FOX BIZ 3
ESTB 4 25
MERRI OK
~ FACT DATA EMPIR EG ON INFLation
homan migrant crime BS 8 25
SEE SOCIAL SAFETY NET ~
see govt shutdown vOUght sched f
SEE KUDLOW
SEE ENERGY POVERTY BS MORANO DAGEN MC 9 25
SEE ALT ENERGY BS ESP VARNEY DENIAL ENDANGERMENT 2 26
WRIGHT ~ ALT ENERGY
SEE DENIAL JRNL FAIL BARTIROMO VARNEY
SEE CUBA 2 26
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RWW 826
- Kathryn Wilkens @ Mediaite: GOP Rep Falsely Claims 82% of Women Vaccinated in First Two Trimesters Miscarried
Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) pushed the unfounded claim on Fox Business Tuesday that 82% of women who received a COVID-19 vaccine during their first or second trimester suffered a miscarriage.
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MMA
Fox is deeply enmeshed in potential corruption investigations surrounding the Trump family and Pentagon contracts
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 11/06/26
Fox News has spent the last two years concealing from their viewers the miasma of corruption surrounding President Donald Trump. Now that Democrats have taken control of the House and Senate and are pledging investigations, some at the network are speaking out in defense of the Trump family’s self-dealing business interests — and in so doing, exposing Fox’s own role in the scheme.
Co-host Brian Brenberg suggested on Thursday’s edition of Fox Business’ Money in the Morning that Democrats probing Pentagon contracts with drone makers would “jeopardize national defense” in order to “go after Trump family.” He added, “If you're trying to score political points with the secretary of war, you are not thinking about military readiness, if you’re Democrats, and that is their big flaw in my view.”
Likewise, after co-host Dana Perino suggested on Thursday’s edition of The Five that Democratic investigations would “burn up a lot of time” that could be spent “moving legislation,” her colleague Jesse Watters responded by contrasting Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump favorably with former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter. “I mean at least the Trump boys are doing things with minerals and drones and real estate,” Watters claimed. “I mean, they actually create value.”
The potential probes Brenberg and Watters criticized would inevitably hang a lantern on Fox’s incestuous relationship with the Trumps and the Trump administration. One of Fox's own contributors — Powerus founder Brett Velicovich — is president of a drone company Trump’s eldest sons are invested in that received Pentagon contracts, and the defense secretary that oversees the Pentagon is former Fox host Pete Hegseth.
Powerus is “a new drone company backed financially, in part, by Trump’s eldest sons” that “emerged from a crowded field to snap up multimillion-dollar contracts in the U.S. and overseas” including “a $90 million Air Force contract,” as Fox’s corporate cousins at The Wall Street Journal detailed in a profile of the firm published last week.
The Journal detailed that a defense firm backed by a president’s family members receiving government contracts is unprecedented:
A fund backed by the Trump sons, American Ventures, has cashed out at least $6 million from its investment to date. The fund owns about 3.4% of Powerus, according to a securities filing, and holds warrants that can convert to tens of millions of additional shares in the future.
Dominari Holdings, the financial firm behind American Ventures, helped take Powerus public. The Trump sons each own around 6% of the investment bank, which often merges underperforming publicly traded companies with businesses in buzzy industries.
To ethics experts, Powerus is an example of the blurred lines of government and private business in the second Trump administration that are without modern comparison. “Never have we seen a president’s family benefiting from military contracts,” said Richard Painter, a White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush.
The Journal further reported that Trump had posted praise of Velicovich on social media shortly after one of the Fox contributor’s appearances on the network last summer, an example of what I’ve termed the Fox-Trump feedback loop.
Powerus is part of a “a portfolio of defense technology start-ups” Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have invested in “that are benefiting from new Pentagon priorities and spending, further entangling the United States’ interests and the Trump family’s financial fortunes in an area with immense stakes for national security,” The Washington Post reported in July. Earlier this year, then-Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo congratulated Eric on air after one of those companies landed a robotics contract from the Pentagon.
Donald Trump Jr. helped secure the Pentagon leadership that is now rewarding the companies in which he and his brother have invested. He reportedly played a key role in ensuring Hegseth’s confirmation as defense secretary, helping to orchestrate a right-wing campaign to cement the necessary Republican Senate votes following weeks of disturbing reports about the wildly unqualified Fox host’s competence and character. The president’s son subsequently claimed on his podcast that he had been “assisting” Hegseth “with personnel decisions” and prioritizing “candidates who wanted to spend more money on drones,” the Post reported.
The drone deals are just one of a vast array of shady business deals involving the president and his family which could come under scrutiny in the months ahead.
Fox hosts spent years trumpeting House Republican probes of Hunter Biden’s business interests that dealt with a tiny fraction of the money implicated in the Trump family scandals and which were never successfully linked to any decision Joe Biden made in government.
But once Trump returned to the White House and his sons began using the network’s “Biden Crime Family” conspiracy theory as a business plan, Fox’s reporters and pundits either turned their backs on the subject— or openly moved to cash in.
And now that Democrats are promising to investigate the corruption these pundits ignored, Fox personalities are denouncing the probes as a “witch hunt” (Greg Gutfeld), “ruthless upcoming lawfare campaign” (Sean Hannity), a “weaponization routine” (Dan Bongino), and a “revenge agenda” (Donald Trump Jr.’s business partner Laura Ingraham).
//
06/04/26
02/11/26
The Trumps turned Fox’s “Biden Crime Family” conspiracy theory into a business plan
04/13/26
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MMA 8 26
Fox & Friends, echoing GOP memo, runs cover against “far-left” data center opposition
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 08/19/26
Republican leaders who fear that the furious, bipartisan backlash against AI data centers could cost their party in the midterm election are getting help from their loyal propagandists at Fox News. On its flagship morning show, the network’s hosts and contributors are attempting to convince viewers to support data centers by telling them that the “far left” is behind the opposition.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a private memo to top AI companies that “toxic views of U.S. data centers are killing the party's chances of holding a vital seat in Ohio,” Axios reported Wednesday morning. The memo, which Axios published, urges the AI companies to fix their “toxic brand” and suggests that if the GOP’s Senate candidate loses, “and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.” The NRSC further suggests that Republicans benefit when voters are told that Democratic opposition to data centers “will cause America to lose the AI race to China.”
Fox apparently got the message. Just hours after the Axios story was published, Fox & Friends ran a segment seeking to negatively polarize viewers against data center opposition by portraying it as a “culture war” position favored by the “far left.”
Guest co-host Griff Jenkins teased the discussion at the top of the 8 a.m. ET hour, saying: “Data centers are the backbone of the AI boom, and now a political target — why Democrats are turning them into the next culture war fight.”
Jenkins began the subsequent segment by airing remarks Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor offered Tuesday in issuing an executive order tightening the regulation of data centers, before commenting: “Gov. Josh Shapiro isn’t the only Democrat pushing back against the data center boom. Far-left members of their party make their battle against them a central part of the populist platform.”
As Jenkins spoke, Fox aired a graphic warning of “Dems Data Center Frenzy.”
Video
Citation
From the August 19, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Fox then aired comments criticizing data centers from three politicians the network regularly attacks: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. As they spoke, on-screen text read: “Far-left makes data centers latest populist target.”
Jenkins then asked, “Could turning AI data centers into the left's boogeyman put the race for AI dominance at risk?” He turned to Fox Business contributor Lou Basenese, who highlighted the “national security” implications and echoed the NRSC memo’s invocation of China.
After the pair agreed that “we’re in a race with China,” Jenkins asked if “the rising opposition to data centers in this country is one of the biggest threats to our development and achieving dominance.”
“China is building out capacity while the far left is building out opposition,” Basenese replied, before praising President Donald Trump’s support for data centers.
Such efforts to paint broad data center opposition as the work of the “far left” and warnings that China will be its beneficiary have become habitual in Fox Business’ coverage of the story. And with the issue’s rising salience in the midterm elections, as indicated by the NRSC memo, those arguments are now moving to the bigger GOP megaphone of Fox News.
But there’s a split on data centers among the right-wing commentariat, with prominent figures like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens criticizing them and even calling for local opposition to their construction.
And that means the Fox propaganda effort to portray opposition to data centers as a “far-left” position has some real limitations.
//
Right-wing media are fracturing over widespread backlash to data centers
06/10/26 3:38 PM EDT
Right-wing media figures are split on AI and data centers
07/08/26 1:03 PM EDT
07/13/26
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MMA TRUMP MANTRA ECON NEVER BETTER EVER; FOX BRIEFLY HONEST ON JOB #?
Fox argues the Trump economy is “booming” as many indicators show otherwise
Trump has overseen multiple months of job losses, slower economic growth, and higher inflation while also kicking millions of Americans off their health insurance and food assistance
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 08/11/26
Many on Fox News and Fox Business are arguing that the economy under President Donald Trump is “booming” and “going gangbusters,” even though many months of the Trump administration have included job losses, inflation remains elevated, wages are stagnant, and economic growth remains below the second half of the Biden administration. Fox is also pushing for Republicans to run on the economy during the upcoming midterm elections, even though many policies supported by Trump and other Republicans are making food, healthcare, prescription drugs, and other necessities more expensive or harder to access.
Fox argues that the Trump economy is strong, urges Republicans to message on “how good this economy is”
- Fox anchor Sandra Smith: “You have to put into context of this economy, where some of the statistics, the numbers, and gosh, the stock market today hitting record high, Dow, S&P. Oil prices are plunging, I mean we’re back to $74. There's reason to think things are working. The jobs market remains strong, wages are up.” Smith added: “But yet, these polling continues to show that people aren’t really feeling it.” [Fox News, America Reports, 8/4/26]
- Fox anchor John Roberts: “If you’re talking the economy, it’s going gangbusters today.” Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy agreed, “It is.” [Fox News, America Reports, 8/4/26]
- Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo: “Throughout all these campaigns, one thing that Democrats keep missing is the strength of this economy.” Guest Adam Johnson agreed, saying, “Republicans need to be more proactive about talking, about demonstrating and citing data on how good this economy is.” To make her point, Bartiromo began talking about “corporate numbers after corporate numbers” being “stronger than expected.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 8/5/26]
- Fox Business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow: “We’re in a booming economy, all cylinders … are roaring.” [Fox Business, Kudlow, 8/5/26]
- Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone: In his Nevada speech, Trump “focused on … healthcare” and “prescription drug prices, the administration going to lower those things.” During the segment, Bartiromo also highlighted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promising 3% or higher economic growth in the second half of the year and saying “we can start coming back toward the Fed’s target level” of 2% inflation. [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 8/6/26]
- A Fox Business panel celebrated the July jobs report showing a loss of 23,000 jobs and a downward revision of 103,000 fewer jobs in previous months as “great news.” Later in the show, guest and former Trump economic adviser Stephen Moore also said: “I would view this as not a bad report.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria, 8/7/26, 8/7/26]
- Casone: Republicans “have a story” about “all the things that are going so well for the U.S. economy” under Trump’s policies, and Republicans should “hammer home and get that message out there that these policies … is what is helping them and helping their pocketbooks.” She added: “It’s affordability.” [Fox Business, The Bottom Line, 8/7/26]
- Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy: “The economy and the fundamentals of it were very strong just before this war. You wrap up this war, you get this economy going on full cylinder in the next couple months … you will win the midterms.” In fact, 156,000 jobs were lost in February prior to Trump launching his war on Iran at the end of that month. [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/8/26; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5/8/26]
- After Fox & Friends Weekend co-host Griff Jenkins mentioned Trump “constantly talking about record markets” and “rising wages,” yet Democrats talk about “how horrible the economy is,” Bartiromo replied: “That’s just propaganda. I mean, look — things are going well and I think we all feel it, right, Griff?” Bartiromo continued: “I mean, look at where we are right now — you’ve got job creation, you’ve got economic growth.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 8/9/26]
Yet multiple economic indicators during the second Trump administration have been poor
- Inflation, which was on track to drop to 2% at the beginning of Trump’s second term, has instead re-accelerated and remains elevated following Trump’s imposition of universal tariffs in April 2025, and his war against Iran at the end of February 2026. [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed 8/7/26]
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MMA
July 27, 2026, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria
CHERYL CASONE (GUEST ANCHOR): I was here. Well, I wasn't living here, but I was here a month after the attacks. And it's just all — you know, if you lived through that time, and you experienced it, you remember how horrific it was.
And he just — The Wall Street Journal's editorial board says "Globalizing the intifada in Mamdani's New York," and they talk about the current situation. But this ties back to why the 9/11 families don't want him there. Because they don't feel supported by someone who seems, you know, if it was 25 years ago, he'd be probably supporting the attackers on the World Trade Centers. I mean, that's my opinion but, you know.
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MMA
07/13/26
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The Wall Street Journal's coverage of threats to the power grid gets twisted on Fox Business
The Journal explicitly credits solar for reducing the risk of blackouts, but on Fox Business “blue state anti-fossil fuel policies” are “by far the biggest threat”
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Allison Fisher
Published 07/08/26
During the July 7 edition of Fox Business’ Varney & Co., guest host David Asman claimed that a recent Wall Street Journal article warned that a “perfect storm” of “high temperatures, new A.I. data centers pulling a lot of energy and those blue state anti-fossil fuel policies” are threatening the stability of the electric grid.
In reality, the article explicitly cites “an influx of 58.5 gigawatts of new resources, dominated by solar and battery storage” for reducing “the widespread blackout risks the country faced in recent years.” In fact, nowhere in the article are “anti-fossil fuel policies” cited as a threat, nor does it suggest blue states are more vulnerable to blackouts than red states.
