Fox News: Trump is Amazing! The Republicans are Doomed. A Fox Diner Guest Goes Rogue!
A condensed overview of 21 hours of Fox News for the week ending 1/28/24
Last week the New Hampshire primary dominated everything on Fox News. The network also went into hyperdrive to brazenly promote Trump’s candidacy while trashing his lone Republican opponent, Nikki Haley.
An undercurrent of sorts bubbled under the surface as some folks at Fox warned of the many problems that Trump seemed to bring to the race - he constantly created chaos, motivated Democrats, alienated voters with bullying language, and created divisions in the Republican Party.
There were reasons why polls showed Haley beating Biden by a much wider margin in a hypothetical race than Trump might. Haley might be the voice of the old Republican Party, but she was far less likely to split the country in half like Trump would.
New Hampshire and Iowa voters however overwhelmingly favored Trump, so Fox News backed a man who never won the popular vote and who lost the Senate, the House and presidency in one disastrous election in 2020.
Meanwhile the network largely ignored the $83.3 million dollar settlement awarded to E. Jean Carroll in a defamation lawsuit against the former president. Hannity mentioned it briefly, but the case was completely ignored on “The Five,” even though the judgment was announced right before the 5:00 p.m. broadcast.
The network also only included one 30-second segment about the Israel-Hamas war while the PBS NewsHour dedicated 13% of its coverage to the conflict. Fox News also ignored a study that showed an increase in rape-related pregnancies, brutal Russian military attacks in civilian areas in Ukraine and a ban on gender affirming care in Ohio.
Shows I covered on Fox last week:
Fox & Friends - all three hours on Monday and Tuesday
The Five
Hannity
The Fox News primary election coverage from New Hampshire
Fox Guest Goes Rogue!
Fox & Friends has included a segment called “Breakfast with Friends,” for years. The network promotes in advance that it will host an event at a local diner.
Fox fans wake up at the crack of dawn to file in and order plates of eggs or waffles at an ungodly hour so they can be ready for the 6:00 a.m. EST start time for the Fox morning show.
It’s even crazier for fans in other time zones that might be forced to look chipper at 4:00 a.m. or even 3:00 a.m. The audience is self-selecting as most locals wouldn’t just spontaneously show up at any diner before the sun rises.
A Fox News correspondent and a camera crew walk from table to table to ask a friendly crowd that knows they might get a chance to be on television how they feel about various issue.
Not only does Fox News include “Breakfast with Friends,” segments often but they refer to them as evidence of the popularity of conservative values. Sometimes these segments are boring and dull but every now and then they backfire spectacularly.
On Wednesday the morning after the primary election in New Hampshire a couple of women didn’t play by the rules.
Lawrence Jones approached two women sitting at a counter of what looked like a fairly upscale tavern.
“Both of you young ladies,” said Jones as he addressed the two women. This already seemed a bit off as they were clearly middle-aged women. Some women are flattered when a much younger man refers to them as ‘young ladies,’ but in this case they did not seem amused.
“I was talking back and forth with you and you said, look, you would vote for Nikki Haley. That's someone that you can see yourself voting for. But you said if it gets between Nikki Haley, I'm sorry, Donald Trump and Joe Biden again, you will vote for who?”
This was the first interview of the segment. Jones had obviously spoken to them before the cameras were rolling. It appeared he thought he knew how they were going to answer.
Then one of the women took her opportunity. She quickly got her points out.
“I will vote for President Biden. I have five grandchildren. Four of them are girls. And I'm very concerned about women's issues and democracy.”
Jones politely thanked the women and withdrew his microphone as soon as he possibly could.
A Tour of Trump’s Plane!
While Fox News appeared to immediately sour on Nikki Haley as the results of the New Hampshire primary came in the network also aggressively promoted Trump.
Fox News producers decided its audience needed to see a day in the life of Trump’s campaign, so they sent Brian Kilmeade to give a tour of Trump’s private Boeing 757 plane.
The segments only included a small portion of the interior of the plane and were underwhelming at best. Kilmeade was more than excited to share his personal time with Trump.
“A quick thing to add to that is a big thing with him (Trump) is he says I don’t want my family involved. Ivanka says ‘I’m out,” and I could appreciate that. And Eric they do stuff and then they have to get back to the business. But look what happened to them. They go on trial, number one. Number two, you have Jared Kushner. They tried to put them in jail for volunteering to do what he's doing. He did nothing wrong. And then you have Don Trump Jr. who was brought in by Adam Schiff, bringing him in to testify multiple times on this Russia investigation. So he feels worse about the family than him,” said Kilmeade.
It was more of Trump’s constant cries of persecution.
Ainsley Earhardt quickly pivoted.
