Ron vs. Don - Fox News Tried to Play Both Sides in the Trump and DeSantis Battle
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 3/26/23
Fox News anchors attempted to please all of their viewers by promoting both Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former President Donald J. Trump as the savior who would rid the United States of the scourge that is the Biden administration.
As the week started the scales seemed to tip towards DeSantis as Fox fans were reminded of Trump’s many legal problems and tendencies to attack nonstop drama. By Friday Laura Ingraham declared that Trump was “right about everything,” as anchors on “Fox & Friends,” and “The Five” positioned their loyalty toward the king of Mar-a-Lago.
I don’t have access to the same ratings data of a Fox News executive but I suspect viewers still showed a preference for the bombastic former president over the slightly more subdued facsimile that is Ron DeSantis.
Recently released court documents in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case against Fox News showed evidence that executives and hosts would shape stories and coverage based on the preference of their audiences.
On Fox News the audience drives the narrative.
Normally I explore more than one story promoted on Fox News for any given week. The DeSantis/Trump struggle was so dominant this newsletter will solely focus on the network’s attempts to placate its audience while helping a Republican claim the White House in 2024.
Show I covered last week
Fox & Friends - 1st hour
The Five
The Ingraham Angle
A Brief Overview of the Court Case Involving Trump in New York City
Although Trump faces a number of potential criminal and civil lawsuits the most immediate challenge is a hush money case involving the adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels.
In the final weeks before the 2016 election Michael Cohen, then Trump’s lawyer, paid Daniels $130,000 through a shell company to keep her from going to the press about a brief she had with Trump years prior. Cohen also arranged for a former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal to be paid $150,000 by the National Enquierer which suppressed the story in a practice known as catch and kill.
Cohen was later reimbursed by Trump for the payment to Stormy Daniels. For tax purposes the payment made to Cohen from the Trump Organization was increased to $360,000 with a $60,000 bonus.
Cohen has already pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. The payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign, according to federal prosecutors.
Trump was never charged with any crime.
Cohen pleaded guilty to violating federal campaign finance law in connection with the payments. Federal prosecutors say the payments amounted to illegal, unreported assistance to Trump’s campaign. But they declined to file charges against Trump himself.
Trump could face charges of falsifying business records for calling the payments legal expenses. There is a chance he could also indicted for money laundering.
A grand jury is currently hearing evidence and witness testimony as part of district attorney Alvin Bragg’s decision to criminally prosecute Trump.
Bragg has invited Trump to testify before the grand jury but so far Trump has declined to do so.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and of having extramarital affairs with either woman.
Monday - Trump is our Hero and Savior
Trump had teased out to his followers on his social media platform Truth Social that he expected to be arrested last Tuesday.
Fox News became consumed by the story.
While on “The Five,” Jesse Watters nearly had a meltdown over the prospect that Trump could face criminal charges.
“Yeah. They better not put my president in prison. He represents 74 million Americans. And if he's the nominee, you're putting 74 million votes in prison. And that's how I see it. Really? On a bookkeeping charge, he put a payment to a woman in the legal column that was in the wrong column. Hillary put the dossier in the same column and she got a fine,” said Watters.
In the United States any candidate that loses an election does not represent anyone. Seventy-four million people wouldn’t go to prison. Plenty of Hillary Clinton voters would have loved to simply declare that Clinton represented them.
Watters might like to think that Trump is his president but he’s merely the person Watters voted for. The president of the United States is still Joe Biden no matter how much Watters complains about it.
“John Edwards, whose campaign donations to silence a mistress during a campaign and he beat the rap. He was he beat the rap. He didn't even use campaign. It's the same exact thing. So Alvin Bragg comes out of nowhere. He they have guys beating the teeth out of Jews, die dirty Jew, kill all the Jews,” said Watters.
I have no idea what Watters is referring to in terms of his alarming quote about Jewish people. I assume it’s a reference to a crime in New York City that was within Bragg’s jurisdiction.