The Journal does make clear that “hotter-than-usual” temperatures and other climate-driven disruptions — like droughts, wildfires and hurricanes — are not only a threat to the grid but are driving up electricity costs. The article notes that “summer cooling costs have increased nearly 40% since 2020, driven by a combination of rising electricity prices and hotter summers.”
Relatedly, CNN reported yesterday on a new analysis that found “the collective impact of the administration’s actions will raise costs on American households by more than half a trillion dollars by 2040.” To date, “382 clean energy projects have been canceled or stalled since Trump’s election,” according toClimate Power. Even some Fox figureshave questioned killing renewable energy projects at a time of rising electricity cost and demand.
Video
Citation
From the July 7, 2026, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.
DAVID ASMAN [FOX BUSINESS HOST]: Take a look at this Wall Street journal article, “The ‘Five Alarm’ Risk Facing the Power Grid This Summer.” It talks about a perfect storm, if we have high temperatures, new A.I. data centers pulling a lot of energy, and those blue state anti-fossil fuel policies. People are really worried, particularly in blue states about blackouts because of all of this. Is that a possibility?
CHRIS WRIGHT: [US ENERGY SECRETARY]: David, and the last one is by far the biggest threat. These are blue state policies and they were Obama administration policies and Biden administration policies. Seventeen years ago, the Democrats decided they're the party of expensive energy. They're the party of unreality. We're going to oppose fossil fuels even though they're 80% of American energy and 80% of global energy, and we're going to close coal plants and make it hard to build new gas plants, close nuclear plants, and bet the farm on the sun and the wind. That was a disastrous bet that drove high electricity prices and stopped any growth of American electricity production.
Fortunately, with the working families tax cut, we just — July 4 — we just passed the day that those subsidies are no longer available if you start construction on a project today. Ironically spending hundreds of billions of dollars on government subsidies was a driver of increased electricity prices. Normally you have a huge subsidy and you push the price of something down. They lost twice: spend massive subsidies, make electricity more expensive. But the Trump administration is reversing all of that. You will see an end to the rise of the electricity prices and our pragmatic policies will keep the lights on and keep the air conditioners running this summer, but it will be a massive challenge given 17 years of Democrat policies degrading the quality of our electric grid.
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MMA
05/13/26
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mma
04/30/26
Fox figures repeatedly claimed the economy would grow at a 5% pace thanks to Trump. It actually grew just 2% in the first quarter of 2026.
Fox has spent most of Trump's second term promising viewers that economic revival is just around the corner
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 04/30/26
Fox personalities spent the first quarter of 2026 repeatedly telling viewers that the economy was growing robustly or predicting growth at up to a 5% annualized rate thanks to President Donald Trump’s purported improvements to the American economy during his second term. According to the April 30 advance estimate from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, real gross domestic product growth for the first quarter of 2026 came in at just 2% — yet Fox’s initial reaction was to portray this as “fairly strong” economic growth.
Fox figures set similar expectations for the fourth quarter of 2025, predicting anywhere from 3% to 5% growth; instead, the advance estimate for that quarter was just 1.4% and has since been revised downward to a mere 0.5%. But even before the final economic growth figures for 2025 were reported, Fox promised that 2026 was “going to be amazing” after the economy fell flat in 2025.
Fox characterizes economic growth of 2% as “fairly strong,” but economists call it “fragile”
- Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone: “We came in with a read of 2%. The estimate was for 2.3% for first quarter GDP. … Pretty fairly strong numbers here for the U.S. economy.” Anchor Maria Bartiromo agreed that “it’s pretty much in line with expectations,” saying, “The growth story is very much intact.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [4/30/26]
- Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi: “The economy is growing, but it is fragile growth. Looking through the vagaries of the quarterly data, real GDP is growing at a 2% pace. Growth, yes, but less than the economy’s potential growth rate, and not sufficient to support any meaningful job growth.” In follow-up posts, Zandi added: “At the start of the year, GDP was set to get a boost from deficit-financed fiscal stimulus and more Fed rate cuts. Job growth would resume, and unemployment would stabilize. Hard to see this happening now.” He further explained, “Even if the Iran War winds down and oil prices recede quickly, the fallout will ensure there is no GDP pickup or job growth this year. Unemployment will rise further, and already considerable recession risks will worsen.” Bluesky, [4/26/26, 4/26/26, 4/26/26]
- Center for Economic and Policy Research cofounder Dean Baker: “Q1 GDP growth may hit 2 percent, but the rebound is fragile because it depends on temporary boosts rather than broad-based economic strength.” Baker added: “The overall growth rate for the quarter will be close to 2.0 percent, which ordinarily would be considered fine. However, with most areas of consumer spending showing little or no growth, the picture does not seem well-balanced. The sharp rise in spending on health care, which is the driving force in growth, is likely viewed by most consumers as a burden.” Center for Economic and Policy Research, [4/28/26]
- CNBC: “First-quarter growth disappointed at 2%.” CNBC explained why the GDP number is disappointing: “In other economic news Thursday, the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product grew at a 2% seasonally adjusted annualized pace in the first quarter, up from 0.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 but lower than the 2.2% estimate. The modest growth rate came despite a seeming surge in spending on artificial intelligence and what should have been a boost from the end of last year’s government shutdown.” CNBC, [4/30/26]
- ## Yet Fox figures repeatedly claimed the U.S. economy would grow or is growing at up to 5%
- Fox Business host Dagen McDowell, citing a statement from NEC Director Kevin Hassett predicting 4-5% economic growth: “There is a great deal to be optimistic about.” Fox Business, *The Bottom Line*, [4/9/26]
- Fox Business anchor Geri Willis: “I will point out that the president’s economic adviser is saying economic growth of 4-5% this year. That is not just a good year, that is a fantastic year. That is firing on all cylinders.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [4/9/26]
- Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: “I believe that postwar American growth, the potential is about 5%. … The Jay Powell Fed only sees a measly 2% economic growth. … It’s always garbage in and garbage out.” Fox Business, *Kudlow Weekend*, [3/21/26]
- Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo: “When you look at the macro story, economic growth … last quarter was close to 5%.” In fact, GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2025 was 0.5%, or just one-tenth of what Bartiromo claimed. Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [2/27/26; Bureau of Economic Analysis, 4/9/26]
- Kudlow: “I think the economy is growing at 4 to 5%, because we're in the middle of a humongous business boom. That’s my take. I will accept no less than 4-5%.” Kudlow added, “The fourth quarter numbers” from last year “are completely phony, only 1.4%.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [2/24/26]
- Kudlow: “I think the 2026 economy … can grow by 5%.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [2/19/26]
- Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald: “Democrats are now scrambling on midterm messaging as Trump gets low inflation, more than 4% GDP growth, heading to 5%.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [2/13/26]
- Kudlow: “Why can’t you get 5 or 6 or 7% growth for some quarters, for a year?” Economist and frequent Fox Business guest Stephen Moore chimed in, “We’re capable of growing a lot faster.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [2/11/26]
- Fox Business host Taylor Riggs: “I am really hopeful that the first and second quarter, things look great. I mean, in terms of GDP growth, we’re looking at 3, 4, 5%.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/9/26]
- Kudlow: “On the economy, we’re growing at 4 to 5%. We just hit 50,000 plus on the Dow.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [2/6/26]
- Moore: “We have the best economy in the industrialized world with 5% growth.” Fox Business, *The Bottom Line*, [2/5/26]
- Kudlow asked former Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller: “What's missing from the economic growth message when the numbers, the data themselves, are showing 4 to 5% economic growth, which is really quite remarkable?” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [2/5/26]
- MacDonald: “GDP growth is now surpassing 4%, moving to 5%. That's according to the Atlanta Fed GDPNow model.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [2/3/26]
- Willis: “The whole 5% number in terms of growth. … Why is this happening? Because Donald Trump is putting in place policies that is making growth likely.” Willis added: “I went back and looked at the number of times the U.S. economy since World War II has experienced 5% or better growth — only 33 times. Only five quarters since 1984. This is a rarity.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [2/2/26]
- Fox Business anchor David Asman: “The economy is growing at least at 4.5%, probably as much as 5% right now.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [2/2/26]
- Kudlow: “The economy is growing at 4 or 5%, it’s a phenomenal story.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [1/29/26]
- Asman: “The bottom line is that the economy is growing at great guns right now, and we can’t forget, we haven’t been growing like this since the Reagan era, when we were growing at 4 and 5 and sometimes even 7%.” Fox News, *Special Report*, [1/27/26]
- Asman: “The economic numbers are great. We've got a 5% growth rate right now.” Asman continued: “As our friend Larry Kudlow would say — he was one of the first people, when he first said it could grow at 5%, people were saying, you're crazy." Fox News, *America Reports*, [1/27/26]
- Kudlow: “You could easily have prints of 5% GDP growth. … Not every quarter, not every year.” He added: “Here’s what you won’t get: The Federal Reserve’s 1.8%. Take that off the board.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [1/6/26]
//
- ### Fox Business guests ridicule the network’s fantasy of 4-5% economic growth this year: “Dream on”
04/10/26 2:00 PM EDT
02/20/26 2:14 PM EST
- ### After the economy fell flat in 2025, Fox promised: “Next year looks like it’s going to be amazing”
12/18/25
04/30/26
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Costs from Trump's tariffs, Iran war fallout, and benefit cuts amount to much more than the roughly $350 average Americans reportedly receive from his signature legislation
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 04/16/26 mma
Fox News and Fox Business personalities were hyping the supposed benefits of President Donald Trump's signature 2025 legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Tax Day, in part by pointing to Americans’ higher average tax refunds compared to the previous year. But the average tax refund increased by roughly $350, according to the most recent IRS data, a sum dwarfed by the additional costs imposed on Americans from Trump’s tariffs, increased gasoline prices stemming from his unauthorized Iran war, and cuts in government benefits that were also included in the OBBBA.
Fox celebrated Trump’s tax cut legislation on Tax Day
- Fox News senior national correspondent Kevin Corke on the Trump administration’s Tax Day messaging: “Show me the money.” Fox News, *Fox News @ Night*, [4/15/26]
- Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: “Today is April 15, Tax Day, and it should be a day of celebration. Nearly all taxpayers, because of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill … are going to get a direct cut.” Kudlow claimed the tax legislation is “going to boost take-home pay probably about $1,400 per person” — roughly four times what the IRS says is the average increase in tax refunds so far. Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [4/15/26]
- Kudlow: “Look, the Republicans have cut taxes in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The numbers are stark on this, particularly for middle income, working folks, you know, overtime, and tips, and seniors. It's all good.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [4/15/26]
- Fox senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy: The Trump administration is going to send out people “to let everybody know that it is the Trump administration's support of the One Big Beautiful Bill that has these no tax on tips, no tax on overtimes provisions that have put more money into people's pockets.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [4/15/26]
- Fox anchor Bill Hemmer cited a Treasury Department release to rattle off statistics from this year’s tax deductions, concluding: “This is real money now, especially for middle-class Americans.” Fox Business host Stuart Varney added: “Thousands of dollars have been put into their bank accounts. That means real money.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [4/15/26]
- Fox anchor Dana Perino: “It’s a happier Tax Day than last year for many people, and that’s because the Big Beautiful Bill is giving people … on average about $350 more in a return than you got the year before.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [4/15/26]
- Fox & Friendsco-host Brian Kilmeade: “It is Tax Day, and there are some new signs about how Americans are doing this year. The IRS says refunds are trending much higher, with the White House and Republicans crediting the One Big Beautiful Bill.” During the segment, a displayed graphic pointed to an 11% increase in the average tax refund. Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [4/15/26]
- Fox & Friends Firstco-host Todd Piro: “We went into this tax season thinking because of the One Big Beautiful Bill, that tax refunds this year were going to be enormous.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends First*, [4/15/26]
- ## But Trump’s policies cost Americans far more than any extra refunds they may receive from his tax cuts
- Reuters: “What the Trump tax breaks giveth, the gasoline pump taketh away.” Reuters reported that increased prices at the gasoline pump are “eat[ing] most of the larger tax refunds that people are seeing from new tax breaks on tips, Social Security retirement payments, overtime pay, car loan interest and state and local tax bills that were part of last year's Republican-backed tax-cut legislation.” Reuters further reported: “Economists at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research estimate that war-driven price spikes have pushed up Americans' average annual gasoline costs for this year by $857.” Reuters reported that multiple independent estimates of tax refund increases are higher than the roughly $350 average reported so far, ranging from $560 to $646, but the projected increase in Americans’ gasoline costs alone exceeds all but the Trump administration’s own comparably generous estimate of $1,000 in increased tax savings. Reuters, [4/10/26]
- According to Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee, by the time the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s global tariffs, Americans had paid “an average of roughly $1,745 per family” in tariff-related costs. Joint Economic Committee, [2/20/26]
- Yale’s Budget Lab: Trump’s newly imposed Section 122 tariffs will cost “between about $650 and $780 for the average household” if temporary, or “if they are instead made permanent … the household loss figures would be between $1,130 and $1,340.” Yale’s Budget Lab, [4/2/26]
- An Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy analysis shows that even before Trump’s Iran war spiked fuel prices, “taking all the policies of President Trump and the Republican majority in Congress into account, all but the richest Americans are paying higher taxes on average in 2026 than they did last year.” These policies include “dramatically increased tariffs,” “the termination of the Enhanced Premium Tax Credit” for enrollees in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, and “the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which overwhelmingly benefits the rich and corporations” and includes drastic cuts to Medicaid. ITEP summarized: “The combined impact of these policies in 2026 is a tax increase for the average American in all income groups except the richest 5 percent.” Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, [2/23/26]

- ITEP: “President Trump and Republicans describe OBBBA’s tax breaks for tips, overtime, car loan interest, and seniors as boons for the middle-class but these parts of OBBBA combined only make up about a tenth of its net tax cuts in 2026.” Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, [2/23/26]
// mma
:{04/08/26
:{03/06/26
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mma
04/10/26 2:33 PM EDT
- ### Fox Business guests ridicule the network’s fantasy of 4-5% economic growth this year: “Dream on”
04/10/26
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AN 4 26
Friday brought no shortage of bad economic news, with gas prices remaining high due to the ongoing Hormuz Strait closure, and a key Consumer Sentiments Index hitting an all-time low. But even so, White House Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett is still smiling, much to the vexation of Fox Business host Stuart Varney.