“What I loved about it, though. We saw inside his plane today, we had that great interview with some serious questions, but some lighthearted questions, too, like how tall is Barron? Which is a cute question. But anyway, it was great. Good job.”
Steve Doocy interrupted.
“Brian had to stay up really late to get that. So good job.”
Kilmeade brought it back,.
“The main he was to give a ‘slice of life’ not to . . . Lawrence had a great one on one interview yesterday. I want to give a different perspective what life is like behind the scenes.”
Fox News Trashes Nikki Haley
The night Haley officially announced she was running for president Laura Ingraham included a segment with the conservative attorney Harmeet Dhillon where they both criticized Haley’s plans to enact Congressional term limits.
Ingraham was never impressed with Haley as a candidate as she seemed to prefer Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. A couple of months after DeSantis announced he was running Ingraham invited him on “The Ingraham Angle” for extended praise filled interviews. She even flew down to Florida to interview him in person.
She would also directly give his campaign advice during her show more than once. To Ingraham it seemed the race was always between DeSantis and Trump.
For the most part most of the Fox News team kept a neutral position towards Haley. If anyone showed a preference for her it was Steve Doocy who pointed out that she easily beat Biden in head-to-head polls.
The night of the New Hampshire primary everything changed as the cast of “The Five,” took turns trashing the former governor of South Carolina.
Jesse Watters started the festival of criticism.
“Nikki Haley trying to defy political gravity and knock the king off his throne. . . But last night, he even assembled his own Avengers style team of former rivals to take down Nikki Haley.”
As he spoke a silent media clip of Senator Tim Scott and Gov. Doug Burgum endorsing Trump at a campaign event flashed in the corner of the screen.”
“And she claims she's planning to be in the race well beyond New Hampshire to Super Tuesday,” said Watters smugly.
Judge Jeanine was not impressed.
“I don't care if she stays in, or she doesn't. It's really a function of money. It's a function of whether or not people are going to continue to support her if she doesn't have the big bucks. And the shame of it is that she didn't have the big bucks from the beginning. The money waited a while before it came to her. And in the end, she loses in Iowa. She's going to lose in New Hampshire. The next race is South Carolina, which she Donald Trump apparently is beating her by 30 points, I believe. I mean, how can you lose in your own home state? So it's going to be a problem. She can say I'm in it for the long haul and all that happy stuff. And she can say, fellas, in a condescending way, you know, never really saying I'm a woman candidate, but you know, these fellows, whatever it is, her play to women may work. It may not. But the numbers are not in her favor. Donald Trump is overwhelmingly the person the Republicans want. In fact, the Republican Party is now the Donald Trump party,” said Pirro.
Greg Gutfeld also trashed her.
“When I'm listening to Nikki Haley, I think she goes from being like a a capable leader to a pandering phony. And it kind of bums me out.”
Kellyanne Conway Clutches Her Pearls
On the night of the election several Fox News personalities sat behind a huge Fox News branded desk and discussed the primary.
Martha MacCallum started it off.
“And it's just it's smart to understand. And also you see the shift that's happening, right? You look at Black voters, Hispanic voters, college women, Latinos who have moved towards Trump. Yes. So it's no longer that people are in these boxes based on what their gender is or what they look like. They they appear to want, you know, a safe country and they appear to want a good economy regardless of what label they have.”
Jessica Tarlov, one of the few liberals on the network, jumped in.
“That's completely fine. And I know that the lines have shifted dramatically. And but Joe Biden is responsible for a lot of that so to say that he's demeaned half the country. First of all, it's 74 million people that voted for Donald Trump. And he (Biden) has been explicit every time he talks about the MAGA movement to say that this is a subsection of the Republican Party, which is borne out in elections when you see people voting against Donald Trump,” said Tarlov.
Bret Baier interrupted her.
“What about the voting for him? What about the people voting for him? He (Biden) gives teleprompter speeches. I mean, you have to understand . . .”
Tarlov shot back.
Yes, but he’s talking about insurrectionists.”
Kellyanne Conway interrupts her from the opposite side of the desk.
“No, no, no.”
“Yes, he is,” said Tarlov. “What was he talking about? January 6th.”
Then MacCallum shouts over her.
“He says MAGA like it’s a swear word, you know instead of a slogan.”
Tarlov responded.
“When you get called regularly like Democrats do - thugs, pedophiles, socialists, communists. . .”
Kellyanne Conway shouts over her again
“Why can’t he call the border a crisis while he's denigrating and castigating America?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” said Tarlov.
Conway again interrupts her.
“No, the voters aren’t talking about that Jessica, no because he demeans voters. The United States commander in chief went to Philadelphia a year and a half ago with a marine posted behind I saw and gave a decidedly political speech where he insulted a large part of the country. And I've said many times on this network, and I'll say it again tonight, if people a lot of people spend a fraction of the time that they spent obsessing over Donald Trump, the person learning one thing about the Trump voter, things may be very different. This is Joe Biden's version of Hillary's deplorable and irredeemable,” said Conway.
