The Cracks in DOGE Start While Trump's Mind Turns To Mush

A condensed overview of 19 hour of Fox News for the week ending 3/2/25

Mar 06, 2025

Last week on Fox News the network took a slight shift away from its aggressive promotion of Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) to focus on a favorite topic - incompetent Democrats.

The minority party was everything all at once - too old, young, radical, meek, uptight, woke, sleepy, bombastic, corrupt, backward, ineffective, Machiavellian and shifty.

On “The Five,” producers featured two or three segments in a row that basically had the same message - Democrats are terrible. The network even returned to trashing former President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile the Trump administration was hit with multiple lawsuits surrounding the DOGE task force. The New York Times, Politico, CBS News, Axios, The Independent and The Daily Beast, among others, published articles that exposed mistakes and accounting errors on DOGE’s “wall of receipts” website that amounted to billions of dollars.

Trump’s proposed plans to slap tariffs on Canada and Mexico were also scrutinized by journalists at the Wall Street Journal, a well-respected business publication which is part of the same media empire that owns Fox News.

By trashing the minority party, the network was doing its best to distract its viewers from the increasing unpopularity of DOGE. Fox News wanted its viewers to ignore the constant chaos and shifty South African billionaire who holds court in cabinet meetings.

The network pushed an old theme - Democrats might make your child transgender or make you use a paper straw.

On Friday President Donald J. Trump got into a heated argument on live television with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over a proposed agreement involving rare earth mineral mining rights and a peace deal with Russia.

As soon as the meeting was finished Fox News dramatically shifted its focus from tearing down Democrats to trashing Zelenskyy and downplaying the threat that Russia could pose to the rest of Europe.

Anyone watching Fox News exclusively last week might have missed out on stories about accusations of physical abuse against a Republican congressman, a canceled FDA meeting on the next flu season or Trump’s decision to give refuge to two men who have been criminally charged with rape, and human trafficking in Romania.

Shows I covered on Fox News last week:

Fox & Friends
The Five
Hannity
Special Report with Bret Baier - Friday only
The Ingraham Angle - Friday only
Jesse Watters Primetime - Friday only
White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Trump Has Stopped Many Wars in His Mind

On Friday the meeting Trump had with Zelenskyy was such a fiasco that most of the press seemed to miss a moment when the president appeared to invent global conflicts from thin air.

After Trump went on a rant where he criticized President Joe Biden he made an absurd claim about his ability to end wars.

“A very incompetent person (Joe Biden) should never have allowed this to happen. I've stopped wars. I've stopped many wars. My people will tell you. It was nobody ever heard about. I stopped wars before they ever started. You can look at some of, some of, I could give you a lot of nations that would tell you right now they were probably going to war. I could tell you right now, there's a nation thinking about going to war. One something that nobody in this room has ever even heard about. The two smaller nations, but big. Still big. And I. I think I've stopped it. But this should have never happened,” said Trump.

It was hard to tell if Trump was talking about conflicts from his first term as president or something he prevented in the past five weeks.

I suspect Trump only stopped wars in his imagination. He appears to live in a fantasy world of his own creation.

Some of the most common lies he repeats nearly every time he’s given a microphone:

The U.S. had the strongest economy in its history during his first term.
Inflation was the highest it’s ever been during the Biden administration.
Twenty-one million migrants crossed the border during the Biden administration. (the number varies - he will sometimes change it in the same speech.)
Crime dramatically spiked during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Trump won the 2020 election.
Other countries are ordering violent convicts and mentally ill patients to illegally emigrate to the United States.

Trump lies easily and often. During the same meeting a reporter asked him why he called Zelenskyy a dictator and Trump’s response was,

“Did I say that? I can't believe I said that. Next question.”

Fox Viewers Are Souring on DOGE

On Tuesday the cast of “Fox & Friends,” discussed feedback they’ve gotten about DOGE from Fox News viewers.

“I've been getting a lot of emails from federal employees. I understand why some of you guys are feeling the heat, and you've been lumped into the the basket of all the other federal employees that Americans have distrust for. We're not talking about you. We understand that they're career people that just want to do their job. They love their country. But you have to understand, it is a bipartisan thing. When you look at the latest polling independence, Democrats as well as Republicans all feel like there's some inefficiency in our government. And I apologize that you guys are being lumped in. You want to do your job, but something has to give,” said Lawrence Jones.