The segment began with a discussion of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed for weeks due to President Donald Trump’s war on Iran, driving sky-high oil prices, which have begun to translate into cost increases to just about everything else. Even so, Hassett attempted to bluff his way through an assertion that prices are coming down, even as Fox displayed a graphic showing price hikes ranging from +4.6 percent for electricity to +44.2 percent for fuel oil.
“While you were talking we had a graphic on the screen that shows all kinds of items that have gone up very significantly,” noted Verney. “I don't think you've won the war on inflation at this point.”
“That’s exactly right,” admitted Hassett.
They continued to discuss the matter of inflation, as a Labor Department report released Friday shows a 3.3 percent increase over the point last year — the highest jump in two years.
Hassett spent a few months trying to dress up the bad economic situation, but Varney wasn’t buying it.
"A fine performance, if I may say,” declared the bemused host. “3.3 percent inflation and you smiled all the way through — as you usually do.”
When asked whether the Strait would reopen within two months, which would hopefully provide some much-needed relief to prices and consumers, Hassett gave a confident affirmation, saying the White House “A team” is currently engaged in negotiations.
The administration’s negotiators have previously been criticized for being “ill-prepared” during previous talks.
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MMA
Fox used California's climate policies to deflect from gas price spike driven by Trump’s war on Iran
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Evlondo Cooper
:{:{Published 03/23/26}:
Fox News and Fox Business coverage of rising gas prices nationwide has singled out California, blaming the state’s climate regulations for skyrocketing fuel costs while downplaying global oil shocks from the Trump administration’s war with Iran.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, opening what has quickly become a large-scale and open-ended conflict, started without congressional authorization, that has been widely criticized as an illegal and unconstitutional war of aggression. The U.S. has joined Israel in targeting Iranian leadership as well as civilian and military infrastructure, while President Donald Trump has signaled an explicit willingness to pursue regime change. These attacks have triggered Iranian retaliation, including efforts to restrict transit through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil chokepoints, helping drive a sharp increase in global crude prices and U.S. gas costs.
Fox's coverage has largely echoed the Trump administration’s framing of the conflict and its economic fallout. Even when Fox has acknowledged that U.S. strikes on Iran have disrupted the global oil supply, that connection is not sustained. Instead, Fox’s coverage has dispersed attention about rising gas prices across a range of explanations, moving between domestic policy factors, claims that price increases will be temporary, and arguments that higher costs are a necessary “sacrifice.” Taken together, these talking points diffuse the link between Trump’s decision to launch the conflict against Iran and the resulting price spike, shifting scrutiny away from the source of the disruption.
However, the focus on California serves a distinct narrative function — by emphasizing the state’s climate regulations, Fox networks depict a global, war-driven supply shock through a familiar domestic political lens, recasting climate policy as part of the problem behind high gas prices rather than a solution to it.
Fox framed California’s high gas prices as a warning about Democratic climate policy during a war-driven price spike
Lying at the entrance to the Persian Gulf from the Sea of Oman, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important oil trade routes, carrying roughly one-fifth of global supply. As the conflict with Iran continues to escalate and shipping through the strait is disrupted, oil prices have soared above $100 per barrel and gas prices have risen sharply across the United States. Analysts have described the conflict as a major supply shock, and the International Energy Agency has called it the largest oil disruption in history.
Rather than linking rising prices to the disruption in global oil supply, segments on Fox News and Fox Business repeatedly shifted attention to California’s long-standing fuel costs, presenting them as evidence that Democratic climate policy is responsible for higher prices.
During the March 9 episode of Fox Business’ *Varney & Co.*, Stuart Varney, introducing Chevron executive Andy Walz, warned of an “economic collapse in California under Gov. [Gavin] Newsom’s climate policy.” Walz picked up the thread, claiming California could eliminate in-state refining and increase dependence on foreign fuel sources. He continued by describing the state as “heading down a path of relying on imports” and predicted that its climate policies could add another $1.20 per gallon to gas prices, which “hurts the people that can least afford it the most.”
On March 11, Fox Business’ *The Evening Edit* acknowledged rising global oil prices tied to the Iran war but pivoted to California, highlighting soaring in-state gas prices. The segment featured a clip from an earlier interview with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who assailed California's climate policies and concluded that the state has “restricted supply and killed their own economy.”
Later that day, Fox News @ Night reinforced the same frame, with guest and former Trump adviser May Mailman claiming that California's policies are designed “not just to make gas more expensive, it's to make gas unavailable. … So when President Trump says he's brought oil prices down, he has created the policies that have allowed energy dominance to thrive in this country.”
On March 14, Energy Secretary Chris Wright invoked the Defense Production Act to order the restoration of drilling operations off the California coast, describing the move as necessary to strengthen domestic supply and energy security. The order provided a new policy rationale for arguments already circulating on Fox.
On March 16, *The Big Money Show* broadened the argument beyond California, with co-host Dagen McDowell pointing to Democratic-led states more generally and claiming that gas taxes imposed “in the name of Mother Nature and climate” are driving up fuel costs for working Americans. On the March 17 episode of The Ingraham Angle, host Laura Ingraham opened an interview with Sable Offshore chairman and CEO Jim Flores by pointing out that California, under Republican leadership in the 1980s, produced “a million barrels a day.” Now, Flores claimed California's declining oil production was “the reason why Trump invoked the Defense Production Act … to make sure that our military is well-fueled.”
By March 18, the narrative framing had hardened further. During the March 18 episode of *The Evening Edit*, host Elizabeth MacDonald lamented that “gas is headed to $8 a gallon in parts of the state, … but now California Democrats are suing to stop the Trump White House from reopening a pipeline offshore from Santa Barbara.” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) agreed with a statement from Wright that California had “strangled its own oil and gas production.” He continued, “We used to be a net exporter. We can produce all of our own oil and natural gas. We've chosen to shut them down, to regulate them out of business,” before concluding, “We clearly are a state in a downward spiral.”
That same framing persisted in the days that followed. During the March 21 episode of Fox Business' The Journal Editorial Report, host Paul Gigot acknowledged that the Iran war was disrupting global energy markets but quickly pivoted to California, telling viewers that gas prices are “much higher” in the state because “Gavin Newsom’s anti-fossil fuel policies make the state more dependent on foreign oil.”
This coverage treats California’s climate measures as unjustified drivers of higher prices, portraying the state as expensive, constrained, and vulnerable. In reality, California's gas prices are often higher than other states' because of policies aimed at cutting pollution, addressing climate change, and reducing reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets. But these regulations are not driving the current spike in gas prices, which follows weeks of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that have disrupted the entire region. Oil markets responded. Prices followed. This is a global supply shock driven by war, not a sudden change in California policy.
Fox used California to redirect blame away from Trump’s war on Iran and U.S. reliance on the fossil fuel economy
Fox's focus on California gas prices comes as another long-running Fox narrative breaks down. For years, the network argued that U.S. “energy independence” would shield Americans from global oil shocks. The current spike, driven by disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz despite record domestic production, directly contradicts that claim. Rather than reckon with that failure, Fox has largely ditched the “energy independence” framing that was so central to its narrative explanation for price spikes under the Biden administration.
Now, the Trump administration’s decision to launch a new conflict in the Middle East becomes less central to how rising prices are understood on Fox, replaced by a familiar domestic argument about Democratic governance. However, this shift does more than redirect blame; it cuts against the reality that energy shocks like this one are a direct consequence of our reliance on fossil fuels and the vulnerable supply routes that sustain them. This is not an abstract risk — it is already happening now, and the global community is increasingly alarmed for the future.
By recasting a war-driven price spike as the product of climate policy, Fox turns that reality on its head, treating a crisis rooted in fossil fuel dependence as evidence against moving away from it.
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MMA
Fox cheers Trump’s repeal of the EPA endangerment finding — a move that could cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars in health care costs
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Allison Fisher
Published 02/13/26
- On February 12, the Trump administration finalized repeal of the endangerment finding – the landmark legal determination that protected Americans by limiting greenhouse gases and carbon pollution from cars, power plants, and other industries. The Associated Press reported last year that the protections mandated by this finding were projected to “prevent an estimated 30,000 deaths and save $275 billion each year they are in effect.”
Ignoring these benefits, Fox News and Fox Businesses personalities celebrated the repeal while pushing climate denial talking points to bolster support for this huge rollback of pollution safeguards — including dismissing the overwhelming scientific evidence that underpins the endangerment finding, suggesting that cold weather in winter somehow disproves climate change, or outright calling climate science a “hoax.”
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has referred to the endangerment finding as “the holy grail of the climate change religion,” while The New York Times reports that “dozens of conservative activists, lawyers, scientists and others had worked for years to prepare the case against the endangerment finding,” including a secretive campaign underwritten by The Heritage Foundation. As documented by Media Matters, this effort has also relied on a decades-long right-wing media campaign to undermine climate science.
- ## Pollution from the burning of fossil fuels is an unequivocal threat to human health and safety
- In 2009, the EPA’s endangerment finding established that greenhouse gases must be regulated because they “cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.” Lisa Jackson, the agency’s first Black administrator, formally “announced an endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, setting the stage for EPA action on climate change. Under her leadership, EPA issued clean air standards designed to reduce emissions from large facilities without burdening small businesses, and a clean cars program.” Environmental Protection Agency, accessed [7/30/25, accessed 7/30/25]
- The Trump administration’s proposed repeal of the endangerment finding, issued in July, was based on arguments made by a handpicked working group of climate contrarians. NBC News reported that “it’s not clear whether the final rule will rely on the same arguments or change its justifications in response to public comments,” while also pointing out that “a judge ruled last month that (Energy Secretary Chris) Wright and the Energy Department had violated transparency laws in the way it formed and operated the working group behind the report.” Media Matters, [7/31/25, 8/14/25; NBC News, 2/10/26]
- EPA regulations reducing greenhouse gases, based on the agency’s own assessment, were projected to “prevent an estimated 30,000 deaths and save $275 billion each year they are in effect.” AP further noted that “experts say the numbers are conservative and that even a partial dismantling of the rules would mean more pollutants such as smog, mercury and lead — and especially more tiny airborne particles that can lodge in lungs and cause health problems.” The Associated Press, [6/5/25]
- :{:{The Trump administration claims that repealing the endangerment finding will benefit the economy — including bringing down the cost of “light-duty cars, S.U.V.s and trucks” — are dubious. The New York Times reported the administration has declined to explain how it assessed the benefits of repealing the finding, with one expert noting, “‘It’s hard to find any math in their assessment that doesn’t seem, frankly, a little bit ridiculous.” On CNN News Central, correspondent Renee Marsh pointed out that by “the EPA’s own data” under the Clean Air Act, “between 1970 and 2023 combined emissions of six common pollutants dropped some 78% and that all happened while the U.S. economy continued to grow,” with a 321% increase in gross domestic product. }:
Marsh continued, “So it's not an either or — you don't have to pick dirty air in order to have a strong economy.” Later in the program, author and climate expert Porter Fox pointed out that “back when the endangerment finding was adopted in 2009, we were looking at a billion-dollar climate disaster roughly every month or so. Now it's every three weeks. So, you know, if Trump is going to claim that $1.3 trillion will be saved by easing these regulations, just do the math. In less than 10 years, we're already going into the red, and those billion-dollar disasters are getting more and more expensive and more and more frequent every year.” The New York Times, [2/12/26; CNN, CNN News Central, 2/12/26, 2/12/26]}:
- Video
Citation
From the February 12, 2026, edition of CNN News Central
- The scientific evidence supporting the endangerment finding has only strengthened since 2009. As reported by Stanford University, “evidence for climate change’s damaging impacts – such as food insecurity, mass migration, and health problems – has only grown since the finding was established.” Meanwhile, the Earth just experienced its hottest decade ever recorded, “the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide – as well as methane and nitrous oxide – are at the highest levels in the last 800,000 years,” and in the U.S. alone there were “two dozen billion-dollar weather and climate disasters in 2025, causing at least 276 fatalities and costing a total of $115 billion in damages.” Stanford Report, [9/19/25; AccuWeather, 3/19/25; ABC News, 1/8/26]
- ## Right-wing media personalities celebrated Trump’s ending of the endangerment finding and pushed climate denial talking points to justify scrapping regulation of greenhouse gas pollutants
- Fox Business host Stuart Varney celebrated news that the Trump administration would end the endangerment finding: “Wave goodbye to the Green New Deal — the energy policies of Obama and Biden are going, going, gone.” Varney said, “If you questioned that finding, the climate crowd called you a denier as if you were denying the Holocaust — the science is in, they said, the argument is over. Not so fast.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [2/10/26]
- Video
Citation
From the February 10, 2026, edition of Fox Business' Varney & Co.
- :{On Fox Business’The Evening Edit, the :{Federalist}:’s Brianna Lyman said: “All we’ve been doing for the past 15 years or so is saddling American consumers and businesses with these regulatory burdens that are expensive and ineffective in the grand scheme of things.” She claimed, “China is responsible for a third of the world's global emissions and a third of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. The United States on its own accounts for about 10% of CO2 emissions, 10% of greenhouse gases, which means 90% of these emissions are coming from other countries. So at the end of the day, no matter what we do here, it is ultimately negligible until countries like China, and India and Russia abide by the same set of standards that we are abiding by, and they don't.”
