eight candidates talk about policies for the most part. And we saw a lot of policy difference. And so people can make up their mind. Nikki Haley, who we did a kind of an informal survey here in the studio, and I talked to some of my friends last night and they said that they felt that she ran away with the show,” said Doocy.
This is after Doocy encouraged Trump to be a part of the debate for weeks.
On the night of the debate while a guest on “The Ingraham Angle,” Ned Ryun explained the best way to win the next election.
“What is your plan to win? I want to hear people's plans tonight. How do you plan on going into these battleground states and implementing an absentee ballot chase program, a voter registration program? Actually having your legal team set up so you can actually win what are going to be closely contested states. And if you cannot lay out a plan on how you're going to devolve the administrative state, how you can actually win the battleground states in 2024,” said Ryun.
Ingraham interrupted him.
“Ned, I agree with you. Has Trump done that?” asked Ingraham.
There are definitely plans in place, he’s made it very clear,” said Ryun.
“I haven’t heard them,” said Ingraham.
“He's made it very clear that he understands now what the administrative state has done and what the issue is. And I think he's made it very clear that we will fight against all the administrative states are run,” said Ryun.
Ryun was interrupted by Pete Snyder a surrogate for Governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign.
“He’s allowed the administrative state to run wild. He fought against early voting. He can’t win Georgia,” said Snyder.
Doocy Reads the Charges Against Trump
Another not so subtle dig of the former president happened when Steve Doocy read the charges against Trump on Friday’s episode of “Fox & Friends.”
“One of the big one of the thing I saw this morning, I think it was on Drudge that apparently Mar-a-Lago has been transferred to Don Jr. out of Donald Trump's account or however that works,” said Doocy.
“He put Mar-a-Lago in his son's name?” asked his co-host Ainsley Earhardt
“Yeah, absolutely. So anyway, what we heard Donald Trump say before he got onto the jet to go back to Newark, he said, you know, I've got every right to challenge the election. And obviously to the point that she has charged him with 13 felonies. The D.A. differs with that since you did more than challenge it. He is accused of impersonating a public official, forgery, filing false documents, influencing witnesses, conspiracy to defraud the states and acts involving theft. So that's what she's got to prove,” said Doocy.
Hunter Biden and Air Force Two
On Friday Jesse Watters tried to present Hunter Biden’s many trips with his father as some sort of scandal.
“We have an update in our investigation into Hunter Biden using Air Force Two is his own private jet business class. Of course, “Primetime,” can now exclusively report that Hunter Biden used Air Force Two to get to at least 15 different countries. Joe Biden can no longer deny he was in business with his son. He was literally his co-pilot.
But newly unearthed photos from the laptop, Secret Service records and videos show Hunter traveled a lot more than we knew. Here's Hunter in Croatia with his family back in 2015. Mixing Joe Biden's business with pleasure, obviously. And here's Hunter sitting on Air Force Two in Kosovo, wondering what was wrong. Hunter was in Kosovo with his family to visit a road dedicated to his late brother, Beau.
From times investigating Hunter's meetings while in Kosovo. But you never know where Hunter ends up. We told you earlier this week, Hunter used Air Force Two to meet up with business partners. He sent emails from the plane. Hunter went directly to Serbia on Air Force Two and even invited his Serbian client in Biden's motorcade. Quote, I'll make sure we can spend time together and maybe you could come with me in the motorcade, the airport, if you have time.
And tonight, we have even more video of Hunter in foreign countries. Who's that in the blue ball cap? Just a few steps behind the vice president. Well, that's Hunter. 13 years ago in Canada. He followed his dad out of the motorcade, always keeping a little distance, trying to stay clear of the cameras. But we got him. Earlier this week, we showed you how he would slink into the back seat of Joe's limo after getting off Air Force Two.
Here he is in Japan. And then there he is in Germany. I think he's skulking behind Jill. Yep. That's Hunter. We also found him in Italy, shaking hands with the Prime Minister. Hunter spent a lot of time in Italy. That's where he met Burisma's owner. The only time we saw Hunter actually walk off Air Force Two with the VP was in China,” said Watters.
Of course, Watters didn’t mention that Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner both worked in the White House in direct violation of anti-nepotism laws. According to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington it’s estimated that Ivanka and Jared made $640 million from various deals while they worked for the Trump administration.
While Trump was attending a Q20 Summit he had Ivanka sit in for him as he privately met with the leader of Indonesia. The Chinese government also granted 41 trademarks to companies linked to Ivanka by September 2020 during his administration.
Kushner also received a large bailout from the Qatar government to save a failing real estate deal while he was working in the White House. Kushner also faced obstacles getting a top secret security clearance based on concerns about potential foreign influence on him.
About six months after Trump left the White House Kushner received $2 billion from the Saudi royal family for his fledgling investment firm.
They are Still Talking About that Country Song
Fox News started the week by trying to milk a viral bluegrass song into a three-week story. Griff Jenkins, a Fox News host, attended a music festival in North Carolina to interview singer/songwriter Oliver Anthony.
“So, are you surprised that the public has reacted the way they did? Do you realize the crowd is touched by your music?” asked Jenkins.
“Yeah, well, it resonates the suffering in the world right now. Like, even in our own country, we've had we've had years of people feeling depressed and hopeless and every time you look at the TV or get online, everything's negative. And so I think people are just desperate for something positive again. You know, like, there's been there's been a lot of people die. For us to be able to stand on this dirt and do what it is we do every day and that we should be excited for,” said Anthony.