“He had a felony, downgraded it to a misdemeanor. The guy's only in prison for six months. But he wants to put his emptying the prison to make room for Trump. No one else is getting charged with anything. So you settle a case like this anyway, if he's running for president or not, just to protect your family and your reputation,” said Watters.
The only way to settle a criminal case would be to offer Trump some type of plea deal that would result in Trump pleading guilty to a crime.
“Bragg’s under pressure because he's running out of the statute of limitations on the federal side. It's a gain of function prosecution. You have a misdemeanor here that they're Frankenstein-ing into a felony case with a campaign finance violation. And the guy wants to make a name for himself, obviously, because he wants to be the Trump. So I'm going to be the first prosecutor to throw cuffs on Trump. That'll get you elected. Pretty much governor in the state of New York. That's what he's after,” said Watters.
What on earth would a ‘gain of function prosecution’ even mean? It seemed like Watters was just throwing terms out that sounded important.
“Also, Trump's now rising ahead of DeSantis in a lot of these polls. And a lot of people are terrified of him because if he does become president again, he wants to make peace in Ukraine. He wants to get Powell out of there is a Fed chair. He wants to close the border down. He's a big threat. So they're trying to take him out now and they're trying to trigger another January 6th ooooooooh, he had Trump in Manhattan. Let's put up a bunch of cops with a bunch of bars around this place. Don't fall for it,” said Watters.
Tuesday - Trump Rips on Ron DeSantis - How Dare you Trump!
The next day on “Fox & Friends” Steve Doocy had a decidedly different tone. It seemed the senior aged Fox veteran was reading a script written by Rupert Murdoch himself or any number of top executives.
Doocy started by quoting Trump directly.
“Trump himself went scorched earth on Ron DeSantis. Untruth Social Trump wrote Ron. Sanctimonious will probably find out about false accusations and fake stories sometime in the future. As he gets older, wiser, and better known when he's unfairly and illegally attacked by a woman, even classmates that are underage or possibly a man, I'm sure he will want to fight these misfits just like I do,” said Doocy quoting Trump.
Doocy then turned to the camera as if he was scolding Trump himself.
“Mr. Trump forgot Ronald Reagan's 11th commandment Thou shalt not speak ill of fellow Republicans or Ron DeSantis,” said Doocy.
Within less than 24 hours the un-elected president that supposedly represented 74 million people was somehow disrespecting the memory of the most revered Republican in recent history.
Wednesday - Trump is a Crazy Maker! Look it’s Ron DeSantis!
Doocy continued to criticize Trump even as Brian Kilmeade sat on the same couch looking more miserable as every word came out of his co-host’s mouth.
“Right. So here's what's happening. We don't know whether or not Donald Trump is going to get indicted today or not. But one of the things we've seen is with his Truth Social all caps stuff, and as Mark Meredith depicted a moment ago, it's nonstop. It's reminding a lot of people, particularly the independents, about things that Donald Trump did when he was president of the United States.
They liked his policy. They just didn't like that angle. And the chaos is coming back. And you got to figure that will take a toll somehow,” said Doocy.
Later in the hour Doocy got even more animated as he brought up an interview fellow Fox News host Piers Morgan arranged with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“Here's the big story. Piers Morgan, our friend, we got a great exclusive yesterday with Ron DeSantis and what he does. I'm just going to read the headline. Ron hits, Don. He criticizes the president's chaos, lack of character. And Piers started by asking about, you know, the soundbite we played yesterday of Ron DeSantis talking about Donald Trump and his legal problems. And that is where Piers started and got Mr. DeSantis talking about the former president,” said Doocy.
Thursday - Trump is Going to Beat These Charges! Ron Who?
The cast of “Fox & Friends” made a number of assumptions about the grand jury investigating Trump. Grand juries are secretive by design. It’s basically a chance for a prosecutor to lay out evidence before a grand jury to see if they agree there is enough to criminally charge a defendant based on the law.
Grand juries are not trials and are not publicly accessible. Anyone who testified at a grand jury can later speak to the press but journalists are not allowed in the court room.