The argument that the U.S. shouldn’t act to regulate pollution because of the emissions output of other countries has been employed by climate deniers for more than a decade. It discounts the domestic benefits of climate action and the role of U.S. leadership in driving solutions, and also falsely suggests that other countries are not taking action. For example, according to a new analysis, China’s emissions fell by 1% in the last three months of 2025, and the drop “extends the ‘flat or falling’ trend in China’s CO2 emissions that began in March 2024 and has now lasted for nearly two years.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [2/10/26; Newsweek, 12/1/23; Carbon Brief, 12/2/26]}:
- The Bottom Linehost Dagen McDowell called the endangerment finding “an Obama-era rule — shocker — that has been used for years as the foundation to push its climate religion up our wazoo.” McDowell said: “Oh, this is so delicious — the Trump administration about to mark its most sweeping rollback yet. Get 'er done. An Obama-era rule — shocker — that has been used for years as the foundation to push its climate religion up our wazoo.” Fox Business, *The Bottom Line*, [2/10/26]
- Fox Business host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow: “The whole climate change crowd never proved their case” behind the endangerment finding. Kudlow said, “We can argue till we are blue in the face but I will say the whole climate change crowd never proved their case. Or let me put it to you this way. It never proved the existential risk, what I would call the extremist case. I’m not denying that there’s emissions in the air. The question is how much and how bad is it for your everyday health.” Fox Business, T*he Big Money Show*, [2/10/26]
- Video
Citation
From the February 11, 2026, edition of Fox Business' The Big Money Show
- In the same segment about President Donald Trump’s end to the endangerment finding, Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis claimed: “There is no global warming here. Maybe the president is right.” She said, “This idea that the climate is changing — it was negative 8 degrees here on Sunday. There is no global warming here. Maybe the president is right that this is moving, this is the climate doing what it does and that it goes in cycles.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [2/10/26]
- Describing the endangerment finding as “a regulatory wet blanket on the economy,” Fox contributor Marc Thiessen said, “We've got to recognize climate change isn’t an existential crisis. It is a problem that can be managed. … AI will help us find lots of ways to adapt to a warming climate so we can live with it.”Thiessen: “First of all, the regulations were a regulatory wet blanket on the economy that’s now being taken off, which is good for Trump and good for Americans. … We've got to recognize climate change isn’t an existential crisis. It is a problem that can be managed. And the answer is adaptation. … Air conditioning is cheaper than heat. AI will help us find lots of ways to adapt to a warming climate so we can live with it. Because we can't destroy the free market economy in order to stop the planet from warming.” Fox News, *Special Report with Bret Baier,* [2/12/26]
- New York Post columnist Miranda Devine cheered Trump’s repeal of the endangerment finding as “the final nail in the coffin of the climate hoax that we’ve all been laboring under all around the world.” Devine: “Look, it’s absolutely huge. This is really the final nail in the coffin of the climate hoax that we’ve all been laboring under all around the world since at least 20 years ago when Al Gore brought out that piece of propaganda, that apocalyptic movie An Inconvenient Truth that scared, you know, a generation of kids to thinking that really planet would be all burned up by now. You know, their deadlines have kept on have come and gone and nothing has changed. So I think people are now waking up to the fact that it was a hoax.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [2/12/26]
- Video file
Video
Citation
From the February 12, 2026, edition of Fox Business' Kudlow
- Fox & Friendsco-host Brian Kilmeade said the rollback is “really going to be jet fuel for the economy,” adding, “You will be surprised about the impact because they can't back up the science when it comes to the new green mania.”Kilmeade: “It’s really going to be jet fuel for the economy. Cover of the New York Post, cars will cost $2,400 less. You will be surprised about the impact because they can't back up the science when it comes to the new green mania.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/13/26]
//
08/14/25 2:26 PM EDT
07/31/25 12:45 PM EDT
- ### Right-wing media hyped a supposed “shovel” attack against ICE. Prosecutors just dropped the charges.
02/13/26
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Right-wing media rally behind Trump’s efforts to trigger regime change in Cuba
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 02/06/26
After right-wing media pushed for and then celebrated the Trump administration’s ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and seizure of the country’s oil supplies last month, they quickly pivoted to the administration’s reported efforts to overthrow Cuba’s government, which for now primarily involves starving the island of oil.
- ## The Trump administration is working to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, seeking regime change
- President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on imports from countries that provide oil to Cuba. The Guardian reported that an executive order from Trump, “which ratchets up Trump’s pressure to topple the communist government, declares a national emergency and establishes a process for the US secretaries of state and commerce to assess tariffs against countries that sell or otherwise provide oil to the island nation. The White House has yet to specify tariff rates for violating its new policy of blocking Cuba from buying oil.” The Guardian, [1/29/26]
- Mexico announced a pause on oil shipments to Cuba amid reported pressure from the Trump administration. According to The Associated Press, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the decision to pause oil shipments to Cuba “was a ‘sovereign decision’ not made under pressure from the United States,” but it came amid overt Trump administration efforts to isolate the Cuban government and amid threats from Trump to “take military action against Mexican drug cartels.” The Associated Press, [1/27/26]
- Politico: “Trump administration weighs naval blockade to halt Cuban oil imports.” Politico reported: “The Trump administration is weighing new tactics to drive regime change in Cuba, including imposing a total blockade on oil imports to the Caribbean country, three people familiar with the plan said Thursday.” Politico, [1/23/26]
- Trump has said Cuba is “ready to fall” and threatened Cuba to “make a deal, before it is too late.” BBC, [1/11/26]
- Wall Street Journal: “The U.S. Is Actively Seeking Regime Change in Cuba by the End of the Year.” The Wall Street Journal reported: “Emboldened by the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration is searching for Cuban government insiders who can help cut a deal to push out the Communist regime by the end of the year.” The article continued: “In meetings with Cuban exiles and civic groups in Miami and Washington, administration officials have focused on identifying somebody inside the current government who will see the writing on the wall and want to cut a deal.” The Wall Street Journal, [1/22/26]
- ## Right-wing media rally behind the Trump administration’s tactic of starving Cuba of oil and its goal of overthrowing the Cuban government
- Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald on an oil embargo against Cuba: “This is Trump getting communism out of the western hemisphere.” MacDonald asked her guest, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL), “Do you see ... Cuba collapsing [as] a 2026 event?” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [1/26/26]
- Heritage Foundation's Victoria Coates on Fox Business: Cuba is a “proximate threat to the United States. It's been a deadly enemy of the United States for more than 60 years. It would be great to see positive change in Cuba.” Coates continued: “I think we could see that through economic means through this oil embargo. … We have the extraordinary diaspora in the United States starting with the secretary of state, who are prepared to help Cuba in a very positive transition to become a friend of the United States.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [1/28/26]
- America First Policy Institute's Fred Fleitz on Newsmax: “I love Rubio's answer to this. When he was asked, do you favor regime change in Cuba? And he said, yes.” Another guest, former deputy assistant secretary of state Joel Rubin added, “I think the Cuban regime has to go, clearly.” Newsmax, *American Agenda*, [1/28/26]
- Fox Business anchor David Asman: “Let’s hope, let’s pray that the communist system” in Cuba “comes to an end as a result of not having oil.” Asman continued: “I say the same prayers about Nicaragua.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [1/30/26]
- America First Policy Institute’s Carla Sands on Fox Business: “What we're doing is by strangling the energy, we're not allowing Mexico to send energy, we've stopped the Venezuelan energy. I think for the first time in my lifetime there will be regime change” in Cuba. Sands continued: “And I'm sure that the United States has someone in their sights within Cuba, or in the Cuban community in the United States, because they will have to seize power, and then they're going to need a lot of investment to — I mean, to bring Cuba into the 21st century, it's still in the mid 20th century, sadly, for these people, because of communism.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [1/30/26]
- Coates on Fox Business: Letting the Cuban government survive the collapse of the Soviet Union was “a mistake we can’t afford to make again.” Coates added that blockading oil from the island is necessary “to get to the change that everybody, I think, who’s reasonable, wants to see in Cuba.” Fox Business, *The Bottom Line*, [1/30/26]
- Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo to Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL): “Is the Cuban regime entering its final chapter?” Salazar replied: “Thank God for that.” Fox Business, *Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street*, [1/30/26]
- Newsmax guest Antonio Mora: “Few things would make me happier than the collapse of this malignant cancer that has been the Communist Party-dominated regime in Cuba for the last 67 years.”Newsmax, *Saturday Agenda*, [1/31/26]
- Heritage Foundation’s Andrés Martínez-Fernández: It’s a “perfect moment for an opening to be created for a restoration of stability and democracy” in Cuba. Newsmax, *Saturday Agenda*, [1/31/26]
- Coates on Newsmax: “Getting Cuba into a better condition is a great strategic gain.” Coates added that Cuba “is a very proximate threat to us.” Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [2/2/26]
- Fox senior strategic analyst Jack Keane on Cuba: “I think the president's team is moving in the right direction here. Pressure this regime, maximum pressure.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [2/3/26]
- Newsmax guest Tony Shaffer on Trump’s actions against Cuba: “Just sit back and get some popcorn and watch the expatriates get their boats ready to go from Key West into Havana.” Shaffer added that Trump should “just continue to allow their own economy to fail” from an oil embargo. Newsmax, *Wake Up America Early*, [2/3/26]
- Heritage Foundation’s Brent Sadler: “This is not the time to relent on the economic and certainly the military pressure” on Cuba. Sadler added: “So, pressure, much like Iran, the pressure needs to be sustained. The United States has both these terroristic regimes right in the place that we want them, a very weakened one, to get the most out of negotiations, preferably. But this is also a moment in time where the people in both Cuba and Iran can actually seize their own countries back.” Newsmax, *Wake Up America*, [2/3/26]
- Fox Business host Stuart Varney to Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) on Cuban regime change: “When you say push it over, how do we push it over?”Gimenez replied: “I think right now what the president's doing is the right thing. He is basically taking away all the economic benefits that it gets from free oil from Venezuela. They also get free oil from Mexico. He's making sure that they're not going to get free oil from Colombia. I want some more harsher measures against Cuba.” He continued: “And that regime is a cancer, a cancer to the Cuban people, a cancer to the western hemisphere. We need some harsh medicine to cure the patient, Cuba, so that we can get rid of this cancer which is the communist regime that has basically oppressed its own people for over 65 years, and has exported its revolution to the western hemisphere. So they've been a real thorn in our side for a long time, and I'm very glad that the president is taking decisive action.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [_{2/3/26}_]
MMA //
01/06/26
01/07/26
12/11/25
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Marc Morano
Weekly update ⋅ January 30, 2026
Climate change takes a back seat at Davos | Fox Business Video
dagen mac brian --- PROVEN SOLID TECH;
fos fule save eur from winter?
trump oblit climate aGENDA, DROP IN RANKA; NO NET ZERO, SOLAR WIND CANNOT DO AI LOAD; ; CLIMATE HUB NS LIMOSINE; 250 ACTYIONS IN US AND GLOBALLY; GORE REDUCED TO HECKLING; ATTACKED GATES AT COP 30; ROLL INTO HEALTH, PUT VALUE ON RESOURCES/NATURE TEKE CONTROL? GORE FRUSTRATED, CANNOT SAY ICE MELTING; EGO OF FAILE POL DAGEN: CHINA EXPRT GRN TECH BUT NOT MENTION COAL PWR; DO NOT CARE AOUT MO NATRUE OR OWN PPL; LUTNICK SET STRAIGHT
Climate change takes a back seat at Davos | Fox Business Video
Fox Business
ClimateDepot.com executive editor Marc Morano argues that President Donald Trump has 'obliterated' the 'climate agenda' on 'The Bottom Line.'
WEF climate agenda takes a back seat as 'reality hits,' says Marc Morano - Rebel News
Rebel News
At the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Avi Yemini ran into friend of Rebel News and publisher of ClimateDepot.com, Marc Morano. The ...
World Bank President says reducing cash usage is 'very important' and 'the right thing to do'
Rebel News
... Marc Morano · Avi Yemini | January 24, 2026. Next News. 29:58. Featured. SPONSOR | Is silver's sudden surge just the beginning? Guildhall Wealth ...
Boomers offer to defend Canada from a U.S. invasion — Rebel Roundup reacts
Rebel News
'What has the CBC done to the grandparents of eastern and central Canada?' asked Sheila Gunn Reid on Thursday's Rebel Roundup livestream.
Democrat Senator Chris Coons dodges questions after trashing trump in Davos
Rebel News
Avi asked Senator Coons a simple question: is it appropriate for an American senator to debate internal U.S. foreign policy — and attack a sitting ...
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SEE CAFE FOOR HANNITY ETC ~
mma
12/04/25
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MMA
Fox Business guest calls for tariffs of 10 to 12%: “Everyone sort of pays a little bit more”
12/02/25
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GMAIL LOOKS LIKE trish regan ; TAYLOR RIGGS?