Later in the same segment Steve Doocy brought up conversations he had with relatives of federal employees.

“I've been down in Texas, and I talk to a lot of people down there, who are not part of the federal government. But they've either got a family member or an in-law or a friend, or they know a guy who got that letter,” said Doocy.

“But y’all the majority of the country supports the cutting,” said Ainsley Earhardt.

“No, no, I get that Ainsley. But if you got the letter, you were just very, very concerned. And you're worried about the future. Who knows whether or not those people will be let go?” said Doocy.

Fox News has a tight grip on the programming of “Fox & Friends.” Both Jones and Doocy included stories about fired federal employees as if it was an off the cuff throw away remark.

Around three million Americans work for the federal government in offices and departments scattered across the country. Some of those terminated employees or their family members probably watch Fox News.

The network might be getting a lot of angry emails about its coverage of Elon Musk and DOGE. Fox has changed its messaging due to viewer feedback in the past.

In June 2023 the network abruptly changed its tone regarding segments about President Biden’s use of a CPAP machine for sleep apnea. Within a span of 48 hours Fox News went from mocking Biden for suffering from sleep apnea to producing segments that included medical contributors explaining the dangers of the disorder.

I suspect Fox News was flooded with emails of angry viewers who also suffered from the common medical condition. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine at least 25 million Americans grapple with obstructive sleep apnea.

Ted Cruz Gets Fact Checked by Steve Doocy via a Time Machine

Later that night on “Hannity,” Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) repeatedly a debunked claimed about Social Security that Steve Doocy had corrected the week earlier on “Fox & Friends.”

“You know, one stat that DOGE has put out is that according to the Social Security records, there are more than 13 million people on the records receiving benefits who are over 119 years old. Now that on the face of it, is obvious fraud, if those stats are correct, and that's what DOGE has put out. I haven't heard any Democrat address that and say, well, maybe we shouldn't be sending Social Security benefits to someone who's 150 years old,” said Cruz.

“We know they're on the rolls, but we never got the answers to whether or not they or somebody in their family is getting paid. We've not gotten to that point yet, and I'd like to get an answer to that,” said Hannity.

Hannity should probably watch shows on his own network.

The week prior Steve Doocy brought up this exact same claim on “Fox & Friends.”

“There is one. So, you know, there's even one person in the database at Social Security who's over 360 years old. None of them are getting checks. In fact, on the website it says for Social Security, it says at the age of 115, they stopped getting checks,” said Doocy.

Donald J. Trump repeated similar claims during his speech to joint session of Congress on Tuesday. Elon Musk never produced any evidence that anyone over the age of 115 is getting social security benefits.

Trump and Cruz’s statements have been throughly debunked by multiple media outlets. According to reporting by Wired computer programmers figured out that DOGE employees were a misreading a 60-year-old computer language COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language).

COBOL is rarely used outside of the government so younger programmers might not have had any experience working with it. The SSA (Social Security Administration) hasn’t upgraded to a new coding language due to time and expense it would take to rewrite their enormous databases.

Howard Lutnik - Social Security is Wrong

Trump’s new appointed Secretary of Commerce made some alarming statements on “Jesse Watters Primetime,” two weeks ago Wednesday February 19th. I thought to include this clip after Elon Musk called Social Security a Ponzi scheme when he appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast.

“Congratulations on your confirmation Mr. Secretary,” said Watters.

“Thank you. And all Republicans, the Democrats didn't show up for me at all. I guess they're afraid of good government. They're just afraid of good government,” said Lutnik.

“So, you're in there just barely, what, 24 hours? What are you seeing with this DOGE fraud they're discovering? Could you imagine it was this bad?” asked Watters.

