Fox News Feeds the Beast: The Speaker of the House Fiasco
A condensed overview of 24 hours of Fox News coverage - Speaker of the House Vote
Fox News has played a definitive role in the radicalization of the Republican Party. Instead of blunting the most extreme personalities in the party the network has amplified them. The most popular primetime hosts have promoted conspiracy theories and increased hateful rhetoric towards immigrants, the LGBTQ population and people of color all in the name of higher ratings and advertising revenue.
The vitriolic in-fighting inside the House of Representatives last week that resulted in four days and 15 ballots before Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was elected Speaker of the House was a direct result of Fox News and other media outlets fueling the worst aspects of the GOP.
Republicans refusal to stand up to former President Trump after the attack on the U.S. Capitol and his many abuses of power have also fueled this divide. Despite high inflation, and an unpopular president the Republicans only managed a razor thin majority in the House while remaining in the minority in the Senate.
The American people are sick of the craziness and let the party know it in ballot boxes all over the country.
According to my analysis of the Fox News coverage from last week the network has learned nothing. News anchors complained about the extremist factions in the Republican Party while simultaneously giving them the largest national platform on cable television.
Members of the Freedom Caucus were invited on as guests across multiple shows last for a total of 58 minutes. Their interviews made up 6% of the total airtime, the same amount the network dedicated to the border crisis, Damar Hamlin, and the University of Idaho murders.
Last week I meant to cover “Fox & Friends,” “The Five” and “Jesse Watters Primetime.” Watters made the unexpected choice to nearly completely ignore the Speaker of the House crisis.
I didn’t think it was fair to my readers and listeners if I didn’t cover the other primetime shows given these circumstances. On Wednesday I decided to go back and capture and analyze the “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “Hannity,” and “The Ingraham Angle.”
Fox & Friends (First Hour)
#1 Topic for the week - Speaker of the House Vote - 37% of airtime
Number Freedom Caucus members - 2 (12 minutes)
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) - 6 minutes
Rep. Scott Perry (R-KY) - 6 minutes
The Five
#1 Topic for the week - Speaker of the House Vote - 25% of airtime
No guests
Jesse Watters Primetime
#1 Topic for the week - Sam Bankman-Fried
Watters only spent 1.2% of this total airtime to the Speaker of the House story
No U.S. Representatives as guests
Tucker Carlson Tonight
#1 Topic for the week - Speaker of the House Vote - 22% of airtime.
Number Freedom Caucus members - 0
Number of U.S. Representatives - 1 - Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)
Hannity
#1 Topic for the week - Speaker of the House Vote - 43% of airtime*
*Over half of Hannity’s program on Wednesday was replaced by live coverage of the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI
Number Freedom Caucus members - 3 (20.25 minutes total)
Rep. Lauren Boebert - 10.25 minutes
Rep. Matt Gaetz with Rep. Lauren Boebert - 4.75 minutes
Rep. Chip Roy - 5.25 minutes
Number U.S. Representatives NOT in Freedom Caucus - 2 (9.50 minutes total)
Rep. James Comer - 4.75 minutes
Rep. John James - 4.75 minutes
Hannity repeated a quote by President Ronald Reagan on Tuesday and on Thursday.
The Ingraham Angle
#1 Topic for the week - Speaker of the House Vote - 49% of airtime*
*On Wednesday the entire broadcast of “The Ingraham Angle” was replaced by live coverage of the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI
Number of Freedom Caucus U.S. Representatives - 5 (25.25 minutes)
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) - 2 minutes
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) - 7 minutes
Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC) - 3.5 minutes
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) - 8 minutes
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) - 4.75 minutes
Number of U.S. Representatives NOT in Freedom Caucus - 1 (3.25 minutes)
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) - 3.25 minutes
On Tuesday Ingraham presented ‘both sides” of the issue by interviewing Rep. Jim Banks who supported McCarthy then Rep. Chip Roy who did not. Ingraham did not give men equal time as Roy’s segment was twice as long as Bank’s.
A graph comparing the amount of airtime each show dedicated to the story last week. Jesse Watters Primetime is pitifully below the other programs. He might not have thought the story was important but it dominated the political news cycle.
The top five categories with all shows combined.
Tuesday - January 3rd, 2023
On the day that the new Congress was supposed to begin, Rep. Kevin McCarthy didn’t get enough votes to become Speaker of the House. Fox News switched to panic mode.