October 28, 2025
06:51
SEROIUS BUT NOT END HUMAN 3 TOUGH TRUTHS BAD FOR POOR; 2021 GREAT CHALLENGE; MOORE BLONDE AND BLU BLAZER TAXPAEYERS WORLDWIDE
LIST TO WRING PPL, DAMAge dine al gore not wLKED BACK, HAS FACTS NOW; NOT APOC TECH PROGR AND TECH GROWTH NOT WINDSOLAR; WE WERE RT BULLYING PILEONES OL FACTCHECK FoREIGN, FANCY MTG, PARIS HOAX, STeAL US MONEY AND REDUSTR WEALTH AL GIRE EARLY 2000 NEVER CAME TRUE; WHOLE THING WAS A LIE; MORANO TRUMP DEMOL CLIMATE AGENDA UN FACE TO FACE, MOCKING THEM; GATES REALIZE NO PUSHBACK; AM 1 FARMLAND OWNER, FAKE MEat lab res to block sun put chems up there reality check decades of lies no way to hold together mark carney zero out carbon tax ny hocul energy prces not mamdani; open ai need more energy china 4xx gig vs us xx from coal; wind solar fringe maybe10% china build nukes; elec rates up, need indiv nuke plants at ai sites girl; larry fink says can't do ai? gates exclus pwr 3 mi island.

Bill Gates realizes this is a 'dead end,' argues editor
Committee to Unleash Prosperity co-founder Steve Moore and ClimateDepot.com executive editor Marc Morano weigh in on longtime climate alarmist Bill Gates pivoting his stance and more on 'The Bottom Line.'
Bill Gates realizes this is a 'dead end,' argues editor | Fox Business Video
Fox Business
Committee to Unleash Prosperity co-founder Steve Moore and ClimateDepot.com executive editor Marc Morano weigh in on longtime climate alarmist ...
:{:{---}:
MMA
Murdoch media continues scapegoating renewable energy in New Jersey
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Ilana Berger
Published 10/21/25
Right-wing media are pushing hard to disparage New Jersey’s renewable energy investments, which they misleadingly blame for high electricity rates.
In 2025, New Jersey’s wholesale electric bills rose dramatically, with average residential customers seeing bills climb by roughly 17-20% per month. Next year, ratepayers can likely expect another 1.5 - 5% increase on top of that.
Several factors are contributing to the rate hikes in New Jersey. They include increased demand for electricity to power new data centers and New Jersey grid operator PJM Interconnection’s reported failure to quickly connect renewable projects to the grid. But news outlets owned by the Murdoch family — Fox Business and the editorial boards of The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post — are pinning the blame for electricity costs on renewable energy, insisting that eliminating subsidies for renewable energy and building more fossil fuel infrastructure in the state are among the answers to New Jersey’s cost-of-living crisis.
The Trump administration has taken this approach as well, scrapping billions in renewable energy projects. Increasingly, the consequences consumers are already experiencing elsewhere reveal that a crusade against renewable energy is unlikely to benefit New Jersey or the country as a whole.
Electricity bills have spiked in New Jersey, a result of changes in the state’s energy market
- The rate hike has impacted customers of the regional transmission operator PJM Interconnection, which serves 13 states including New Jersey.Several factors — such as long waiting times for new projects to connect to the grid, growing energy demand, and fossil fuel projects becoming uneconomical and closing — led to tightened supply and caused a dramatic price spike. Regional Plan Association, [8/5/25; Inside Climate News, 8/18/25; Natural Resources Defense Council, 7/25/25]
- State policymakers are frustrated with long timelines for renewable energy projects that could help drive down costs.In late September, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said, “We need to move more quickly on energy-producing projects, and we’ve got to hold down costs. If PJM cannot do that, then Pennsylvania will look to go it alone.” Shapiro, along with 10 other governors from PJM’s member states, “are requesting more say in how PJM allocates its resources and brings generation online,” according to Grist. And according to The Gothamist, although “New Jersey currently has 33 large-scale, shovel-ready solar projects awaiting approval by PJM … many could take a year or 18 months longer to get approval.” Grist, [10/15/25; The Gothamist, 8/19/25]
Murdoch media outlets, hosts, and guests misleadingly blame climate-friendly policies for high energy prices
- Fox Business host Stuart Varney said he blames “green policies” for “skyrocketing electricity prices” in New Jersey.Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [10/16/25]
- Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis claimed that “idiotic proposals” like “investing in renewables” have “taken these rates up,” mentioning New Jersey.DeAngelis continued, “People see what happens when you have President Trump in versus Joe Biden and your gas prices come down and how that feels. We are suffering from these higher electricity prices in blue states because at the helm the governors like Phil Murphy, like Kathy Hochul, they won't do what they need to do to bring those prices down.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show,*[10/3/25]
- Varney said that Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli “has a plan to bring energy prices down” while guest Steve Forbes chided current New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s energy policies. Forbes said that popularity ratings are down for Murphy and New Jersey Democrats because “they won't build a pipeline from Pennsylvania, which has plenty of natural gas, which is low pollution, clean — they won't bring it in. And then windfarms — offshore, kill the whales, bring them onshore, you kill the birds. Not a good combination. And they call it pure energy — no, it's impure when you start with how they get those minerals out of the earth in Africa and elsewhere to make those windfarms.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [9/29/25]
- The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board complained about New Jersey that “as always, Democrats blame business” for rate hikes “rather than change their bad policies,” which include “requiring that 100% of state power come from ‘clean energy’ by 2035.’” The Wall Street Journal, [9/28/25]
- The New York Post Editorial Board said Democratic New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Sherrill’s plan to “tame costs” for residents includes “locking in pricey ‘clean energy’” and falsely claimed that “it’s precisely Democrats’ drive for zero emissions that has sent electric bills soaring.”The New York Post, [9/27/25; Regional Plan Association, 8/5/25]
The anti-renewable energy agenda right-wing media are promoting in New Jersey is playing out across the country, and many are questioning its logic
- After the Trump administration announced it was canceling $8 billion in renewable energy and clean tech projects, some Republicans expressed concerns about projects in their states.Politico spoke to several lawmakers in red states who said they did not know what would become of major energy projects under the cuts, or had contacted the administration for “restoration of those things.” Politico, [10/14/25]
- The governor of Utah recently spoke out against the Trump administration’s efforts to impede a massive solar project in Nevada.“This is how we lose the AI/energy arms race with China,” Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox wrote. He encouraged an “all-of-the-above approach to energy,” but emphasized that “incredible leaps in battery technology completely change the value proposition of solar in the right places.” According to Utility Dive, “The project’s National Environmental Policy Act status is listed as canceled on the Bureau of Land Management’s website.” The Interior Department denied cancelling the project, and said that applicants that were involved could eventually resubmit “individual proposals.“ Canary Media, 10/13/25; Utility Dive, [10/14/25; Twitter/X, 10/10/25]
- The New York Times Editorial Board explained that Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act will also likely drive up electricity prices. The Times pointed to an analysis from the consulting firm National Economic Research Associates, which found that the bill’s “ repeal of the tax credits alone may push electricity prices almost 10 percent higher than they would be otherwise by 2029.” The New York Times, [10/9/25]
- A recent Politico analysis found that “states that embrace renewable energy are far more likely to save money for electricity consumers than those relying on fossil fuels or nuclear power.” Looking at data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Politico found that most states that get a higher than average percentage of their electricity from renewable sources “had below-average electricity rates in June” and that “states that have been the quickest to add wind and solar generation to the grid have had lower power prices.” Politico, [10/7/25]
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10/10/25 10:57 AM EDT
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fox Business host Larry Kudlow urges Trump to seize on the shutdown to fire up to 500,000 more federal workers 10/07/25
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-business-host-larry-kudlow-urges-trump-seize-shutdown-fire-500000-more-federal-workers)
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Fox Business hosts question West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey about necessity of government handouts for coal
Electric bills in the state, which gets 86% of energy from coal, are rising faster than the national average
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Ilana Berger
Published 10/03/25 MMA
Leaders in West Virginia are cheering on Trump’s recently announced effort to aggressively invest in coal, but residents have been feeling the consequences of being forced to rely on energy that is no longer economically viable.
In the September 30 edition of Fox Business’ The Bottom Line, host Dagen McDowell and guest host Guy Benson asked West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey if it was really necessary for the administration to pour $625 million into coal-fired plants, and whether this would ultimately benefit his state.
Benson said, “Some conservatives would say, great, unleash that industry, take off the shackles, but why give taxpayer money?”
McDowell later followed up by asking, “Do you need this money from the federal government? What does the coal industry need it for?”
Morrisey’s familiar answers to these questions parroted those of some right-wing media figures and other Trump officials who have tried to use AI to bolster the fossil fuel industry.
“We’re looking to make sure that we can increase coal production. And so there’s going to be an important use to get the mines to be able to last for another 20- 25 years, the power plants to last another 20-25 years. You have to have that base load power, otherwise you’re not going to compete with China,” he said. “China is producing one coal fire power plant after another. And they’re doing it in order to gain supremacy for AI and for data and technology. America must view this as a national security fight.”
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From the September 30, 2025, edition of Fox Business' The Bottom Line
Data center construction to power AI will indeed require massive amounts of energy. OpenAI recently announced a plan to build a series of new data centers with Nvidia, which would use “close to the total electricity demand of Switzerland and Portugal combined,” according to Fortune.
The demand is contributing to rising electric costs across the nation, which right-wing media inaccurately have blamed on Democrat-led decarbonization efforts. Ignoring tech companies’ lobbying efforts to keep renewable energy tax credits specifically for powering data centers, the Trump administration canceled $7.56 billion in funding for “projects aimed at research and deployment of clean energy and other climate-friendly technology” on October 1. This figure does not include the other $14 billion in clean energy projects that were scrapped or downsized as of May.
Even some on Fox News have pointed out that this strategy could conflict with Trump’s stated goals for energy production. The administration's massive effort to hinder renewable energy and revive coal is similarly confounding if the goal is to compete with China, whose solar and wind installations in May alone “could generate as much electricity as Poland, Sweden or the United Arab Emirates.”
During the Fox Business interview, Morrissey claimed that “taxpayers were really getting hurt tremendously in recent years with a lot of these green new deal scams” and that more coal is necessary “for the ability of the country to survive long-term to meet the energy demands of tomorrow.”
Taxpayers in West Virginia are hurting in part because the state gets about 86% of its electricity from coal. On the same day that Trump announced his plan for coal, The New York Times reported that “the state’s electricity costs have risen much faster than the national average.” Though the average cost for electricity is still below average, West Virginians tend to earn less overall than elsewhere, with a 2024 average salary about $23,000 less than the national average.
The Times explained that on top of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine squeezing energy prices, regulators are pushing utilities in West Virginia into long-term contracts with coal plants, even as some plants shut down because of “failing demand for their products nationally.” For example, the electric utility Appalachian Power is “locked into contracts that require it to buy coal at relatively high prices.”
The very policies that Morrisey and Trump denounce have actually helped spur major economic growth in West Virginia. In Weirton, Form Energy's battery production plant created hundreds of jobs, hiring former steelworkers. When the project broke ground in 2023, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources put out a press release on then-Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) attendance of the ceremony in Weirton, West Virginia, saying, “Form Energy’s investment in West Virginia is a result of the Inflation Reduction Act.”
In December 2024, the think tank Rocky Mountain Institute predicted that West Virginia’s funding potential from the IRA could have been $17 billion, 60% of which could have gone toward the electricity sector.
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09/26/25 2:39 PM EDT
09/26/25 9:26 AM EDT
09/24/25
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Frequent Fox appearances are central to the Trump administration's climate and energy misinformation strategy
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Evlondo Cooper
Research contributions from Harrison Ray
Published 09/29/25
Fox News and Fox Business have not simply covered President Donald Trump’s destructive climate and environmental agenda — they have served as the administration’s preferred vehicles for selling it to the public.
Since late July, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum have made dozens of appearances across Fox News and Fox Business programs to defend the proposed repeal of the EPA’s endangerment finding, shift blame for soaring electricity bills away from fossil fuel volatility, and portray offshore wind projects as both unreliable and dangerous.
By turning to Fox networks, senior Trump officials gain a platform where destructive environmental deregulation is framed as common sense and basic policy questions are never asked. What emerges from these appearances is not legitimate debate or accountability journalism, but a symbiotic relationship that allows the Trump administration to launder harmful misinformation through Fox’s news and opinion programming — leaving viewers with a distorted picture of climate science, energy policy, and the real stakes of the administration’s environmental rollbacks.
Topline findings
- Doug Burgum, Chris Wright, and Lee Zeldin have appeared a combined 36 times on Fox networks from July 29 through September 21. Zeldin and Burgum are tied for the most appearances during this period, with 13 apiece, followed by Wright with 10.
- Fox Business’Mornings with Maria Bartiromofeatured the three Trump administration officials the most, with 8 total appearances, followed by the network’sVarney & Co.(7 combined appearances) and Fox News’America Reports(5 appearances). Kudlow, The Ingraham Angle, and Fox & Friends each hosted the Trump officials twice during the studied period.
- ## Trump officials used Fox appearances to push misinformation after the administration proposed repealing the EPA’s landmark endangerment finding
- While Fox networks have spread misleading claims about climate and energy for years, the appearances by administration officials in the weeks following the proposed repeal of the endangerment finding released on July 29 offer a snapshot of how they work hand-in-hand with the Trump White House to downplay the scientific basis for greenhouse gas regulation, distort the causes of rising electricity prices, and attack renewable energy.
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin
Zeldin has leaned on Fox’s coverage to launder claims that climate regulations are illegitimate and that reliance on renewable energy is driving economic pain.
During the August 13 episode of Fox Business’ Kudlow, Zeldin argued that the endangerment finding — a 2009 scientific determination that provided the legal framework for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions — rested on “a lot of mental leaps” and claimed that “the Clean Air Act doesn’t make any reference to the greenhouse gases.” (In reality, the Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA ruling explicitly found that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants under the Act.) He paired that dismissal with charges that Obama-era scientific findings were exaggerated and “pessimistic,” and closed the segment by promoting natural gas pipelines as the only path to affordable energy and job growth.