If Anthony consumes Fox News, he’d see a lot of paranoia, fear, and negativity on the network.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I watched on Fox News to five hours of the PBS News Hour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Climate disasters
Wildfires in Washington state cost the of lives two people while destroying hundreds of structures.
A week after residents fled their homes in Yellowknife, Canada firefighters are still battling wildfires in the area.
The bodies of 18 migrants were recovered in the Dadia Forest in the northeast region of Greece as wildfires have ravaged the country. The wildfires in Greece are the largest the European Union has ever faced.
Over 1200 people have evacuated parts of Turkey as wildfires from Greece have spread across the border.
The wildfire in Spain’s popular tourist island of Tenerife was started intentionally according to investigators.
Tropical Storm Franklin caused flooding in Dominion Republic and Haiti.
A UN report found that 4 million children in Pakistan still need aid after massive flooding covered 1/3 of Pakistan last year.
Developments in the war in Ukraine
PBS produced an extended segment on the Russian Volunteer Corps, a small militia made up of dissident Russians with far right political views including white nationalism that are currently fighting for Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said they shot down 73 Ukrainian drones in 24 hours mostly over Crimea.
Saudi Arabian border guards are accused of killing Ethiopian refugees en masse using small arms and explosives. The refugees were attempting to cross into Saudi Arabia from the Yemen border. The claims were made in a detailed investigation by Human Rights Watch.
The United States and South Korea resumed annual large scale military drills
A congressional representative and anti-corruption advocate Bernardo Arevalo won Guatemala’s presidential run-off election in a landslide. His conservative challenger Sandra Torres has yet to concede and her party the National Unity of Peace (UNE), filed a complaint alleging inconsistencies in the vote tally.
Luisa Gonzalez and Daniel Noboa will face off in a presidential run off election in Ecuador.
In several states across the country new laws could make it easier to hospitalize or detain the severely mentally ill against their will or through voluntary court-ordered treatment.
Japan started the release of treated water from the Tsunami damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power plant into the ocean. Although regulators and experts claim the water is safe protests against the decision have erupted in Japan and neighboring countries. The plan allows for the release of treated water for the next 35 years.
PBS produced a segment on the pros and cons of medication used to treat obesity. Some medications may also reduce the risk of heart attacks in some patients.
According to a recent UN report on Afghanistan the Taliban leadership continues to torture and murder former government officials.
In Sudan at least 500 children have died from hunger since warring factions started fighting in April.
The U.S. Department of Justice has argued in federal court that the floating barrier in the Rio Grande river near Eagle Pass, Texas was installed without federal authorization.
Sixteen survivors of the racially motivated mass shooting in Buffalo, New York filed a lawsuit against YouTube, Reddit, body armor and gun manufacturers along with the parents of the killer.
Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) continues to hold up military promotions in his attempt to change the Pentagon’s policy on abortion.
The all-male South Carolina Supreme Court reinstated a ban on abortion after six weeks.
A railway bridge still under construction in India collapsed killing 26 workers.
India became the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. The mission does not include human crew members but a robotic rover is collecting samples and beaming back images to earth.
The Biden administration launched SAVE a new income driven student loan payment plan. The new plan could end up costing more than the original debt forgiveness program but should face fewer legal challenges.
PBS produced an extended segment about the aftermath of earthquakes in Syria. Survivors of the earthquake have received little aid and support. Bashar al-Assad has essentially cut the rebel controlled area off from international support.
Maui County filed a lawsuit against Hawaiian Electric for negligence leading up to the wildfires. Fox News dedicated quite a bit of airtime to the aftermath of the fires but did not include this story. The network has used the story as a means to criticize President Biden.
The BRICS bloc of developing countries added Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates. BRICS countries currently represent more than 1/4 of the world's GDP
PBS produced a segment about what experts are doing to tackle the alarmingly high Black maternal death rate in the United States. As access to abortion is cut off in some parts of the country the maternal death rate is expected to increase. The United States has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the industrialized world.
Tennessee lawmakers opened a special session focused on public safety in reaction to the mass shooting at the Covenant School in March where three children and three staff members were murdered.
A judge in Missouri upheld the ban on gender affirming care for minors.
In Texas a ban on gender affirming care for minors was temporarily paused after a lawsuit filed by doctors and parents of trans children. The attorney general of the state filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Texas which ruled that the ban can start on September 1st.
Federal reserve chairman Jerome Powell said at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium that the federal reserve will most likely raise interest rates again to fight inflation.
Officials with the Spanish Football association asked suspended president Luis Rubiales to resign after he kissed a player without consent at the Women’s World Cup. Rubiales remains defiant and refuses to resign or even take responsibility for his actions.
By The Numbers
Coming up…
This week I’ll be covering “Fox & Friends,” “The Five,” and “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
I know you have marching orders. However I also like scores: probably false, egregiously false, creative doublespeak, pants on fire double speak
You cover shows. However can you focus on one participant of a multi person show. Over time? I know you cover repetitive diatribes of shows and who delivers them. But my point is that each person makes the same 2 or 3 points day after day. So that a list of 3 or 4 points really covers 50 or 60 or 160 shows. They are automatons / robots. So you could do predictive coding. Panelist X WILL likely say A,B and C. Then retrospectively Did say a, b, and c. It's not only not news. It's just daily propaganda, a script, which could be delivered by a robot. Hence the ANTITHESIS of news. You sort of do this but I think focus on one panelist over multiple shows would be more vivid. Imho. J.