Jessica Tarlov Points out Trump’s Many Problems
Later on, during the same extended segment Jessica Tarlov managed to get out her feelings about Trump without her co-host’s constant interruptions. Martha MacCallum asked Tarlov if she thought the Trump campaign would be able to win over Nikki Haley voters.
“Well, I'm certainly not an adviser to his campaign. But it is you know, we talk in the millions of votes when we're talking about the general election, but it actually comes down to the tens of thousands. Right. The margins in Georgia, in Arizona, in Michigan and Pennsylvania it’s minute, right?
It can be the difference between whether you came out and you criticized your opponent's dress, which some could interpret as demeaning a woman, which is obviously something that he suffers from. Or just making a little offhanded comment that someone says, you know what, I'm going to sit home or actually I want four more years of Joe Biden.
So, yes, it would be smart as it always was when he was president if he would listen to Kayleigh about this. But he has an uncontrollable narcissism and rage about him when he feels insulted and it's appealing to the base. They love it. He's a counterpuncher. But you've now lost a general election. You've presided over the loss of the Republican Senate, the Republican House.
Abortion has been on the ballot seven times. Democrats have swept it and all that. And he has not moderated at all. And frankly, I don't think it's in him for him to be able to do it for more than 20 minutes,” said Tarlov.
Brit Hume Goes Rogue on Trump and the Republican Party
Brit Hume, a stalwart of Fox News who has been with the network since 1996, had a moment of rebellion.
He made a couple of shocking statements that his co-hosts breezed right past or pretended not to notice. I’m not sure why his remarks didn’t get more attention in the media, but he was surprisingly critical of former President Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party.
Hume was included in more than one of the panels on the night of Fox News’ coverage of the New Hampshire primary. He didn’t bellow his opinion or show much emotion, but his words were quite pointed.
“I think when you compare the results in the two parties. There's contained there in a kind of an ominous warning for the Republicans because look at the Democratic side, right? Joe Biden enfeebled, obviously senile, but guarded by even a significant number of people in his own party as not really up to the job. He gets this overwhelming victory. They all rally behind him, right.
And that is a party with a write-in ballot. A write-in. Kind of a half-baked write-in last minute deal. And and he and he prevails and does overwhelmingly. And and I say that that's a sign of a party that understands power and knows how to hold on to it.
Meanwhile, the Republicans are divided. We've got you know, Trump is, as we've talked about, kind of an effective incumbent and is seen that way. And yet he's got to fend off a challenge here. You know, he's getting fifties, mid-fifties that that's a big win tonight. You can call it that and it may be, but it's not the kind of thing you expect an incumbent to get.”
His co-hosts respectfully stared at him a bit slack jawed, but no one added any additional commentary. He went on.
“So, the divisions in the party are very clear, and it's not clear that many that many of the voters who supported Nikki Haley tonight, some of them brought in from the ranks of independents, would be prepared to support Trump in a general election. So, there's real weakness there on the Republican side in terms of the divisions within the party,” said Hume.
Later on in the evening Hume gave an ominous warning about how the rest of the election might go.
“Just wait till the Democrats go to work on Trump and revive the things that people may have forgotten, or the time has passed and it's caused them to soften their feelings about Trump. It isn’t going to be pretty. And look, nobody motivates Democrats like Donald Trump, and that’s a reality Republicans are going to have to reckon with.”
Snake Handlers For Trump!
Earlier in the evening during the coverage from the New Hampshire primary former congressman from South Carolina, Trey Gowdy, shared his insight on voters from his state. He thought they might be more likely to vote for Trump over Haley for a few reasons.
“And if you're counting on Democrats in South Carolina, the two left are Jim Clyburn, and we just put a fellow in the state museum. That's all that's left in South Carolina. Lots of evangelicals. Some of us still handle snakes. Lots of evangelicals in South Carolina,” said Gowdy.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I take the hours I’ve analyzed of Fox News and compare them to five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Updates in the war in Ukraine
Russian missile strikes in Ukraine killed 18 people and injured more than 130. Ukraine said it shot down 21 of 41 missiles while others managed to hit various civilian homes and apartment buildings.
Russia is still claiming that Ukraine shot down a transport plane that was allegedly carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war. Officials in Ukraine said that Russia has no credible evidence to back up its accusation.
Updates in the Israel-Hamas War
Israeli forces intensified their fighting in Khan Younis the second largest city in Gaza. The Gazan Health Ministry said a hospital was struck and dozens of people were killed.