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From the August 13, 2025, episode of Fox Business' Kudlow
- During the September 1 episode of Fox News’ One Nation with Brian Kilmeade, Zeldin presented Trump’s deregulatory agenda as the backbone of U.S. “energy dominance,” dismissing offshore wind projects as inefficient and unreliable for consumers. In contrast, he again portrayed fossil fuel expansion — particularly natural gas — as both environmentally superior and essential for national security.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright
Wright has similarly leaned on Fox to attack renewable energy as too costly, unreliable, and an obstacle to America’s economic and technological ambitions. He also used his appearances to make sweeping claims that fossil fuel expansion is the only realistic path forward and to blame renewable energy for electricity price increases.
During a segment about the “importance of unleashing U.S. energy” to meet growing demand from artificial intelligence on the September 4 episode of Fox & Friends, Wright told viewers that artificial intelligence represents “perhaps the highest use of electricity.” Later that day on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, Wright described offshore wind projects as a “guaranteed” driver of higher electricity costs, telling host Laura Ingraham that wind and solar are “variable, parasitic sources” that make the power grid less reliable and more expensive. He also claimed that by adopting offshore wind, the United States would be “competing for the most expensive electricity in the world.” Ingraham did raise the issue of higher electricity costs during the Trump administration but allowed Wright to spin, evade, and double down on falsely blaming renewable energy.
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From the September 4, 2025, edition of Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle
- On the September 19 episode of Fox Business’ Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, Wright labeled global investment and uptake of renewables such as wind and solar as a “complete trainwreck” and insisted that climate change is a “slow-moving, gradual phenomenon, nowhere near a crisis or a disaster.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum
Burgum has also used Fox appearances to promote the administration’s fossil fuel expansion agenda while attacking renewables as unreliable and costly.
During the August 2 episode of Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street, Burgum defended the administration’s proposed rollback of the endangerment finding, agreeing with Zeldin and Wright that the EPA had overstepped its authority. He also blamed increased energy costs on Obama- and Biden-era climate regulations, pushed deregulation as a way to unleash economic growth, and attacked offshore wind.
- Video file
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From the August 2, 2025, episode of Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street
- On the August 20 episode of Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, Burgum announced a sweeping offshore oil and gas leasing plan while continuing to attack offshore wind. He tied fossil fuel production to U.S. dominance in the race for artificial intelligence, claiming that only coal and gas could deliver the electricity needed for growth, and contrasted this with “blue state” reliance on renewables, which he described as intermittent, subsidized, and responsible for high electricity costs.
- ## The climate and energy realities Fox keeps from its audience
- Fox networks have repeatedly provided Zeldin, Wright, and Burgum with a platform to repeat administration talking points and propaganda without pressing them on the evidence that undercuts their claims. As a result, Fox viewers have been left with a curated narrative that omits the most important facts.
For example, on Kudlow, after Zeldin dismissed the endangerment finding as “a lot of mental leaps,” Fox host and former Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow never pointed out that it was grounded in the Supreme Court’s 2007 Massachusetts v. EPA decision and decades of scientific consensus. Nor did viewers hear that it has prevented hundreds of thousands of premature deaths and delivered billions in net economic benefits.
And when Wright insisted that renewables drive up electricity prices on The Ingraham Angle, the Fox host did not mention that analysts instead point to fossil fuel volatility, surging demand from AI data centers, and Trump’s own decision to roll back and cancel renewable energy projects as the primary drivers of increased electricity costs.
On Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, as Burgum railed against offshore wind energy and celebrated coal and gas as the foundation of energy dominance, Bartiromo never noted that solar energy combined with battery storage is now the cheapest and fastest-to-build source of new power, or that clinging to coal plants saddles consumers with higher bills while increasing pollution. Instead, the segment cast fossil fuels as the only reliable option, ignoring the economic and health benefits of renewables.
The Trump administration’s reliance on Fox News and Fox Business is not incidental; it is a core communications strategy. By prioritizing their appearances on Fox networks, officials like Zeldin, Wright, and Burgum gain access to a powerful megaphone while shielding themselves from scrutiny or accountability. Fox’s “straight news” programs give their talking points the appearance of neutrality, and its opinion hosts repeat and amplify those same claims until they harden into conventional wisdom.
The result is the laundering of misleading talking points: Administration officials feed misinformation into Fox, the network recycles and legitimizes it, and audiences are left with a propagandistic narrative that obscures the public health costs of climate change and environmental deregulation and dismisses the economic benefits of clean energy.
- ## Methodology...
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Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo pushes raising retirement age for Social Security
09/18/25
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Marc Morano
Weekly update ⋅ September 26, 2025
Trump's climate speech should be 'EPIC': Marc Morano - YouTube
YouTube
ClimateDepot.com executive editor Marc Morano discusses President Donald Trump's upcoming speech on fossil fuels and more on 'The Bottom Line.
Trump makes global push for fossil fuels | Fox Business Video
Fox Business
ClimateDepot.com executive editor Marc Morano discusses President Donald Trump's upcoming speech on fossil fuels and more on 'The Bottom Line.'
omfg
ClimateDepot.com executive editor Marc Morano discusses President Donald Trump's upcoming speech on fossil fuels and more on 'The Bottom Line.'
fox biz 6 min
Kerry
ghoul climate colonialiam told Africa 3 yrs ago threat ff pjts will not get funded or make profit; stay in dark poverty yto keep ff in gnd bc not good for climate; world cannot have AC; yellin straw hut praise for climate commitment, lectuered, trump sp UN will be epic, let them have it tomorrow; black hole of finance, sucking anti-human; 1 in 5 carbon offsets 1/5 land owned by wealth euro; trump try to do rt thing, allow poor to catch up; renewable energy racists; let us use the word they will use; easier to change gender than energy; make buraucrats wealthy in dev world; leftwing lunaverse; ca nerwsom sued big oil refinery shit dn chevron leave state; only buy EV overturne EPA waiver rescinded; impoverish entire state; after 25 yrs pounding FF corps; gavin run for prez; delsy cap, minor restrictions; fraud imprting refined oil from Iraq brazil low emission GND fantasies; ...? pll of ca voted for this; hypocrisy newsome went to china byb ron popeil; china biggest carbon emitter.
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Some on Fox question Trump's efforts to hinder new renewable projects as power demand and electricity bills skyrocket
After weeks of blaming renewable energy for skyrocketing electricity prices across the country, at least three personalities appear to push back
Special Programs
Climate & Energy
Written by Ilana Berger
:{:{Published 08/29/25}:
In three recent segments, Fox personalities questioned the Trump administration’s efforts to block new renewable energy projects as increased demand for electricity to power new data centers drives rate hikes.
Between 2021 and 2024, average monthly residential electricity bills went up by about $22 per month. Now, energy prices are rising twice as fast as the cost of inflation. According to The Guardian, a recent report from the think tank Energy Innovation found that, “Household electricity bills have increased by 10% since Donald Trump re-entered the White House.”
Several factors, including the cost of equipment updates in response to extreme weather events and an increase in demand for electricity, are contributing to the rate hikes. In New Jersey, grid operators have reportedly been slow to connect new energy projects, with many renewable and storage projects waiting in interconnection queues. In the first five months of 2025, renewable energy projects accounted for 91% of new electricity generation. But much more is needed to help lower the cost of electricity.
One such project is Revolution Wind, a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that is expected to power “more than 350,000 homes.” Or at least, it was. On August 22, Trump issued a stop-work order on the project.
A few Fox voices begin to pierce through the network’s (and the president’s) anti-renewable agenda
Fox News has scrambled to find a way to blame rate hikes on renewable energy, recently focusing on New Jersey after wholesale electric bills in the state rose by 20% in 2025.
But in an August 26 segment of Varney & Co., Fox correspondent Madison Alworth discussed the stop-work order in Rhode Island for “national security concerns” and concluded that “at the end of this are those folks that are left in the lurch the ratepayers? Because energy bills, they just continue to go up.”
Host Stuart Varney then asked, “And they haven't spelled out what is the national security concern with the project, have they?” Alworth replied that “they have not.” Varney continued, “I thought we wanted all forms of energy to power AI, wind included.”
Fox contributor and wealth management CEO Mark Tepper told Varney, “That would make sense but what we really want is consistent energy sources, and wind is known to be intermittent. It’s inconsistent.”
(Though he appeared to question the administration’s directive in the moment, Varney has hosted Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to push anti-renewable energy talking points unchallenged in defense of cancelling the wind project.)
During an August 23 interview on Fox News Live, correspondent Rich Edson asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin why it was necessary to halt a nearly-finished offshore wind farm.
“What’s the problem with this wind farm in Rhode Island?” Edson asked. Zeldin replied that Trump is “not a fan of wind,” pointed to largely overblown claims of negative environmental impacts, and added that, “Our country needs more baseload power. … It’s just not an honest approach to this entire energy conversation if we start acting as if wind is going to be a substitute for all of those things.”
In an unusual move for Fox, Edson continued to challenge Zeldin. “This project is apparently largely almost finished,” he continued. “You’ve got AI, you’ve got the electrification of everything around us. I mean, we just need power. Why would you take any power offline?”
Later in the segment, after Zeldin plugged a proposed natural gas pipeline, Edson continued to press the question of renewables, asking, “Is there room for both, though?”
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From the August 23, 2025, edition of Fox News' FOX News Live
Edson and Varney haven't been the only Fox employees to push back recently.
In an August 22 Fox Business segment, anchor Cheryl Casone interviewed Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), a leading anti-renewable voice in New Jersey. Casone asked “The critics will say yeah, sure, but the money was already put through, these projects have already begun, so you’re going to get a lot of job losses. I'm curious if you worry about that?”
She also referenced that this is a nationwide issue, pointing out higher rates in Connecticut and Maine, saying, “The EIA reports that there’s going to be a 13% rise in electricity costs from 2022-2025 just in general. So this is a major problem. And now with AI data centers, we need all the energy.”
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From the August 22, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria
Van Drew replied that “this was all about virtue signalling and nothing about reality.” He said he worked with Trump to make offshore wind “a dead industry because it does nothing good for New Jersey.”
Casone later mentioned how Trump’s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill, eliminated the 30% solar tax credit for home owners, adding, “I know there’s a lot of solar use in New Jersey.”
Trump’s energy policies contradict his promises
Trump is actively shrinking potential energy supply and killing hundreds of “good union jobs” by halting the construction of the Revolution Wind Project, which began in 2023.
According to Ørsted, the company behind the project, Revolution Wind is 80% finished. It has reportedly created 1,200 jobs in the region, including 300 union jobs.
Trump promised to “cut energy and electricity prices in half within 12 months” during his 2024 campaign. Instead, the administration is actively pumping the brakes on new energy projects, and costs are up and expected to continue rising. In fact, the Rhodium Group predicts that “new clean capacity additions to the grid will shrink by 57-62% from 2025 through 2035,” tightening energy supply as demand grows. And since Trump took office, 64,000 renewable energy jobs have been cut or paused. BloombergNEF also recently found that billions of dollars in investments are leaving the U.S. in response to Trump’s anti-renewable energy policies.
Experts also say that Trump’s tariffs will make the grid less reliable by making batteries more expensive. According to Wood Mackenzie, Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports could mean that “the cost of a utility scale solar facility in the US will be 54% more expensive than in Europe and 85% more expensive than a new solar plant built in China.”
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President Donald Trump’s pick to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, is facing backlash after reports that he would consider suspending the crucial monthly jobs report, calling it flawed.
“How on earth are businesses supposed to plan – or how is the Fed supposed to conduct monetary policy – when they don’t know how many jobs are being added or lost in our economy? It’s a serious problem that needs to be fixed immediately,” Antoni told Fox Business.
His solution is to publish the data less often—a move that could send shockwaves through the business world.
“Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data,” he said. “Major decision-makers from Wall Street to D.C. rely on these numbers, and a lack of confidence in the data has far-reaching consequences.”
READ MORE: Revealed: Pentagon Planning Rapid-Deploy ‘Reaction Force’ to Quell Civilian Dissent
President Trump fired the previous Commissioner of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after the BLS released downward revisions of more than 250,000 for April and May.
“I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer,” Trump wrote in an August 1 social media post, baselessly accusing her of having “faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s chances of Victory.”
The 141-year-old Bureau of Labor Statistics is an independent statistical agency and part of the U.S. Department of Labor. Installing what critics are calling a highly partisan commissioner would be unprecedented in modern times.
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich issued a warning: “The independence of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is vital. If politicized, it can’t be trusted as a source of information. Who did Trump just put in charge of the agency? E.J. Antoni — chief economist at the Heritage Foundation and contributor to Project 2025.”
“On top of being the Heritage Foundation’s Chief Economist, E.J. Antoni is literally the 5th Contributor named in Project 2025,” noted journalist Ahmed Baba. “You can’t make this up. Trump is seeking to put the BLS — and America’s economic data — in the hands of a Project 2025 extremist.”
READ MORE: Trump Melts Down Over Elizabeth Warren’s Accusations
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Inside the alliance between right-wing media and Trump “Border Czar” Tom Homan
As the public recoils from “Alligator Alcatraz” and Trump’s mass deportation agenda, conservative outlets work overtime to help Homan mislead their audiences
Written by John Knefel
Research contributions from Tyler Monroe
Published 08/07/25
When Harris Faulkner concluded a recent interview with Tom Homan — President Donald Trump’s “border czar” tasked with carrying out the administration’s mass deportation operations — she did so with a benediction.
“God bless you, Tom Homan, for keeping us safe,” the Fox News anchor said solemnly.
Fox host Jesse Watters took a different, more threatening approach when he demanded that Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL), who is Guatemalan American, “acknowledge” that “no other country is as great as the United States,” and “if she doesn't, I'm calling Homan — she's going home.”