The most memorable interview on Fox News on Monday was of Rep. Scott Perry (R-FL) who ranted in a strident diatribe about everything he hated about the process to elect the Speaker of the House.
“Well, Steve, this is how this works. Promises were made prior prior to the speaker's election? Once the speaker becomes elected, then promises aren't kept,” said Perry.
Perry droned on without a change in tone or pitch for six excurciating minutes.
On “The Five,” Dana Perino pointed out that the entire endeavor could cause damage to the Republican Party.
With their heels digging in with the name calling started to ratchet up. And they're talking about now internally within the party enemies. Now that kind of thing is hard to forget,” said Perino.
Greg Gutfeld noted that Fox News was part of the problem.
“Because it's on like our shows now, they're like going, okay, this is, this is for my future. I'm going to be like, I need to do this and make the people on Twitter happy or the people or my buddies in television who invite me more often,” said Gutfeld.
Perino took a mild dig at Democrats while also insulting Republican extremists in the House.
“It's like the opposite of ‘The Squad’. They make ‘The Squad’ look positively reasonable in this situation,” said Perino.
While Jesse Watters couldn’t be bothered to even bring the fiasco up, Tucker Carlson defended the chaos.
“The fact that this race has not been settled by now is being described especially online by many as embarrassing. And it is embarrassing, if you prefer, the Soviet style consensus of the Democratic Party's internal elections . . .But if you prefer democracy to oligarcharchy, if you prefer real debates about issues that actually matter, it's pretty refreshing to see it.” said Carlson.
Carlson also kept mildly insulting McCarthy.
“He's, in fact, ideologically agnostic. He's flexible. His real constituency is the lobbying community in Washington. So if you've got sincere political beliefs, that is infuriating to watch,” said Carlson.
Carlson also made unreasonable demands.
“Release the January 6th files, not some of the January six files and video, all of it. And not to some phony committee that will hide them. That, in fact is designed to hide them from the public, but put them online, release them to the public directly so the rest of us can finally know what actually happened on January 6th,” said Carlson.
Given Carlson’s long career covering politics and various criminal trials he should know that any evidence that is currently being used in an active criminal investigation is not going to be made available to the press.
The FBI is still tracking down and arresting individuals for their involvement in the attack. It could take years before the public has access to most of the footage from the Capitol.
Sean Hannity was far less kind when he began his segment.
“Republicans now are on the verge of becoming a total clown show,” said Hannity
He then tried to pivot in a more positive direction.
“I'm putting aside my frustration, but for those of you still worried about supporting McCarthy, I want you to consider this tonight. Sometimes you have to think through politics. Now, McCarthy has already publicly laid out his commitment to America plan. That is exactly the America First MAGA agenda that so many of you I know like . . . He has also publicly committed to blocking Biden's radical socialist agenda, using every means at his disposal.” said Hannity.
Hannity then evoked Ronald Reagan.
“What would Ronald Reagan say? What would Ronald Reagan do now? As President Reagan famously told a staff, quote, The person that agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend and an ally, not a 20% traitor. Republicans, they would be wise to heed that advice,” said Hannity
Laura Ingraham tried to make it into a joke.
All right. We hope this isn't going to be like a never ending process. It's like electing a pope at this point. We can have white smoke come out of the Capitol,” said Ingraham.
Ingraham also repeatedly promoted her own personal political views.
“And I'm probably to the right of all a lot of you guys on a lot of these issues. So no one's going to be conservative enough for me. However, you still have to get to to 18. So again, I'm going to ask you, what is your endgame here,” asked Ingraham.
As much as Ingraham seemed to agree with her guest Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) she also criticized him.
“Well, you need more populists elected, right? I mean, the point is, you still there's still not a critical mass of populist Republicans. That's who I am. I'm not I'm not one of the pro-war Republicans. Like I'm not. That's not me at all. So you need more America first populist, correct? You don't have the numbers yet,” said Ingraham.
Ingraham repeatedly pointed out her own bias.
“But blocking McCarthy again, no one's as conservative as I want them to be,” said Ingraham.
There were so many clips on Tuesday that I broke them up into two videos.
Wednesday - January 4th, 2023
McCarthy still hadn’t gained enough votes to be Speaker of the House. The hosts at “Fox & Friends” did not control their disgust.
