What Debt Crisis? What Jobs Report? President Biden Fell Down!
A condensed overview of 20 hours of Fox News for the week ending 6/4/23
The U.S. might have come perilously close to a global economic calamity last week but Fox knew the real scandal happened when President Biden tripped on a sandbag after a speech at the Air Force Academy. Even though the POTUS quickly stood back up and was uninjured most Fox News personalities decided it was evidence he was unfit for office and the reason why the Democratic Party wouldn’t hold a proper primary for the next presidential election.
While Fox also provided voluminous coverage of the debt ceiling crisis it was remarkably shallow and uninformative. No one on the network gave any reasonable explanation of how the debt ceiling worked or why defaulting on the debt could lead to a financial disaster.
A few Fox News hosts actually gave incredibly inaccurate and misleading statements about how United States credit rating keeps other economies flush. Sean Hannity actually said, “I don’t think that it’s true,” that the U.S. would actually default on its debt had an agreement on the debt ceiling not been reached by both parties.
Hannity didn’t seem to grasp basic concepts of how the U.S. economy functions. If the U.S. did not pay out on U.S. treasuries held by any number of governments the $24 trillion treasury market could quickly collapse and snowball into a global recession.
The only lesson a Fox News viewer would learn from the network’s coverage was that President Biden was too senile and lazy to care and Speaker Kevin McCarthy was the hero who saved the day. Hannity and others thought the agreement didn’t go far enough but ultimately blamed Biden for its shortcomings.
Fox News hosts and guests gave few specifics about the bipartisan resolution. The story was difficult for the network to sum up easily into 30 second soundbites so they largely avoided explaining it.
The network found the perfect way to pivot away from the story after President Biden tripped over a sandbag. Once that happened Biden’s fall became the most important news on the every Fox show.
Although the offending sandbag was not easily spotted in the footage released to the press it was later confirmed that a black sandbag was on the stage next to the podium and President Biden did in fact trip on it. Fox News hosts were not convinced.
In stark contrast PBS NewsHour dedicated exactly one minute to Biden’s stumble and only reported on the story on Thursday.
The network declined to inform its viewers about various updates in the Ukraine War, political unrest in Pakistan or punishing heat waves in Asia.
Last week was also a bit wonky as Monday was Memorial Day so the network dedicated a full hour to fan mail on “The Five” and swapped out “Fox News Tonight” with an episode of the Fox Nation series “Modern Warriors,” where a group of mostly white veterans complained about women in combat roles and a new“woke” agenda in the U.S. military.
On Thursday and the first half of his show on Friday Sean Hannity featured a pre-taped town hall presentation in Iowa with former President Donald J. Trump. I broke down the entire town hall in a two minute video.
Shows I covered last week
Fox & Friends - the first hour
The Five
Fox News Tonight
Hannity
Day One - Biden’s Fall
On Thursday “The Five,” opened with a ten and a half minute segment on dissecting the brief stumble.
Jesse Watters started the discussion off by pointing out the biggest fear many of his co-hosts shared.
“The first fall up the stairs of air Force One was funny because there was three falls and one breaks and it's hard to fall upstairs. And then the bike fall was also funny.Yeah. Get a helmet. And he kind of tipped over. This fall was not funny. He could have hit his head and Kamala could have been president,” said Watters.
Kennedy of Fox Business basically repeated Watters’ sentiment.
“No one wants to see an older person fall. No one wants to see someone get hurt because we're all terrified of a Harris presidency,” said Kennedy.
Greg Gutfeld attempted a nuclear holocaust joke which is almost always a terrible idea.
“If the nuclear button was in front of Joe Biden when he fell, he would have fallen and pressed on it and the world would be over,” said Gutfeld.
Two hours later guest host Johnny ‘Joey’ Jones turned the incident into a bit of a pun.
“Good evening. Welcome to “Fox News Tonight.” I'm Joey Jones. Joe biden's been falling in the polls and now he's falling in real life again, too,” said Jones.
He continued.
“It's clear Biden is struggling to handle simple tasks like walking, maybe his wife and all those people pushing him to run for a second term or guilty of elder abuse,” said Jones.