The devotion that Faulkner and Watters show to Homan is hardly unique in right-wing media. More than any other figure in Trump’s inner circle save perhaps deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Homan is the person conservative outlets turn to when they need someone in Trump-world to champion the administration’s increasingly unpopular immigration policies.
According to a Media Matters review, Homan has appeared on Fox News 78 times this year and an additional 20 times on Fox Business, making him the most frequent Trump administration guest on the Fox networks since Trump's inauguration. But his reach in conservative media extends far beyond those appearances.
Over the month of July, right-wing media fawned over Homan in interviews, aiding him in manufacturing false narratives about widespread migrant crime and encouraging him to threaten so-called sanctuary cities with increased raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Conservative interviewers also ignored or downplayed horrific conditions at a Florida immigrant detention camp known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” including allegations that detainees had been subjected to overflowing toilets, food filled with worms, and had been chained to the ground. A whistleblower just came forward describing “inhumane conditions” at the facility. These interviewers simultaneously offered Homan a platform to wildly inflate the number of so-called criminals and “national security threats” that ICE had arrested.
This dynamic illustrates the symbiotic relationship between Homan, who had his own lucrative career as a conservative pundit and consultant, and the right-wing media ecosystem — where each party has an incentive to demonize immigrants, ignore critical reporting, and create narratives about social disorder that they attribute to immigrant communities, all in the service of Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
“God bless you, Tom Homan”: Right-wing media’s month of softball interviews with Trump’s border czar
On July 1, a day before officials at Alligator Alcatraz began concentrating people in the encampment, Homan appeared on Charlie Kirk’s influential podcast.
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From the July 1, 2025, edition of The Charlie Kirk Show, streamed on Rumble
“Tell us about the significance of Alligator Alcatraz,” Kirk began. “What is it and what will it be used for?”
After Homan offered his standard anti-immigrant boilerplate to plead on behalf of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, Kirk responded: “You’re doing a wonderful job.”
“We have your back, Tom Homan,” Kirk said at the conclusion of the interview, calling for “10 million deportations” after Homan promised to “flood the zone with sanctuary cities,” declared “zero tolerance” for those who impede ICE operations, and defended ICE personnel (“They’re not Nazis”).
Appearing on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom on July 7, anchor Bill Hemmer asked Homan about the new facility in southern Florida and whether other states might be willing to open similar sites. Homan took aim at people who opposed the administration’s approach, complaining that blue states are “too busy attacking ICE and they’re too busy attacking Trump’s policies,” referring to a shooting at an immigrant detention facility in Texas on July 4. Hemmer responded: “On that point, could this get ugly?” It was his only follow-up question.
Homan had a busy following day. Fox News’ Martha MacCallum interviewed him and didn’t ask about Alligator Alcatraz. Neither did Newsmax’s Greg Kelly, though the host found the time to shower Homan with praise, saying “you guys are on fire,” and “nobody knows the law better than you.” (Kelly also incorrectly stated, “Habeas corpus is great, but I don't think it applies to an illegal alien,” echoing a larger right-wing media campaign to suspend due process protections for immigrants.) Fox Business host and former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow introduced Homan by calling him “one of my great heroes.” Kudlow also didn’t bring up Alligator Alcatraz.
Homan has appeared on Fox News 78 times this year and an additional 20 times on Fox Business, making him the most frequent Trump administration guest on Fox by far
On July 10, Fox anchor John Roberts asked Homan three questions, all about sensational but unrepresentative examples of immigrants committing acts of violence. “There could be more, and that’s truly frightening,” Roberts said to conclude the segment.
:{:{Kirk hosted Homan for a VID]}:
lengthy, in-person at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit on July 12. “The great Tom Homan,” Kirk said by way of introduction. “The legendary Tom Homan.” During their interview, Kirk declared that “we need to get rid of birthright citizenship” and claimed that “the legal Hispanics” support mass deportation. (A Gallup poll from July 11 found 91% of Hispanic Americans support a pathway to citizenship, and only 23% support deporting all immigrants without legal status.)}:
Alligator Alcatraz didn’t come up during a July 11 interview on Fox & Friends or a July 16 interview on Hannity. Newsmax host Rob Schmitt also failed to bring up the facility in his interview with Homan, though he began the segment by accusing the administration’s opponents of throwing “every possible sob story at you guys.”
On July 18, Fox Business guest host Cheryl Casone began her interview with Homan by asking about the administration’s stated goal of reopening Alcatraz prison in San Francisco as a migrant detention center before shifting her focus to its namesake in southern Florida, suggesting it might serve as a template for other states.
“What do you make of this idea of these other states that could do something similar to what they’ve done in Florida, which is Alligator Alcatraz,” Casone said. “I mean, this facility was created very quickly, and many lawmakers have been down there. They said that it is safe. You know, all of these Democrats yelling and saying it was going to be dangerous — it’s not.”
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From the July 18, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings With Maria Bartiromo
That was the same day that Fox News’ Faulkner blessed Homan at the end of her interview. Alligator Alcatraz went unmentioned.
Homan was back on Hannity on July 21, during which the eponymous host asked him three questions, all of which centered on — and inflated — the risk of so-called migrant crime. Two days later, Homan was on another Fox prime-time show, this time The Ingraham Angle, appearing over a chyron that read: “Illegals’ reign of terror.”
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From the July 23, 2025, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
The next afternoon on America Reports, Roberts’ questions again gave Homan a chance to criticize sanctuary city policies. The anchor concluded the segment by reminding his audience that Homan had “vowed to flood the zone there in New York City” with ICE agents.
On July 29, Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones framed Homan and ICE as dispassionately following the law. “There’s laws on the books you guys have to enforce,” Jones said, adding later, “You don’t get to selectively enforce when a judge has signed an order, right?” (The Washington Post found that the second Trump administration has defied more than 1 in 3 judicial rulings, including in high-profile cases regarding immigration and deportation.)
Homan uses right-wing media to spread false talking point that 70% of ICE arrestees are criminals, the rest are “national security threats”
A closer look at one of Homan’s latest talking points helps illustrate how the right-wing media ecosystem seeks to bolster support for Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.
In the July 29 Fox & Friends interview, Homan claimed that “70% of the people we are arresting are criminals. Hard stop: 70%.”
“Who are the other 30%?” Homan continued. “The other 30% are national security threats.”
He reiterated later: “We’re arresting 70% criminals, and the rest are national security threats and those with final orders.”
Homan didn’t offer a citation for those figures, and Jones didn’t ask for one. Neither did NewsNation anchor Markie Martin, who interviewed Homan the same morning.
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From the July 29, 2025, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
“Seventy percent of everybody we arrest is a criminal,” Homan repeated later that day on Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime. “Who is the other 30%? National security threats, final orders of deportation, gang members.”
Note the rhetorical slippage, as Homan moves from an unequivocal statement that 30% of people detained by ICE are national security threats to squishier phrasing that also includes immigrants with an order of deportation.
Over the next 48 hours, Homan made nearly identical versions of the claim on Newsmax’s The National Report, Fox Business’ Varney & Co., and OAN’s Real America with Dan Ball. None of these programs offered even mild pushback, much less the full debunking the claim deserves.
Homan’s first claim that 70% of ICE arrestees are criminals appears to have first been used in a Department of Homeland Security press release from June 26, which quoted DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin as saying: “Under the Trump Administration 70% of illegal aliens arrested have been convicted or charged with a crime beyond illegally entering our country.” The figure has been included in at least seven subsequent releases.
Even granting Homan the benefit of the doubt in his failure to distinguish between a criminal conviction and a charge, the DHS stat appears to be incorrect, according to media reports and other independent sources that cite ICE’s own data.
On June 24, CBS News reported that “federal statistics show nearly half — or 47% — of those currently detained by ICE lack a criminal record and fewer than 30% have been convicted of crimes.”
The Associated Press, citing ICE data, reported that “as of June 29, there were 57,861 people detained by ICE, 41,495 — 71.7% — of whom had no criminal convictions.” Of that subset, 14,318 people had pending criminal charges, meaning that about 53% of arrestees either had a criminal conviction or pending criminal charges.
According to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which collects government data, 24% of ICE detainees were facing criminal charges as of July 13 and 28% had a criminal conviction, though TRAC adds: “Many of those convicted committed only minor offenses, including traffic violations.”
Even the scant evidence in the public record that purports to bolster Homan’s claim undercuts the Trump administration’s larger argument that it’s targeting the so-called worst of the worst.
On July 16, CBS News reported that “of the estimated 100,000 people who were deported between January 1 and June 24 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 70,583 were convicted criminals, according to an ICE document” obtained by the network — though “most of the documented infractions were traffic or immigration offenses.” (It’s not clear what accounts for the discrepancy between the CBS News report and other publicly available data.)
As to Homan’s second claim that the remaining 30% of ICE arrestees are “national security threats,” it appears to be the product of the Trump border czar’s own imagination. The statistic doesn’t appear in any DHS press releases from this year, and doesn’t seem to exist in the public domain beyond Homan’s own claim. Although Homan occasionally tempers his talking point by including people with removal orders, the message to conservative audiences is clear, as illustrated by the NewsNation headline: “Border czar says ICE arrests include 70% criminals, 30% threats.”

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From an article published on NewsNation on 7/29/25
Using TRAC’s most recent numbers, ICE is holding 56,816 people — meaning that by Homan’s reasoning, more than 17,000 are national security threats. By contrast, the July 16 CBS News report found that “3,256 of the more than 100,000 people removed were known or suspected gang members or terrorists,” which is roughly 3%. (Databases that purport to list terrorists and “gang members” are also notoriously inaccurate and filled with false positives and other errors.)
Homan’s baseless assertion that 30% of ICE arrestees are national security threats — including people who simply have an order of removal — functions as a rhetorical sleight-of-hand that won’t be challenged in right-wing media. The Trump administration has absurdly claimed that unauthorized migration amounts to an “invasion.” Working backwards from there, Homan apparently concludes that any person in the United States without legal status is therefore a matter of national security.
This hall of mirrors, where regular people going about their lives are transformed into violent threats to community safety, inverts the actual dynamics at play. Right-wing outlets that serve as platforms for Homan to demonize immigrants are actually putting communities at risk, and now their coverage has helped lay the foundations for ICE and the Florida Division of Emergency Management to open a remote detention camp in southern Florida rife with abuse.
Cascading reports of horrific conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz”
Right-wing media have amplified Homan’s fearmongering even as they have largely ignored or downplayed the harms ICE is causing throughout the country, as embodied most viscerally at Alligator Alcatraz. That campaign of ignorance notwithstanding, the public has had access to horror stories from the southern Florida facility virtually from its first hours of operation.
Officials began holding people at the facility on July 2, and by July 4 reports of harsh living conditions were already starting to emerge. NBC 6 Miami reported the encampment faced swarms of mosquitos, heavy downpours, and high temperatures, all of which were standard fare for the remote area of southern Florida. The outlet later spoke with a detained man who said there was “no water here to bathe,” that the fluorescent lights were always on, and that the food, which detainees were given once a day, “has worms in it.” Another person held there had been denied his medication.
On July 9, The Miami Herald published a lengthy investigation into Alligator Alcatraz, reporting that detainees had no access to showers or water with which to flush the toilets, that giant bugs had breached the tent walls, and that temperatures whipsawed between freezing cold and swelteringly hot. Many of those details were subsequently confirmed by The Associated Press, which added that there were “flooding floors with fecal waste,” and The Washington Post, which reported that some detainees had been “shackled to a bench.”
Conditions only deteriorated from there. On July 22, NBC News reported a man held at the facility had developed fungus on his feet from the standing water and overall poor sanitation. The same day, The Guardian cited immigration advocates who claimed at least six people sent to the facility had been hospitalized. WLRN Public Media spoke on the phone to a migrant in the camp, who said guards “chained me to the ground,” forced him to stand in the sun without water from 1-7 p.m., and “called him the n-word.”
Lawyers and immigration advocates for the detainees have sued in federal court, alleging that the Trump administration and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have created a legal black hole where the ultimate jurisdiction for the facility is deliberately opaque. “This is an unprecedented situation where hundreds of detainees are held incommunicado, with no ability to access the courts, under legal authority that has never been explained and may not exist,” the plaintiffs argued. Detainees there have reportedly gone on hunger strike, though DHS denies the claim. Videos show ambulances entering and leaving the facility repeatedly over the course of several days.
In short, Alligator Allcatraz is operating as an extrajudicial concentration camp designed to disappear and punish immigrants largely outside formal legal processes. If Tom Homan and his MAGA media allies have their way, it won’t be the last. DeSantis has already suggested his state will soon unveil a second detention camp, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the government is looking to open similar facilities in Arizona, Nebraska, and Louisiana. On August 5, Noem announced a second camp would be opened in Indiana, dubbed the “Speedway Slammer.”
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Former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar noticed even Fox News reporting unexpected rising inflation on Thursday.
“The PCE price index: This is the number that the fed pegs its 2 percent inflation target to. It came in hotter than expected, rising for the second month 2.6 percent,” said an analyst on Fox News ‘Mornings with Maria’ with host Maria Bartiromo. “The expectation was 2.5 percent.”
Reuters similarly reported the PCE price index advancing 2.6 percent after increasing 2.4 percent in May. Economists suspected businesses were still “selling inventory accumulated before President Donald Trump's sweeping import duties came into effect.” However, they expected goods prices to rise in the second half, with businesses passing on higher costs from Trump’s tariffs to consumers.
READ MORE: 'You guys made this happen': Dems find a way to stick it to a furious GOP
Social media took the news bitterly, with one critic posting on X that “You didn’t have to show me these numbers for me to know that inflation is rising. Everything is getting more expensive.”