“Well, when I set up DOGE with Elon so back in October, Elon Musk and I flew down to, Texas, got Elon Musk to do it. And he was our agreement that Elon was going to cut $1 trillion of waste, fraud and abuse. Think about it. We have almost $4 trillion of entitlements and no one's ever looked at it before. You know, Social Security is wrong. You know, Medicaid and Medicare wrong. So he's going to cut a trillion, and then we'll get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America. And we're going to raise $1 trillion of revenue. And our objective under Donald Trump is to balance this budget. And I'm telling you, you watch it. We're going to do it,” said Lutnick.

October would have been a month before Trump won the 2024 election.

During Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in late October 2024 Lutnik spoke about tariffs during his speech. Lutnick spoke at the very end of the rally right before Elon Musk spoke.

“We all say make America great again. But let's just go over for a minute what that means. Because we all say it as a slogan. When was America great? At the turn of the century. Our economy was rocking. This is 99, 125 years ago. We had no income tax. And all we had was tariffs. All we had was tariffs. And we had so much money that we had the greatest businessmen of America get together to try to figure out how to spend it. That's who we were then. But then we had World War One and we had World War Two, and we felt we had a duty to rebuild the rest of the world. So, here's what we did. We took down our protection. We took down our tariffs. And we turned instead. And we taxed Americans so that we could export the power of our economy and save the rest of the world. Which we did. Now, let me now let me ask you a question. What decade should that have ended? Should it have ended in the 80s? The 90s? 2000s? What in the world are we doing? We're letting the rest of the world eat our lunch. And it is time to make America great again,” said Lutnick.

I don’t have the space in this newsletter to completely breakdown Lutnick’s insane rant.

Lutnick is not an economist and does not have an advanced degree in economics or a similar subject. Until he accepted the role as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Lutnick was the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment firm in Manhattan.

Lutnick also has no previous experience working for the government.

He conveniently skipped over The Great Depression which profoundly changed the size and scope of the U.S. economy. The Gilden Age, which he has completely romanticized, was a time of dramatic growth at the start of the Industrial Revolution.

From Investopedia:

Key Takeaways

The Gilded Age lasted from the late 1800s to the early 1900s and was characterized by economic growth for the wealthy and extreme poverty for the working classes.
A societal shift from agriculture to industry resulted in a movement to the cities for some and westward migration for others.
The beginning of organized labor, investigative journalism, and progressive ideologies began to spell the end of the Gilded Age and its rigid class structure.
The Gilded Age marked the beginning of industrialization in America—a time of innovation, transportation growth, and full employment. It was also a time of economic devastation and dangerous working conditions for labor.

The world economy was quite different in the late 19th century.

Out of 195 countries (193 recognized by the UN) only about a dozen (there is some debate on the exact number) do not collect revenue from income taxes. Most of them are oil wealthy nations in the Middle East and Asia or are small island nations or city states such Monaco and Vatican City.

The U.S. government grew dramatically in size after The Great Depression and the global economic devastation that came with it.

Hannity - Don’t Be Concerned about Names in the Epstein Files

Last week Trump’s newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi released what she called the first phase of “The Epstein Files” - a collection of court documents surrounding various crimes the late Jeffery Epstein was charged with.

On Thursday on “Hannity,” Sean Hannity told his viewers to not assume anything about anyone who showed up in the documents.

“The Attorney General, Pam Bondi, released phase one of the Epstein files. That's transparency. There are a lot of names in there, and Epstein was obviously a star chaser who wanted to hang out with people that are famous, people with money. So let me be very clear at the start here. And I've said this on my radio show today, people, because they're in the Rolodex, they're on the list does not mean they did anything wrong on this show and we have done it over and over again. We don't rush to judgment. We believe in the presumption of innocence. And I am appealing to people not to rush to judgment, even though these names are now public information. There were names that I'm certain were not involved or knowledgeable. This I could be certain of it,” said Hannity.

The next day on “Access Hollywood,” President Donald J. Trump’s name came up during a segment about the documents.

“Among the documents are flight logs in which President Donald Trump is named several times. According to the records, Trump flew on Epstein's private jets repeatedly back in the 1990s. Now, this isn't new information, as it had previously been made public,” said Access Hollywood.

Bondi later claimed that she wasn’t aware that the FBI didn’t give her everything they had regarding Jeffrey Epstein. Everything she released last week was already publicly available.