“Meanwhile, The New York Post summarizes it absolutely perfectly. They say ‘Grow up!’,” said Steve Doocy.
His co-host Ainsley Earhardt joined in as Brian Kilmeade just sat next to them looking miserable.
“It's making the Republicans look ridiculous. Newt, we don't give in to other people when they're hostage situations. We can't give in here. . .Isn’t it just ridiculous that these 20 think that they can change the minds of the 200.” said Earhardt.
On “The Five” Jesse Watters made an odd observation.
I've never seen a situation where someone takes someone hostage and their main demand is I want the hostage dead, said Watters.
Greg Gutfeld added another puzzling remark.
“Republicans have a firing squad. It's circular, but the Democrats shoot everybody,” said Gutfeld.
Dana Perino thought that everything could be resolved if the Representatives all just went to a bar.
“That everybody needs to go to the bar and there's the open bar and they need to all get drunk and have a moment because that's what you do with a team when you're having a little bit of a problem,” said Perino.
Jesse Watters finally addressed the fiasco by making it all about the Fox News host.
“Prime time needs to issue an apology. It appears we may have gotten a little ahead of ourselves, said Watters.
Then Watters showed a quick series of clips where he addressed McCarthy as Speaker of the House.
The entire segment lasted about a minute and a half and was the only time Watters dedicated to the Speaker vote for the entire week.
Tucker Carlson being true to form took things to a sinister place.
“Meanwhile, and it pains us to say this, but it is true. Surrogates for Kevin McCarthy are saying out loud, if you don't support Kevin McCarthy for speaker, you're a terrorist of the neocons . . .So now they're just coming out and telling you what they told you about Iraq. Either you're with us or you're against us. You're on the side of light or darkness. You're good or evil. . .looking for a little Soviet style politics. Watch this. You just saw it is the snarling face of the donor class revealed for all to see. Finally, the deep loathing of disobedient voters that may be their most passionate, secret emotion. They're not bothering to hide that emotion anymore. Now you know how they really feel.” said Carlson.
Sean Hannity attempted to direct blame to the Democrats.
“This is your democratic, socialist, inclusive, woke party. . .But all the squawking from the Democrats, their friends in the media mob. This is not a crisis yet. It's not . . .And behind the scenes, I can tell you, I spoke to many of them and I urged many of them to work it out . . .And there's one other take care. Unlike Democrats, members of the Republican Party, they're not sheep who are, you know, will do what they are told,” said Hannity.
Former Congressman and Fox News host Trey Gowdy offered the second clown show reference of the week.
I didn't work my tail off in November to watch all look like a clown show on national television, said Gowdy.
Laura Ingraham’s show “The Ingraham Angle” was completely replaced by live coverage of Pope Benedict XVI funeral in Vatican City.
Thursday - January 5th, 2023
Steve Doocy started the day on “Fox & Friends” by harshly criticizing members of the Freedom Caucus.
“They are intent simply on blowing up the party, which they are doing. And this Congress, they do not care,” said Doocy.
His co-shot Ainsley Earhardt agreed.
“You don't like McCarthy then? Shouldn't they have a solid candidate in the wings? Why don't they change it,” asked Earhardt.
Doocy then openly challenged members of the more extreme faction of the party to nominate Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Why don't they nominate Matt Gaetz? Matt Gaetz has been on the floor all the time. He's one of them. He has made it very clear he will not in a million years vote for Kevin McCarthy. Put Matt Gaetz up today. Let's see what happens to him. How many votes is he going to get. Twenty,” said Doocy.
Rep. Matt Gaetz appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” where he doubled down on opposition to Rep. Kevin McCarthy.
“These 212 Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries every single time. He is a historic candidate for them. They are not going to cleave off under any circumstance. I assure you that if Democrats join up to elect a moderate Republican, I will resign from the House of Representatives. That is how certain I am,” said Gaetz.
He continued later in the segment.
“I can assure your viewers that won't happen on my vote for Kevin McCarthy under almost any circumstance,” said Gaetz.
Laura Ingraham confronted him.
“So it's personal. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on, hold on. Wait. That's personal. That, you know, you just made this very principled point. No, no, you can't have it both ways. You can't say I am. I'm a man of principle and I believe in X, Y and Z. But if he gives me X, Y and Z, I'm not going to vote for him,” said Ingraham.