I’m not sure why Jill Biden is suddenly responsible for her husband’s decisions but Fox News anchors have often blamed the wives of politicians for all sorts of things.
Outkick host Tomi Lahren also took a pot shot at the First Lady.
“Where is Joe Biden saying this is enough of this is humiliating for my husband. We need to take a step back and evaluate that. This is elder abuse, said Lahren.”
Just before Hannity introduced former President Donald J. Trump he looked straight into the camera and gleefully declared.
“Biden fell flat on his face and took another tumble and fall,” said Hannity.
Day Two - The Biden Montages of Trips and Gaffes Begin
The day after Biden’s fall the network created video montages that included past events of Biden falling while riding a bike or stumbling up the steps to Air Force One.
“Fox & Friends” Day Two
“Fox & Friends,” on Friday started out on Friday by replaying the clips of the now famous stumble.
“Wonderful that he's there giving out those diplomas. And then while he's on stage, he takes that tumble a hard fall, actually”, said Ainsley Earhardt.
Her co-host Brian Kilmeade made Biden nine years older. Biden is 80 years old.
“It was bad fall. It's the fourth fall. He almost fell at the G7 because clearly every step is tough. At 89, Kevin O'Connor's his doctor. They know that as his checkup with every person goes through his gait remains extremely stiff. They say it's wear and tear and spinal arthritis. He also fractured his foot is never quite never quite healed, they say, and causes a slight limp. But yet every time you see him, he is by himself. And I'm just wondering when his family is going to realize that this run for four more years is not in his best interest, let alone the Democrats in our best interest,” said Kilmeade.
Earhardt then repeated what Kilmeade had said without acknowledging it. Maybe she didn’t realize that the G7 Summit was in Japan but hosts on the morning show do this sort of doubling down of talking points often.
“He stumbled down the stairs in Japan recently,” said Earhardt.
Then Kilmeade warned of a Harris presidency and blamed the larger Biden family.
“The president is a symbol for the country. I don't like the way it looks around the world, and sadly, the Democrats seem hemmed in because Kamala Harris is awful. She doesn't study. She's not good on her feet. They don't give her anything significant to do because she continues to fail. So there is no option unless they're going to convince him or his family steps up and says, you got to come back,” said Kilmeade.
“The Five” Day Two
Jesse Watters opened the segment.
“Biden dealing with fallout from fall gate after face planning hard during the Air Force graduation. The big guy trying to laugh off his embarrassing tumble while his White House says there's no need to worry,” said Jesse Watters.
Sandra Smith, a Fox News personality who is not often on “The Five,” also added her two cents.
“This Biden fall, I think, brings into question age and a greater way for both parties. And is somebody getting hurt if he's hurt and taken out of the game? We all know what Plan B is,” said Sandra Smith.
“When I think A Joe Biden, I don't think the guy falling, although it's odd. I don't think I don't think of the guy shaking hands at the air, as weird as that is, I think of the guy who, with no rationale, no plan, ignored the advice of all his generals and pulled out of out of Afghanistan like that,” said Kellyanne Conway another infrequent guest on “The Five.”
“Fox News Tonight” Day Two
“Unfortunately, they can't keep him off every stage as yesterday we saw him fall victim to what could have only been a MAGA sympathizing sandbag,” said Joey Jones.
“The bike incident that you showed where he was on his back like a bug with his his legs and hands in the air. No Secret Service was near. Everybody had leaned in with their cameras,” said Harris Faulkner.
“Hannity” Day Two
Sean Hannity devoted 10 minutes to the incident including asking Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) the former White House doctor of during the Donald J. Trump administration.
“Analysis of Joe Biden's mental and physical fitness after yet another scary fall and a tough time getting up as well. Unfortunately for Joe, while gravity seems to have other ideas now, yesterday the entire country watched in shock. Another scary looking fall tumbling to the ground with a loud thump after having to be helped to his feet by multiple onlookers. Although Biden appeared dazed, he appeared confused when he took a seat. His breathing was visibly labored. Did it look particularly well? And no doubt it was a pretty scary moment for the president,” said Hannity.
At one point Hannity put six separate incidents on the screen at the same time.