The way the hosts on “Fox & Friends” discussed the testimony of defense witness Robert Costello a viewer might falsely think they were in the courtroom when it happened.
Brian Kilmeade started the discussion.
“What about the fact that he might have to reimburse him for the money he might not reimburse by going for the money? What about the fact that Robert Costello evidently got into the head of a lot of grand juries, according to these reports, and gave them another side of the story, that Michael Cohen's out of his mind and that he's a liar,” said Kilmeade.
Brian Kilmeade would have no way of knowing what the jury thought of Costello’s testimony. Costello is free to talk to the press after the fact but there would be no way anyone at Fox News could possibly know if his statements about the case changed anyone’s mind.
“Because Michael Cohen said I never gave him the attorney client privilege and never released him from it. And they produced a letter, says, yes, he did. Here's his signature. And if you says that in front of a grand jury, it's going to be tough getting a majority with the former president,” said Kilmeade.
Kilmeade is cherry picking. He did not sit through the entire proceeding and has no idea what other evidence was presented to the grand jury. Absolutely no one at Fox News could possibly know everything that was shown or said in front of the jury members as the process is not public.
Ainsley Earhardt then chimed in.
“The Daily Mail has a 2018 letter, according to the newspaper that he gave to the federal authorities. It was from Michael Cohen. It says Trump did not reimburse him or his organization for hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. This contradicts what he said in front of the grand jury. You know, he has been proven to be a liar. You went to prison. And Trump says he according to sources to The Guardian, he says he wants to be hauled off into court, into handcuffs, ” said Earhardt.
As she talked about the cover the NY Post her co-host Steve Doocy lifted it up for the camera. It read, “Cuff Love” and had a photo of Trump smiling at next to an image of golden handcuff.
“Did you see the front cover of the Post? I can't. I can't believe that. Right. And he'd prefer to make it a spectacle. So far, he's raised $1.3 million in the last three days since since this is happened about,” said Earhardt.
Friday - Trump is the Answer!
At the start of the week Ingraham included campaign advice for both DeSantis and Trump in her opening monologue by Friday Laura Ingraham opened her program with an extended segment titled - “Trump was right.” It was a non-stop festival of praise for Trump’s ability to predict various global conflicts and navigate foreign policy obstacles.
“A week like this, with so many of the world's events having turned against us, we once again arrive at the conclusion that, yes, Trump was right. Now, remember, from the very first months of his presidency, he challenged the stale, the old status quo. You know that status quo where America carried the lion's share of the security burden for Europe,” said Ingraham.
Ingraham featured archived clips of Trump speaking at the United Nations and from various other speeches.
“Now, he made it clear that the days were over when the United Nations and other foreign countries could just run roughshod over America's interests. But in infuriated our sanctimonious scribblers to no end Trump's takedown of their sacred cow, the rules based international order. That thing wasn't just wrong. The order and what he said about it was dangerous in the end,” said Ingraham.
Throughout her praise for Trump Ingraham included dire predictions of China’s ambitions to usurp the United States.
To Ingraham Trump was a mastermind of foreign policy and the savior of our place in the world’s stage.
“This is why realism in America. First, nationalism must come to define the Republican Party going forward. The idea that somehow the U.S. is going to be safer and more stable if it abides by these so-called global norms. This has always been fantasy land stuff. Trump knew this instinctively, and “The Angle,” frankly is thrilled that this idea of a so-called rules based international order is collapsing before our eyes. That's in America's best interest,” said Ingraham.
Trump was so impressed with the segment he mentioned in during his campaign speech in Waco, Texas the following day.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare five hours of Fox News to fifteen hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following are stories that were featured on PBS but not Fox News.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at the UN issued a report warning governments that if more isn’t done to reduce climate change the earth could pass a dangerous threshold that could harm millions and irrevocably change life on earth.
A new report by the World’s Health Organization estimated that as many as 43,000 died due to the longest drought on record in Somalia.
