Heat
Former President Donald Trump blasted Fox News — the right-wing network he once praised — in a series of scathing posts Monday morning, attacking the network for letting host Tucker Carlson go and “refusing” to push his debunked theories about election fraud, as the former president wants to is breaking away from both the network and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
Former President Donald Trump doubled down on his attack on Fox News on Monday morning.
Key facts
Trump, who launched his 2024 campaign late last year, claimed Fox News had lost “a lot of money, prestige and RATINGS” and were “far from where they used to be,” after they split up with Carlson, Fox’s highest-rated host (last month, Fox Corp revealed a $54 million loss in earnings in the first quarter of 2023, before Carlson’s departure).
In a series of posts on his social media platform Truth SocialTrump calls out Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen for celebrating DeSantis’ “tsunami of conservative reform” at Fox News interview Monday morning, calling Thiessen — a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush — a “Bush nut” and adding, “He’s a slob, and so is FoxNews.”
Trump also accused Fox News of “desperately pushing DeSanctimonious” — Trump’s nickname for DeSantis, who is speculated to launch a 2024 presidential campaign — claiming Florida’s GOP governor is “dropping like a rock” in the early 2024 election (multiple polls found Trump leads DeSantis in hypothetical matchup, including among Florida voters).
Trump also directly attacked DeSantis, calling him “the walking dead” without his support in Florida’s 2018 gubernatorial race, and claiming DeSantis is “pretty close to it again” — Trump’s latest dig at his former GOP ally, after which is more than once loan takeover for DeSantis’ rise from congressman to governor.
Key background
Despite frequent appearances on Fox News’ morning show Fox & Friends and prime-time interviews during his time in the Oval Office, tensions between Trump and the right-wing network have greatly worsened since he left office, and have intensified in recent months. The former president and his allies were outraged after Fox became the first TV network to announce that President Joe Biden had won Arizona, an election night that turned out to be correct. Trump slammed the net in February after claiming it “barely” reported on its own poll showing Trump with a 15-point lead over DeSantis among Republican primary voters, blasting the network as “FAKE NEWS” and claiming Fox was promoting DeSantis “so hard and there’s so much going on there’s not much time for Real News.” Weeks later, he sent his criticism at billionaire Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch, accusing Murdoch of “aiding and abetting the DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA” after Murdoch admitted he wanted the network to more forcefully deny Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
Tangent
Trump’s pushback against Fox reaches boiling point after court files defamation suit against Dominion Voting Systems several Fox News anchors revealed, including Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, didn’t believe Trump’s claims about the 2020 election, despite bringing guests on their shows who espoused the theory. In response, Trump called Fox News the “RINO Network,” repeating one of his most frequent attacks, which he usually reserves for more moderate GOP lawmakers, calling them “Republicans in name only.” Fox last month agreed to pay Dominion an almost unprecedented $787.5 million to settle the suit.
Further reading
Trump slams Fox News—again—for promoting DeSantis ‘So hard and so much’ (Forbes)
Forbes – Business