Hannity also included excerpts from the speech out of context to make it appear that the president incoherently rambling. President Biden made a reference to the fact that some of the fighter pilots in the graduating class were women.
“Who are those guys who fly over shortly? Three of them are women,” said Biden during the speech.
Hannity decided this meant Biden couldn’t think of the word for pilot.
“This man is not fit mentally or physically to be our president. And it's just it's a bad situation for us. Part of the job of the president, United States, is to inspire confidence and to project power. And he's not doing that. He can't do that. He's too old to do that. And I just I think it's a shame. I think that his physical his lack of physical ability and his physical decline is now starting to highlight the cognitive decline that we've been watching for so long now. . .Somebody needs to be held accountable and people like Jill Biden and people that surround him that are supposed to love him and care about him, they should be doing something about this and they should be stopping this because it is a shame,” said Jackson.
Jackson later said that President Biden needed a walker to help him get around. Jackson of course has not medically examined the president.
Biden’s Fall Is the Reason He Won’t Debate other Democrats
A common tactic used on the network is when several Fox News hosts and guests seemingly come up with the exact same idea at the same time. On Friday several Fox personalities decided that Biden’s stumble was evidence of why he wouldn’t hold a proper primary with Democrats who want to run for president.
No one on the network addressed or acknowledged that when Trump was running for re-election in 2020 the Republican Party did not hold a primary for the nomination.
The first example I found was Tomi Lahren making that assumption on Thursday night’s broadcast of Fox News Tonight.
“He doesn't even want to debate other Democrat contenders,” said Lahren
By Friday the idea had spread.
“His party has decided to keep him off of the debate stage for unspecific reasons. But hey, he's done this for better part of half a century and he says he's ready and able to serve a second term as president age be damned, ” said Joey Jones on Fox News Tonight.
“It takes engagement by the incumbent president to actually come to a debate, So that is the first concern for anybody who would want to get in at this point. And the president won't debate anybody. He doesn't want to consider anybody competition,” said Harris Faulkner on Fox News Tonight.
“They'll keep giving the progressives what they want to prevent any opposition from the outside. Because if there was a real primary with real debates, with real town halls, with real rallies where he was in front of the American people, he's not going to win. I mean, 60%, 70% of Democrats already don't want him to run,” said Pete Hegseth on Hannity.
Jessica Tarlov Pointed Out Other Presidents Have Fallen.
On Friday, Jessica Tarlov, one of the liberal voices on “The Five” attempted to tone down the hysteria.
“Well, every time something like that happened one time and there was a visible sandbag that the man tripped over. So whether that's the advance team's fault and he was up there for 2 hours prior to that, so maybe they didn't think that he would be shifting back that way. Whoever you want to blame, people trip.. Let's take a trip through history of presidents falling. Let's start with Ronald Reagan, who was like the second coming of Jesus Christ,” said Tarlov.
As her co-hosts started to scream over her she managed to get out the following.
“He fell on the steps of Air Force One. We had a president in a wheelchair who everybody liked a lot, said Tarlov
Later during discussion about Donald J. Trump’s response Tarlov gave her opinion about why the former president might not want to criticize Biden on his age.
“Trump might have had a moment of recognition of the fact that his biggest challenger is 44 years old. Whatever you think of DeSantis, it's got a lot more runway coming than Donald Trump does and that he needs to acknowledge the fact that if he is running against Biden, he needs to look better than him. . . To Greg's point about the president, it's not about the falling, it's the failing. We had an incredible jobs report today, Sandra, you were talking about it earlier. . . They had to rise the number up by a couple hundred thousand jobs. The unemployment rate continues to be incredible.
We have the lowest unemployment rate for black Americans and for Latino people got down to 4%. But that's happened . . .it's lower than it was at Trump levels. . .I don't care what the polls say. I'm talking about reality. And if reality catches up with what's going on with the economy, then he will. Biden will not be judged in the same way as 90% who say he’s on the wrong track,” said Tarlov.
Dagen McDowell Seriously Argued for Selling the Nation’s Gold Reserves
On Wednesday Sean Hannity incorrectly reassured his viewers that the debt ceiling was nothing to be concerned about.