Trump’s Lawyer Loved Jeffrey Epstein

Later during the same episode of “Hannity,” Sean Hannity spoke to David Schoen, an attorney who had worked for both Epstein and Trump.

Schoen worked with Trump during his second impeachment hearing.

“What light can you shed on Jeffrey Epstein without violating attorney client privilege? David Schoen?” asked Hannity.

“It's a very interesting question. One of the most interesting people I ever met. He called me about ten years before he died. Just to ask a question about. He was getting ready to go to jail, wanted some information. Remember, he was, represented by a team of terrific lawyers, many of them. Some of the biggest names in the country for years. About a year before he died. He asked me to review their work. He was facing an action in Florida. And he was concerned. He asked me to review their papers. After he was arrested. He asked me to come to New York, and he hired me to, nine days before he died, he hired me to take over his criminal case. He told me that I was the only person in the world who trusted with his life. So, I took that very seriously as a badge of honor. A very interesting person never got his day in court,” said Schoen.

Hannity then brought up the mysterious circumstances surrounding Epstein’s jail suicide on August 10, 2019.

“Oh, we also need to stop, hanging on a bed that is very low to the ground. It seems there are a lot of questions there. Why was the camera not working? Where were the prison guards? We need a lot of answers here. Thank you both. Hopefully we'll have more tomorrow,” said Hannity.

From the Department of Justice charging documents against Epstein:

JEFFREY EPSTEIN was arrested and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The indictment unsealed today alleges that, between 2002 through 2005, EPSTEIN sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money. Epstein allegedly worked with several employees and associates to ensure that he had a steady supply of minor victims to abuse, and paid several of those victims themselves to recruit other underage girls to engage in similar sex acts for money. He committed these offenses in locations including New York, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida.

