For the majority of Americans who believe in democracy and loathe both Fox News and Donald Trump, it's been an endless delight to follow the ongoing release of internal Fox News communications, stemming from their legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion filed another court document in their $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox on Tuesday, and somehow, it's even funnier than the last couple. While Fox anchors acted like Trump was their messiah on-air, behind the scenes they hated him for putting them in a situation where they had to choose between backing the Big Lie or losing their viewers.
"I hate him passionately," Fox host Tucker Carlson wrote about Trump in a text message thread with staffers. He longed openly for President Joe Biden's inauguration, even though he hates Biden, because at least it means "being able to ignore Trump most nights."
"We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it," Carlson wrote. "But come on. There really isn't an upside to Trump."
Similarly, Fox News's chief executive, Rupert Murdoch, was not super happy with Trump in the two months between the election and the January 6 insurrection, when Trump was attempting to overthrow the election through the courts and state legislatures. He griped that Trump was "increasingly mad," and longingly expressed, "In another month Trump will be becoming irrelevant."
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These revelations are happening at the same time the mainstream media is heavily hyping a "war" between Fox News and Trump.
"The Trump world-Fox News war gets nasty," screamed a headline at Politico last week, which promised that there's "a hot war between MAGA world and the longtime conservative channel." Other outlets claim that Fox has issued a "soft ban" on Trump, denying him the regular access to the airwaves he used to consider his due.
The possibility that this internal strife is tearing the GOP coalition apart has stoked excitement that we may finally be seeing the initial death throes of the MAGA movement.
To wit, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is heavily aligned with Trump, and at this year's D.C. event, Fox News — which has sponsored CPAC in the past — barely had a presence. Trump loyalist Steve Bannon lambasted Murdoch from the stage, declaring, "You've disrespected Donald J. Trump long enough" and "we've deemed that you're not going to have a network."
For his part, Trump, annoyed at the barrage of stories showing how much the people at Fox News secretly loathe him, has been taking his own potshots on Truth Social. He complained Murdoch is "killing his case and infuriating his viewers" by admitting the Big Lie was a lie during a deposition. He's demanded Murdoch "apologize" for saying true things under oath. He raved again at 3AM this week in outrage that Murdoch did not risk a perjury charge by lying during a deposition.
Normal people likely witness all this bad blood and assume that Trump and Fox News are going their separate ways. Indeed, there's been some reports that Fox News is throwing its weight behind Ron DeSantis for the 2024 presidential nomination, hoping the Florida governor can be that white whale that continues Trumpism without Trump. DeSantis is no better than Trump — in many ways, he's worse, since he's a lot more dedicated to things like a war on free speech — but the possibility that this internal strife is tearing the GOP coalition apart has stoked excitement that we may finally be seeing the initial death throes of the MAGA movement.
I would tamp those hopes way, way down. Not that I doubt for a moment that the executives and hosts at Fox News really do harbor loathing of Trump. I imagine anyone whose ever spent time conversing with President Drink Bleach likely found the experience unpleasant. But regardless of the feeble gestures of revolt the network is throwing up now, we all know how this story ends. They'll come crawling back on their bellies to bow before Trump. They always do. And honestly, if you look at Fox News programming right now, it's clear Trump has already won this "war."
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Just this week, Carlson has dedicated his disturbingly popular nightly program to his ongoing project of trying to rewrite the history of January 6. In doing so, he's put his full weight behind the Big Lie, falsely declaring that "the 2020 election was a grave betrayal of American democracy." Those aren't the words of someone who is trying to force Trump to go away. Those are the words of someone who is sticking by Trump's side during the ongoing fight against democracy.
Trump still "is far and away getting the most mentions on Fox News."
It's not just Carlson's show. As CNN data analyst Harry Enten recently detailed, Trump still "is far and away getting the most mentions on Fox News." In fact, Trump got nearly three times as many mentions on Fox as DeSantis in the past two months. Not only does Trump get more coverage, but "he's actually gaining," with the number of mentions going up in recent weeks. The much-ballyhooed "soft ban" is a media myth, it appears.
The internal dynamic at Fox News that the Dominion lawsuit exposed hasn't changed. Regardless of their personal distaste for Trump, Fox News leaders know that their audience loves the former reality TV host. Keeping those eyes on the network requires keeping up the love for Trump and hyping Trump's lies. Nor is there any reason to think that MAGA voters will reject Fox News after these revelations that the hosts secretly find Trump repulsive. Most Fox viewers are well aware their favorite shows are fascist agitprop instead of real news. (And they likely know that being around Trump sucks.) They were even talking online about how unsurprised they are that Carlson secretly dislikes Trump.
What matters to Republican voters is not what their pundits actually believe, much less what is actually true. All that matters is putting on the performance. They realize the hyperbolic insults and public feuding between Trump and Fox News are just for show, like a wrestling match. At the end of the day, however, Fox News will fall in line behind Trump. He is still the leader of the GOP in all but name, and Fox News is the propaganda outlet for the Republican party. They are the media version of Trump's ridiculous combover. No one is fooled by their lies, but it's crucial that they stay in place and keep up the illusion. They know it and he knows it. Everyone else is just noise they're using to fill up time and keep people excited.
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