“It’s been a false narrative from the get go. This idea that Armageddon would take place on June 5th is not true. America wouldn't run out of funding it would have to struggle. It would have to maneuver monies around. But we wouldn't be defaulting on our debt,” said Hannity
His guest, Fox Business correspondent, Magen McDowell mildly corrected him.
“Sean, that falls on Janet Yellen. She doesn't work for the American people. She works for Joe Biden. Joe Biden is our commander in chaos. And I know I don't mean that in a funny way. I want to know everything that that man has done since he took the oath of office has been purposeful suffering and hardship on the American people. And she. Janet Yellen can go out and sell the gold reserves. That's more than half a trillion dollars. That would pay our bills in the United States for four months because we're running a one and a half trillion dollar budget deficit right now. So there are a lot of things that she could do that the people in charge of government could do to prioritize payments. But would they do it? No, because they're spiteful and they don't care about suffering and hardship and financial catastrophe and calamity on the American people.” said McDowell.
The U.S. holds more gold than any other nation at 8 metric tons. Gold is a commodity traded on the global market which causes the price to fluctuate.
If the largest owner of gold decided to sell off its reserves all at once the price of gold would drop dramatically and most likely rattle the global economy.
Then U.K. Prime Minster Gordon Brown’s decision to sell off half of the U.K.’s gold reserves has been billed as one of the worst financial decisions in history. It pushed the price of gold to its lowest for 20 years.
What Hannity profoundly doesn’t seem to understand that the U.S. not paying its debts would include the government not paying for U.S. treasuries as they become mature.
Nearly every major economy invests in U.S. treasuries which are similar to treasury bonds or a direct investment in the U.S. government. They don’t yield a high interest rate but U.S. treasuries are considered the one of the most secure investments in the world.
Treasuries purchased 10 or 20 years ago become mature every single month. If the U.S. government couldn't pay back these certificates with interest the market for new treasuries would immediately plummet.
Any government or individual holding onto existing treasuries would then most likely try to find third parties to sell them off before they came mature at a discount. As more treasury holders did this the price per treasury would also drop quickly.
U.S. treasuries are already sold at a discount before their maturity and if the marketplace lost faith that the bonds would be paid in full the value of each bond would fall. This would quickly destabilize the entire global economy as many governments and individuals are heavily invested in U.S. treasuries.
Fox News Hosts Claimed Biden Wasn’t Involved in the Negotiations over the Debt Ceiling
Another tactic Fox News used to confuse its viewers about the debt ceiling crisis was to falsely claim that President Biden had nothing to do with resolving the issue.
On “Fox & Friends” on Friday Lawrence Jones declared that Biden wasn’t even involved in the process.
“He didn't do any of the negotiations when it came to debt ceiling,” said Jones.
Harris Faulkner basically said the same thing later on “Fox News Tonight.”
“He’s taking a victory lap before he signs that monster of a bill the debt ceiling, which without Kevin McCarthy, he wouldn't be where he is right now because for 97 days he refused to negotiate with anybody on it,” said Faulkner.
Bison aren’t Carnivorous Animals
During the ending segment on “The Five,” the producers featured a short video clip of a bison scaring a woman who tried to pet it.
Greg Gutfeld boldly pronounced that the bison could have savagely attacked the woman. Then a brief debate started between Gutfeld, Judge Jeanine Pirro and the rest of the cast over whether or not bisons are carnivorous.
“I mean, I think the best part about this is there's always an option for that bison to eat that person. Yes. But we just will just never show that on our show, though,” said Gutfeld.
Dana Perino meekly responded,
“But they're not carnivores.”
Judge Pirro seemed genuinely surprised,
“Carnivores, They’re not?”
Perino responded.
“No they just eat grass.”
Amazingly at least half the cast did not seem convinced that the large hoofed animals with eyes on the side of their faces were indeed plant-eaters and not predators.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I watch on Fox News with five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following is a list of stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
At least eight drones targeted Moscow, Russia last Tuesday. Three buildings received minor damage but there were no accounts of deaths or injuries. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, said Kyiv was not “directly involved” with the attacks. At the same time Russia struck the Kyiv, Ukraine with at least 20 drone strikes leaving one person dead.
