Trump Slams Fox News for Disobedience
Trump Slams Fox News for Disobedience
Last Sunday, Pete Buttigieg participated in a Fox News town hall in New Hampshire — the third installment of FNC's televised forums featuring Democratic presidential hopefuls. The event was hosted by Chris Wallace and was held in a high school gymnasium where Wallace and members of the audience asked the Buttigieg a variety of questions.
Though the ratings for the broadcast haven't been reported as of the time of this column, the program is sure to have pulled an impressive number, just as Bernie Sanders' Fox News town hall did last month. Among that viewing audience was President Trump, who took to Twitter to express disappointment that his favorite news network had granted one of his political opponents a platform, thus doing a great disservice to its viewers:
Hard to believe that @FoxNews is wasting airtime on Mayor Pete, as Chris Wallace likes to call him. Fox is moving more and more to the losing (wrong) side in covering the Dems. They got dumped from the Democrats boring debates, and they just want in. They forgot the people.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
Trump even took a personal shot at Chris Wallace for having the gall to pay Buttigieg a compliment, evoking the memory of Wallace's dead father to emphasize his disapproval:
....who got them there. Chris Wallace said, “I actually think, whether you like his opinions or not, that Mayor Pete has a lot of substance...fascinating biography.” Gee, he never speaks well of me - I like Mike Wallace better...and Alfred E. Newman will never be President!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
Of course, it's nothing new for our president to use his Twitter account to attack political rivals (along with pretty much anyone of note who says less than flattering things about him), but what Trump does with tweets like these is discredit Fox News in a way that the network's longtime critics could only ever hope to do.
Make no mistake about it. Trump is affirming that the network is in the tank for him, his administration, and his loyal supporters; which is the same case that FNC's most vocal detractors have been making for quite some time. And by offering his political opponents an hour-long, respectful platform (from which to field questions, spread their messages, and criticize him), Trump feels betrayed.
Sadly, it's hard to blame him.
After all, with the exception of a handful of news-driven programs like Special Report and Fox News Sunday, our president is reliably fawned over and reflexively defended every single day on FNC. The network's commentary lineup used to offer a diverse range of views and perspectives (albeit most of them center-right) — including from the shows' hosts who felt quite comfortable deviating from partisan talking points. But things have changed.
Today, most hosts and their regular guests act like they've vying for a spot on The Apprentice, competing for Trump's approval and affection. And the president has become quite accustomed to the servility.
The weekend shows are even more sycophantic than what airs during the week, so when Trump tunes into the network on a Sunday evening and sees it behaving like a legitimate news institution, he's understandably left with a sense of disappointment... and again, betrayal.
None of this is to say that Fox News doesn't have a strong, credible, well-oiled news division. They do, and Chris Wallace is the cream of the crop. As Brit Hume pointed out, Trump is keenly aware of this:
The problem however, as Trump plainly illustrates, is that the network is overwhelmingly defined by its commentary shows that take up all but a few hours of each day's programming. And those shows are so embarrassingly beholden to Trump that not even he can bring himself to accept the channel as a serious news organization.
People can argue all day long that the other cable news networks are just as embarrassing, and just as in the tank for partisans, and those people would be absolutely right. But Fox News used to be better than the rest... and they no longer are.
Trump's tweets are a painful reminder of that.