Stories Fox News Ignored

Every week I compare the hours I’ve 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. Source - Transcripts of the PBS News Hour.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a pair of cases from abortion opponents over their right to protest near abortion clinics. The Appeals Center on Laws in Illinois and New Jersey, which allow for buffer zones between protesters and clinics. Anti-abortion activists say the laws violate their First Amendment rights, and that such restrictions aren't necessary since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. Cities say the laws help limit disturbing behavior outside of clinics. (PBS News Hour)
The U.S. Supreme Court threw out the murder conviction of Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, saying he is entitled to a new trial. The state's attorney general said they will pursue one. In a rare instance of agreement, both his lawyers and the state claimed Glossip did not receive a fair trial after a key witness lied in court. (PBS News Hour)
The World Health Organization is sounding the alarm over a mystery illness in northwestern Congo that has killed more than 50 people. Doctors say many of the deaths happened within just 48 hours after symptoms started. More than 400 cases have been recorded since late January. Doctors say symptoms are similar to Ebola and dengue. But tests have ruled those out. Some tests were positive for malaria, which was determined as the likely cause of another mystery outbreak last year. (PBS News Hour)
In the UK, more than a thousand musicians released a protest album that takes aim at the use of artificial intelligence. The album is called “Is This What We Want?” It features, quite literally, the sound of silence from Empty Recording Studios. The track list of 12 songs forms the sentence the British government must not legalize music theft to benefit AI companies. (PBS News Hour)
A woman accused Republican Florida Congressman Cory Mills of assaulting her only to later recant her story. Police say they saw bruises on the woman but she claimed they were a result of a medical condition. Police are still investigating the incident. When police moved to arrest Mills, the U.S. attorney appointed by Trump did not sign the arrest order. Mills has claimed he is innocent of any wrongdoing. (PBS News Hour)
As the Trump administration continues to downsize and dismantle many government agencies, the Department of Education could be next on the chopping block. At stake are resources and support for more than 7 million students with disabilities who depend on the agency to ensure access to a free public education. And that's at a time when they're already struggling to receive quality schooling because of a shortage of special education teachers. (PBS News Hour)
At the Supreme Court, justices seem to side with an Ohio woman who brought a lawsuit claiming workplace discrimination because she is straight. Marlean Ames says she was passed over for a promotion at the Ohio Department of Youth Services in favor of a gay woman, and then demoted in favor of a gay man. If the High Court rules in her favor, it could make it easier for people to pursue such so-called reverse discrimination claims. (PBS News Hour)
A Baltimore judge is considering whether to reduce the life sentence for Adnan Syed, to time served. It's just the latest twist in a case that rose to national prominence as the subject of the “Serial” podcast more than a decade ago. Sayid was released from prison in 2022 after prosecutors found problems with the case. They asked a judge to overturn his murder conviction for the death of his high school ex-girlfriend back in 1999. (PBS News Hour)
New data suggest that a years long decline in the nation's Christian population has leveled off. Results of a Pew Research Center survey found that 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christian. That number has held steady since 2019, after falling from 78% in 2007. (PBS News Hour)
A federal judge in Seattle has blocked President Trump's executive order halting the admission of refugees into the U.S. The judge said the administration had likely exceeded its authority by freezing the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, which was established by Congress back in 1980. It remains to be seen whether the administration will comply. While a lawsuit challenging the ban filed by some of the country's largest resettlement organizations works its way through the courts. (PBS News Hour)
Controversial social media influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate arrived in Florida from Romania after a travel ban on the brothers was lifted. They're charged with human trafficking in Romania, among other allegations. Andrew Tate is also charged with rape. They deny any wrongdoing. The dual US British nationals are vocal supporters of President Trump and have millions of followers online. (PBS News Hour)
The Pentagon is ordering transgender troops to be removed from the military within 60 days. The new policy was announced in a memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It comes after President Trump signed an executive order last month calling on transgender troops to be prevented from serving openly. The memo calls for exceptions for those supporting war fighting capabilities. (PBS News Hour)
Protesters crowded Iowa State Capitol as lawmakers passed a bill that would strip protections based on gender identity. From that state's civil rights code. If approved by the governor, Iowa would be the first state to remove such protections. Opponents say it will expose transgender people to numerous forms of discrimination. Today's vote in Iowa comes on the same day that Georgia's House backed off a plan to remove gender protections from that state's hate crimes law. (PBS News Hour)
The Trump administration has threatened to pull federal funding from K-12 schools and universities that consider race in any way. The Education Department argues the Supreme Court's ruling outlawing race in college admissions applies much more broadly, including, “using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects.” This has caused confusion and for educators and school administrators. (PBS News Hour)
The FDA has canceled a critical meeting of flu vaccine experts, making this the second vaccine policy meeting to be canceled since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took over as secretary of Health and Human Services. The annual gathering is key. Federal health officials must decide in advance which strains to target in the next vaccine, since production takes months. It comes amid one of the worst flu seasons in 15 years, with more than 19,000 deaths, according to the CDC. (PBS News Hour)
In the years since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022, and since Texas instituted one of the country's strictest abortion bans, the state has seen an increased rate of sepsis among women who lost their pregnancies in the second trimester. That is according to a new investigation by ProPublica. (PBS News Hour)
A jury in Illinois found a 73-year-old landlord guilty of murder and hate crimes for killing a Palestinian American boy and seriously injuring his mother. The mother testified that Joseph Czuba attacked her with a knife in 2023 before stabbing her six-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume, to death, in another room. Authorities say the Czuba attacked them because they are Muslim and as a response to the Israel-Hamas war. He pleaded not guilty. (PBS News Hour)
The internet calling service Skype is shutting down. Skype launched in 2003 and quickly became a go to for audio and video calls worldwide. When Microsoft bought Skype in 2011, it had roughly 170 million users each month. But the rise of smartphones and competition from apps like WhatsApp and Zoom have cut into Skype's market share. Skype will officially go out of service on May 5th. (PBS News Hour)
The Secret Service agent who jumped onto the back of John F Kennedy limousine after the president was shot in 1963, has died. Clint Hill was riding on the running board of a car directly behind Kennedy's when the first shot rang out in visuals from the scene, he is the man in the dark suit, pushing a distraught Mrs. Kennedy back to her seat as she tried to crawl away. Hill received Secret Service awards and was promoted for his actions that day, but in later years he spoke of his profound guilt over not being able to save the president. Clint Hill was 93 years old. (PBS News Hour)