The Sudan army suspended peace talks with the paramilitary force it’s been battling for weeks now. The total number of people displaced in the country has risen to 1.6 million.
Uganda passed an anti-LGBTQ law that includes the death penalty. LGBTQ activists have already been targeted with violence. Protests against the law broke out in South Africa. Western governments have condemned the legislation.
PBS produced a segment about the use of police officers in schools. Some school districts that had removed police officers are considering changing course in lieu of recent school shootings.
A former Florida sheriff's deputy faces criminal charges based on his inaction at a Parkland high school where a teenaged gunman killed 14 students and three staff members five years ago.
The federal criminal trial for the gunman who allegedly shot and killed 11 people in the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in October 2018 began last week. The massacre was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Even though most polls show more Americans oppose restrictions on LGBTQ people, state and local lawmakers continue to introduce hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills across the country.
A federal appeals court cleared the way for a ruling that would protect the Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, from any future civil lawsuits for their role in the opioid crisis. Purdue Pharama manufactured and sold OxyContin an opioid based pain killer that has been linked to widespread addiction and overdose deaths.
Rosalynn Carter, 95, the wife of former president Jimmy Carter, was diagnosed with dementia. President Carter, 98, began receiving hospice care at their home three months ago. Both Rosalynn and her husband were long-time advocates for greater access to mental health care.
U.S. colleges remain divided over whether or not to stop the practice of legacy admissions based on familial relations with alumni. The practice is widely unpopular with most Americans.
North Korea attempted to launch its first spy satellite. The launch was a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from conducting any launch based on ballistic technology.
New research showed that Asian American and Pacific Islanders are more likely to suffer police brutality than the general population.
The NewsHour included an extended segment of America at a Crossroads, the new project produced by Judy Woodruff, that focused on the increase in partisan animosity across the country. Fox News plays an outsized role in widening this divide.
The U.S. Senate voted to overturn the Biden administration's one-time student debt relief plan. The vote was largely symbolic as the plan is on hold due to a pending Supreme Court decision.
Two more members of the extremist militia group, the Oath Keepers, received federal prison sentences for their roles in the attack on the nation’s Capitol on January 6th. One person received a four year sentence and the other will serve three and a half years.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) accused the U.S. of hacking thousands of iPhones as part of an espionage campaign. An NSA spokesperson declined to comment. Apple said in a statement that the company has "never worked with any government to insert a backdoor into any Apple product and never will."
A revised version of the federal program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA, that prevents the deportation of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children, was brought before a judge last week. Attorneys representing nine states that have sued to end the program. The same judge has ruled in the past that the program was unconstitutional.
PBS produced a segment on the various criminal investigations former President Donald J. Trump is facing. Fox News will sometimes bring up Trump’s legal problems but largely ignores the subject.
The U.S. Army base in North Carolina, Fort Bragg was renamed Fort Liberty as part of an effort to remove Confederate names from U.S. military bases.
PBS featured a story about how extremely long trains, sometimes stretching out for two or three miles, cause problems in small communities when the trains stall blocking every type of traffic including children who have to cross through parked trains to get to school.
A train derailed in eastern India killing 275 people and injuring hundreds more. Officials have said the crash was likely caused by signaling errors.
President Biden declared last week that the U.S. will not build new nuclear weapons in an attempt to keep up with Russia.
Parts of China faced record breaking high temperatures and heavy rains. Last year the country had its worst heat wave and drought in decades the extreme heat has started even earlier this season which is a cause for alarm.
A U.S. nurse at the southern border did not review the medical records of a sick 8-year-old migrant child who died in custody. The child had congenital heart disease and sickle cell anemia.
The government of Greenland unveiled its new constitution last week. The world’s largest island is home to only 57,000 residents who seek further independence from Danish influence.
By the Numbers
Coming up…
This week I’ll be covering “Fox & Friends,” “The Five,” “Fox News Tonight,” and “The Ingraham Hour.” I should also the last installment of “Who is Hunter Biden?” the Fox Nation series for paid subscribers.