Ben Barnes, a prominent Democratic politician during the Carter administration, has alleged that Ronald Reagan's campaign worked to prevent the U.S. hostages from being freed before Election Day in 1981 to hurt President Jimmy Carter’s chances of being re-elected.
The U.S. determined that all sides committed war crimes in the internal conflict in the Tigray region and surrounding areas of Ethiopia.
French President Emmanuel Macron survived a no confidence vote after he by-passed Parliament to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Protests, rallies and strikes continued throughout the country regarding the change.
Israel’s Finance Minster said, “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people,” during a speech in Paris. His remark drew widespread International criticism. Nationwide protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s changes to the Supreme Court also continued.
PBS produced several segments marking the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War.
Four members of the Oath Keepers militia were convicted of obstruction of Congress and conspiracy for their role in the January 6th riot on the U.S. Capitol.
A U.N. investigation found that the Belarusian government continues to crackdown on political opponents, civil society, journalists and lawyers and has weakened the fundamental human rights of tens of thousands.
A United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission recorded human rights violations and war crimes on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine especially in terms of the treatment of POW’s.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Kishida offered his continued support for Ukraine.
South Korea continued military drills in conjunction with the United States amid increased tensions with North Korea.
The office of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has revealed she will make unofficial stops in the United States as she travels to visit Guatemala and Belize.
The EU agreed to send Ukraine 1 million artillery shells over the next 12 months to help beat back the Russian invasion.
Shares of First Republic Bank fell more than 46% last Monday. Trading was stopped several times to prevent a complete collapse of the stock.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement to the Congressional appropriations committee that the banking industry is stable and all deposits have been covered. She also said additional rescue arrangements could be warranted if any new failures pose a risk to financial stability.
Amazon announced more layoffs. The company is expected to cut another 9000 jobs.
The tech consulting firm Accenture announced it would be cutting 19,000 jobs or 2.5% of its workforce.
Paul Rusesabagina a hotel owner who helped save the lives of more than 1,000 people from Hutu death squads during a civil conflict in Rwanda was released from prison last week. The Rwandan government commuted his sentence of 25 years on terrorism charges. He was sentenced in 2021. His story was in the inspiration for the film “Hotel Rwanda.”
According to the World Health Organization the death toll from the deadly Tropical Cyclone Freddy surpassed 600 in Southern Africa.
According to a report by the Anti-defamation League antisemitic incidents increased 36% last year. It was the highest year on record for the organization that started tracking antisemitism in 1979.
Kentucky Governor Andy Basheer vetoed an anti-trans bill that would have banned gender affirming care, restricted bathrooms and barred the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. The legislature could have enough votes to override the veto.
The state of Georgia banned most gender-affirming care for minors.
The CDC cited an uptick in children with Autism spectrum disorder. Experts don’t think it shows an actual increase in Autism just an improvement in diagnosing it especially among Black and Latino children.
Gang violence has cost the lives of 187 Haitians from late February to early March. The country remains in a state of lawless chaos since the assassination of the Haitian president in July 2021.
The White House held the National Medal of the Arts ceremony. Bruce Springsteen and Gladys Knight were among those honored.
During its Spring Training games Major League Baseball rolled out new changes such as larger bases and a pitching clock intended to make the game more exciting.
The FAA issued safety alerts to pilots and airlines after several near-miss incidents.
Three workers face murder charges in the smothering death of Irvo Otieno, new video evidence was released from the mental health facility where he died after being restrained by staff members.
The Biden administration is planning an overhaul of the organ transplant system that should help more patients receive donated organs.
Willis Reed, NBA Hall of Fame player for the champion New York City Knicks died at the age of 80.
By the Numbers
Normally the only word that will dominate this list is Biden as Fox News hosts spend a lot of time and focus complaining about Biden and his administration. I haven’t seen numbers this high for the word ‘Trump’ since I started this project in February 2022.
Coming up…
This week I’ll be covering the first hour of “Fox & Friends,” “The Five” and “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
Gain of function prosecution FTW