Israel reported its deadliest day for troops in Khan Younis as 24 soldiers were killed in a single day while trying to build a buffer zone around the city. The reservists had placed explosives in two damaged buildings when they were hit by rocket-propelled grenades fired by Hamas.
More than three decades after a mob of Hindu radicals destroyed a mosque in India the country’s prime minister Narendra Modi dedicated a Hindu Temple on the site. Hindus believe the site is a sacred place and the birthplace of the popular deity Lord Ram. The location has been disputed for over a century.
Crews in Memphis worked around-the-clock to repair water lines that were damaged due to extremely cold weather. Residents in Tennessee and Mississippi were also put on water boil notices and had limited access to clean running water.
PBS produced a segment about the 15 million Americans who have lost Medicaid since the extensions for enrollment made during the pandemic expired. Some have gotten coverage on private plans while others lost their insurance due to procedural problems.
The Supreme Court agreed to take on the appeal of an Oklahoma death row inmate named Richard Glossip. Glossip has been in prison for the past 26 years while two independent investigations raised serious doubts about his conviction. Even the state attorney general said Glossip should not be executed. His case will likely be heard in the fall.
Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., died at home after a long battle with prostate cancer at the age of 62.
Norman Jewison, a Canadian filmmaker, died at his home at the age of 97. He was best known for directing the films “Moonstruck,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “In the Heat of the Night,” and “The Thomas Crown Affair.” He was nominated for seven academy awards and received the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award by Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences in 1999.
Charles Osgood, a veteran CBS newsman, died at his home in New Jersey the age of 91. Osgood was best known for hosting “CBS Sunday Morning,” and long-running radio program "The Osgood File.”
Tara VanDerveer became the most winningest coach in college basketball history. She set an all-time record for most coaching wins in the history of college basketball — men's or women's. Last week she got her 1,203rd victory in a game Stanford hosted against Oregon State.
The trial the mother of Ethan Crumbley, a teenager who committed a mass shooting at his school in Oxford, Michigan, started last week. She is charged with involuntary manslaughter for her alleged role in her son’s rampage which left four students dead and seven others injured. Her husband, James Crumbley, is facing similar charges in a separate trial that is set to start in March. They both face 15 years in prison if convicted. The parents purchased a gun for their son four days before the shooting. They allegedly knew their son was contemplating violence as his mental health issues escalated.
Ohio will ban gender affirming care for minors after legislators overrode a veto by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine. The new law will ban gender affirming care for minors and ban transgender students from competing in school sports teams.
Johnson & Johnson will paid $149.5 million to Washington state and local governments in a settlement over the companies role in the opioid epidemic.
Farmers across Europe staged protests over cheap imports, rising regulations and falling incomes. In France farmers have blocked roads in and out of Paris in what they are calling a siege of the city.
China’s central bank announced it will reduce the amount of money banks need to have on reserve. The move was seen as a way to help boost a slowing economy.
Comedian Jon Stewart will return to host The Daily Show once a week on Comedy Central. Stewart left the show in 2015. The Daily Show has struggled to find an audience since he left.
A recent study in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, found a sharp increase in rape-related pregnancies since Roe v Wade was overturned by the Dobbs decision. The study calculates there have been more than 64,000 rape-related pregnancies in areas with abortion bans.
Batteries used in green energy require the use of Lithium a rare earth element. Student reporters from the House Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State Univ. discovered evidence that increased lithium mining in the United States could stress freshwater aquifers.
Japan’s SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) craft accidentally landed on the surface of the moon upside down due to an engine failure. The landing caused the solar panels to point in the wrong direction and cut off power to the craft. SLIM was able to regain power after a change in sunlight direction.
NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter has officially ended its mission. The helicopter was able to complete 72 flights for nearly 1,000 Martian days on the red planet.
Thousands of Australians took to the streets to protest annual ‘Australia Day’ celebrations that mark the anniversary of British colonization of the continent. The British landed in Sydney harbor on January 26, 1788. The demonstrators called for the national holiday to change to a day of mourning for indigenous people who have suffered since the U.K. colonized the region.
The American Museum of Natural History in New York City is closing some of its Native American exhibits to comply with new federal regulations dealing with the display of Indigenous human remains and cultural items. The museum said it has plans to repatriate as much as it could to Native American tribes.
PBS featured an interview with Frank Rubio, an astronaut who currently holds the record for the longest space mission by any American. Rubio stayed in the International Space Station for a total of 355 days. His original mission was supposed to only last six months but a mechanical problem with the space station delayed his return.
By the Numbers
I broke down ‘Nikki Haley 2024’ and ‘Nikki Haley bashing’ into two categories because some segments were neutral towards the candidate and some were incredibly biased against her. It wouldn’t give an accurate picture of the coverage to lump them together.
I hope you have a lot of joy in your life to compensate for watching Faux.