Although I didn’t intend on analyzing “The Faulkner Focus” hosted by Harris Faulkner I did accidentally capture the first ten minutes. In that brief excerpt I managed to catch Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) blame and scold Democrats for celebrating the chaos in the Republican Party.
“Absolutely. Absolutely we do. Harris And it's like I almost struck a nerve there. If it wasn't true, why did they get so offended? I just can't figure that one out. But as a as you said, AOC actually did prove my point in grabbing drinks yesterday. But that's beside the point. You know, the Democrats want Republicans to be divided because they know that the greatest weapon that we have against the Biden regime is unity,” said Cammack.
She actually looked into a camera and said, “The greatest weapon that we have against the Biden regime is unity,” with no sense of irony.
Tucker Carlson tried to spin things in a positive light.
“Kevin McCarthy has just lost the 11th round trying to be speaker. And it's funny how we're supposed to feel about this. We're all supposed to be highly upset, outraged, appalled, on the verge of tears,” said Carlson in a mocking tone.
His guest Victor Davis Hanson of the Hoover Institute had a far more somber tone.
“I think a lot of the emotions are, though, Tucker, that we only have one third of the government. All of our dreams of stop this madness are now invested in the House,” said Hanson.
Laura Ingraham finally said what no one had addressed since the mess started on Tuesday.
“If the party had won more seats, he probably would have had an easy time sailing into the speakership. But despite the huge sums of money that he helped raise for the party, there wasn't a red wave. So here we are,” said Ingraham.
Thursday - January 6th, 2023
Brian Kilmeade on “Fox & Friends” sharply criticized Rep. Matt Gaetz for sending out fund-raising emails.
“Matt Gaetz fundraising email. Andy Biggs Fundraising me email,” said Kilmeade.
His co-host Pete Hegseth interrupted him and defended the lawmakers.
“I get emails from Kevin McCarthy to right now. I mean, this is what politicians do. They raise money. I think there is a principled position on standing up, standing out there all the time. They do it all the time. I mean, politicians of both parties do it all the time,” said Hegseth.
Ainsley Earhardt also pointed out the absurdity of asking for donations over a stalled vote.
“Their constituents are going to give money on this issue. They say will vote for you if you give us X, Y and Z and he gives you X, Y and Z, and they're still holdouts. Then maybe Dan Crenshaw is right. It's fundraising. And Dan Crenshaw said the other day on our show that these individuals, just like being on TV, said Earhardt.
The day before while a guest on “Hannity,” Former Representative and current Fox News host Trey Gowdy echoed her sentiment.
“This is their only moment to be on national television opposing another Republican. So you all get behind Kevin. You got your motion to vacate as it relates to President Trump. They love him when they need a pardon. They love him when they need attention. But when he says, Kevin is my person, all of a sudden they know better. They know better than the Republican conference. Kevin got 85% of the vote in the primary,” said Gowdy.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) attempted to defend his fundraising efforts while a guest on “The Ingraham Angle.”
“Because pro McCarthy groups have actually been running robocalls in our districts trying to pressure us and leverage us. So, yes, when you have Kevin McCarthy utilizing his extensive political resources to battle against House conservatives, we want the great patriots all throughout this land to go to Medicaid scum chip in so that I can fight back and get a message out about the great things that we are working to achieve anyway,” said Gaetz.
While on “Hannity” Rep. Lauren Boebert bragged about raising funds off of her contentious appearance the same program earlier in the week.
“I welcome you to get passionate like that all the time because Lauren for freedom dot com blew up that night,” said Boebert.
Hannity gleefully responded.
“I hope I raised a lot of money for your next campaign. There's that 4% in the middle and they don't believe a thing we're saying. And what they're watching right now is a total and complete clown show broken up over this. Nobody's dying. Nobody's being attacked. This is what politicians do. They pull in national security. They just yeah, they just waste our time,” said Hannity.
Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus got the third clown show reference in for the week when he said,
“There’s that 40% in the middle that don’t believe a thing we’re saying and what they are watching right now is a total and complete clown show.”
Coming up…
I should have my regular weekly overview of the other stories covered by Fox News tomorrow.
The Fox people "increased hateful rhetoric towards immigrants, the LGBTQ population and people of color all in the name of higher ratings" because they know their audience's demographic.