“We can feel it in our wallets, everything is more expensive and Trump is to blame for it,” said another commenter on X.
Virginia Democratic organization Arlington Democrats labeled the inflation hike “Trumpflation” and added that Trump’s tariff “are crushing Americans.”
“It’s almost as if electing a s————— businessman and letting him run roughshod over our economy was a really bad idea,” said another critic.
READ MORE: Behind the real reason Americans voted for Trump
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll revealed 50 percent of U.S. adults beleive Trump’s policies were affecting them financially, with only 18 percent of respondents saying they felt better off. Additionally, as inflation rises, MSNBC reports there are signs that people are holding Trump responsible for the increasing prices. The same CBS poll found a whopping 62% believe Trump’s policies are making food and groceries more expensive.
A recent Fox News poll found 62 percent of voters disapproving of Trump’s handling of inflation.
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Fox scrambles as Trump tariffs start to show up in prices and inflation accelerates
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 07/15/25
Fox News is continuing its previous celebrations and defenses of President Donald Trump's destructive tariff impulses as evidence shows that prices are accelerating and a key inflation indicator jumped to its highest level in four months. Trump’s sycophants on Fox deny the tariffs have anything to do with the acceleration as his massive country-by-country tariffs are set to resume in just two weeks.
The June Consumer Price Index report, released July 15, showed that inflation increased at a monthly rate of 0.3% — well above the previous monthly rate of 0.1% in May — and increased at a 2.7% annual rate. According to CNBC, “the annual rate is the highest since February and still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.”
The report also noted that furniture and clothing prices increased last month, data points that economists have pointed out were likely impacted by Trump’s tariffs.
Ernie Tedeschi, the director of economics for Yale’s Budget Lab, explained: “The impact of tariffs is becoming more salient. Apparel, which had seen cool inflation the last 2 months, grew 0.4% in June. Household furnishings grew 1%. Video & audio electronics grew 1.1%.”
Center for Economic and Policy Research senior economist Dean Baker wrote, “Trump's Big Beautiful tariffs are showing up in the data. The index for household furnishing and supplies (appliances and other household goods) rose 1.0 percent in June.”
Bloomberg’s chief U.S. economist Anna Wong stated, “Clear signs that tariffs pass through to CPI has picked up in June.”
Harvard University professor and former Council of Economic Advisers Chair Jason Furman wrote: “You can see signs of tariffs in these numbers and that is only likely to grow.”
Meanwhile, Fox Business is denying that Trump’s tariffs are having any impact on price increases in its coverage of the inflation report. On Mornings with Maria, anchor Maria Bartiromo said, “You’ve got to look at this report as another victory for President Trump, who has focused on reigning in inflation, and that’s what we’re seeing from this report.” Former Trump CEA acting Chair Tomas Philipson responded, “What’s happening in this CPI has very little to do with tariffed markets, tariffed goods.”
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From the July 15, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria
On Varney & Co., right-wing economist Art Laffer said tariffs are having “almost zero” impact on prices, and insisted that tariffs cause prices to decline rather than increase, citing the impact of the Smoot-Hawley tariffs enacted during the Great Depression. Laffer also argued that news reports explaining that Trump’s tariffs are contributing to accelerating inflation are wrong.
Fox’s praise for Trump amid an acceleration in the inflation rate stands in stark contrast to how the MAGA network covered inflation under former President Joe Biden, having specifically attacked the president over inflation even as it declined or remained flat.
Experts have long predicted that Trump’s agenda of universal tariffs and mass deportation would be inflationary, with 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists previously signing a letter warning that Trump would “reignite” inflation if he won the 2024 election. Indeed, the inflationary effect of Trump's tariffs may worsen as he continues threatening massive tariff increases on products from dozens of countries beginning August 1.
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Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s Administrator for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is facing sharp criticism after suggesting that the more than ten million people projected to lose their healthcare under the current Republican budget bill do not matter.
The legislation as written requires that many Medicaid users work and provide documentation that they have worked at least 80 hours each month, or be kicked off the critical safety net. Many Republicans have been suggesting Medicaid users are intentionally not working so they can collect federal government benefits like Medicaid. But many Medicaid users do work, and many cannot find jobs.
“Go out there, do the entry-level jobs, get into the workforce. Prove that you matter, get agency into your own life,” Dr. Oz, the former television talk show host and promoter of allegedly questionable health supplements and other products, told Fox Business.
READ MORE: ‘He. Is. Lying.’: GOP Senator Ripped for Spinning Medicaid Cuts as ‘Transitioning’
“It’s a much more enjoyable experience if you’re going through a life thinking that you control your destiny, and you’ll get better insurance at the same time,” he claimed.
Nearly half of employers—about 46%—do not offer health insurance at all. Most exclude part-time workers from coverage. Gig workers typically receive no health benefits through their jobs. And many seasonal workers struggle to meet the monthly hour thresholds needed to remain eligible for Medicaid.
The Hill also reported that Dr. Oz said to people not willing to go back to work, volunteer, or take care of a loved one, “we are going to ask you to do something else. Go on the exchange, or get a job and get onto regular commercial insurance. But we are not going to continue to pay for Medicaid for those audiences.”
Critics blasted Oz.
“When asked about Medicaid cuts, the literal head of the federal agency overseeing Medicaid had this to say: ‘Prove that you matter.’ Absolutely incredible,” remarked Andrea Ducas, Vice President of health policy at the Center for American Progress.
READ MORE: Trump’s DOT Is Spending Millions to Investigate If DEI Is to Blame for Plane Crashes
“Health care isn’t a prize for being productive. It’s a right. And 16 million people could lose it if this bill passes,” warned the nonprofit Protect Our Care.
“Dr. Oz, who spent his career hawking colloidal silver as a cure-all, tells Medicaid recipients to ‘prove that you matter’ if they want health care,” charged Alexandra De Luca, vice president of communications at the liberal super PAC American Bridge.
Watch the video belowor at this link.
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May 5, 2025, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
BRIAN KILMEADE (CO-HOST): Let's just talk about student loans now. Your feeling about the repayments coming back and how it could really strap people.
CHARLES PAYNE (FOX BUSINESS HOST): I'm thrilled. It's — these are the most pampered, elitist -- this educated elite in this country have, I mean, they just, it's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous. You know, the jobs report came out on Friday[ THEY GLOAT NOT AS BAD A PREDICTED BC OF TARIFF BS] . Alright, so unemployment for someone with a bachelor degree, the unemployment level is 2.5% percent. If you just have less than high school, it's 6%. If you have high school, it's 4%. Double the unemployment for high school grads. They make over a million dollars more in their lifetime. Their kids live in better neighborhoods. They don't face crime, poverty, worries, or concerns. Okay? There's 7.2 million job openings right now. Take one. Take one. Oh, wasn't what you studied for? Too bad. Take one. That's what the average person does. We have coddled these folks. We have — we have created a caste system in America. We have a caste system. We have put the elites above us, and we keep — how many people who have no money in the stock market, 'did you see the stock market under Trump?' You never cared about it before. You said it was for rich people. Why are you letting the elites dominate us? Why is a cab driver taking his tax money to pay your student loan? You're gonna — your kids are gonna have a better life than his kids. What the hell is wrong with this country? Pay your damn student loan. Bottom line, pay it.
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Fox Business pushes “clean coal” and other energy falsehoods to rally behind Trump's so-called energy dominance plan
Jackie DeAngelis: “We’re looking at crude oil around $60 a barrel — that's another one of what I call one of the bright spots in the market that is essential to Donald Trump's overall strategy”
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Allison Fisher
Published 04/11/25 mma
Fox Business’ The Big Money Show aired a segment purportedly on achieving American energy dominance in which the hosts used false narratives and missing context to cheerlead the president's actions on energy.
Airing on April 7, the segment came several days after oil prices plunged to the lowest level since the pandemic due to market fears of a global recession – and hours before Trump signed his executive orders aimed at boosting coal production.
Here are five things Fox Business got wrong (or omitted) about energy:
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From the April 8, 2025, edition of Fox Business' The Big Money Show
Coal is not clean, and programs that protect coal miners have been cut by DOGE
Host Jackie DeAngelis previewed Trump’s executive orders on coal by claiming that the U.S. has “some of the cleanest coal that there is in the world.”
Despite advances in technology, coal continues to have devastating health impacts on communities, including developmental delays in children, asthma, cancer, and premature death. In fact, in the U.S. alone, 460,000 deaths were attributed to coal plant pollution between 1999 and 2020. Meanwhile, the number of cases of black lung disease — which affects an estimated 16% of coal workers — has recently risen.
The number of operating coal plants has declined in the U.S. because of cheaper and clean options. According to a newanalysis from a nonpartisan energy/climate think tank, 99 percent of existing U.S. coal plants are more expensive to run than it would cost to replace them with local wind, solar, or energy storage resources.
And excluded from the discussion about Trump’s plans for coal is the fact that the entire unit of people working at the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program — a program of the Centers for Disease Control that coal miners are entitled to by law — were put on administrative leave on April 1 as part of the sweeping scheme to reduce the federal government.
Also part of the effort was the termination of “leases for three dozen offices in the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the agency responsible for enforcing mine safety laws.” As ABC reported: “Retired coal miner Stanley ‘Goose’ Stewart questions whether it's safe for anyone to work in the industry right now.”
Oil prices are down because of fear of a global recession — not because of Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda
DeAngelis said “one of the bright spots in the market” is that crude oil currently costs “around $60 a barrel” and argued that plunging oil prices were “essential to Donald Trump's overall strategy” to bring down energy costs and increase “supply to meet future demand” for things like artificial intelligence and crypto mining.
While a steep drop in oil prices will eventually mean lower gas prices, those prices would come as a result of fears of a global recession that pushes demand for oil down, not because of an increased supply from U.S. producers.
On the contrary, oil and gas producers are already cutting back investments in drilling not only due to fear of a global slowdown but also because tariffs on production materials like steel are making drilling more expensive at the same time that oil is selling for less. As one producer explained to The New York Times:
“We’re going from ‘drill, baby, drill’ to ‘wait, baby, wait,’” said D. Kirk Edwards, chief executive of a small West Texas oil and gas producer that recently scrapped drilling plans because of higher steel costs. Steel tubing, valves and other components — which now face a 25 percent tariff — make up about 20 percent of the cost of a well, he said.
“You’re not going to go out and spend money to drill a well when your costs are higher because of steel and your product prices are dramatically lower,” Mr. Edwards said
And they are not alone. Industries that are driving “future demand” like AI are also cutting back. On April 6, Microsoft delayed indefinitely a $1 billion project to build three new data centers in Licking County, Ohio.
DeAngelis and the other hosts did not mention these critical details about what plunging oil prices would mean for U.S. oil and gas producers if they continue and how it would negatively impact Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda.
On April 9, Trump paused some of his reciprocal tariffs. The New York Times reported that in response, oil prices bounced back to $62 a barrel but noted, “For now, many companies are waiting to see where prices settle before adjusting drilling or spending plans. As this week has demonstrated, commodity prices can be very volatile.”
The fracking industry has not delivered the jobs and prosperity it promised
Fox News contributor Deroy Murdock claimed that if environmentalists don’t like coal, they should embrace natural gas, because it produces half as much carbon dioxide as coal.
“Here in New York State we’ve got a lot of natural gas. … We won’t touch it,” he said. “The left in this state doesn’t want to do anything about it. It would be a very good way to get a lot of energy, create jobs, bring prosperity to an area that’s just sort of sitting there very quietly, and at the same time produce one half of the CO2 that coal does.”
Again, this fails to consider that even if those areas were open for fracking, they would likely go undeveloped because it is not profitable amid the current climate of uncertainty. Reviewing a recent fossil fuel industry survey, The New York Times reported:
Without clarity about long-term trade policies, operators said, it’s difficult to invest in facilities that may not be operational for years to come. “The administration’s chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets. ‘Drill, baby, drill’ is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry,” wrote one respondent from an exploration and production firm. “Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn’t have a clear goal. We want more stability.”
Murdock also erroneously suggested that fracking brings prosperity to the communities that sit atop shale gas deposits. In his example, Pennsylvania, the second largest natural gas-producing state in the U.S., jobs in the oil and gas industry account for less than 1% of all jobs in the state, and the industry continues to shed employees, in part because of automation. It also has failed to deliver the wealth promised to many communities burdened with fracking wells, while instead bringing health issues.
Meanwhile, “clean energy industries employ more than 8 times more PA workers than the state’s gas industry.”
Renewable energy accounted for 93% of new capacity last year and is creating hundreds of thousands of jobs
Fox contributor Brian Brenberg noted that “95% of the proposed energy projects” currently in development are “renewable projects,” but he attempted to dismiss this telling stat by claiming that “the time required to get those permitted and up in running has doubled since the year 2000.” Even if that is true, according to one fossil fuel trade paper, “renewable energy projects generally face shorter permitting periods compared to fossil fuel projects.”
He went on to suggest that politicians are promising coal miners green jobs that never materialize. In fact, clean energy technologies constituted93% of new energy generation capacity added to the grid last year alone, and the climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act“have spurred the highest levels of factory construction in American history, with more than 400,000 new jobs announced across the country.”
One of those projects, which broke ground in May 2023, is a facility that will manufacture energy storage batteries in Weirton, West Virginia – the state with the most coal-mining jobs in the U.S. According to Reuters, Breakthrough Energy Ventures “said the factory will begin making battery systems in 2024 and … create at least 750 jobs in the state, which has suffered for years from a lack of high paying jobs as coal production falters amid the energy transition.”
Trump is not pursuing an all-of-the-above energy strategy. He is relentlessly trying to kill clean energy development.
Murdock suggested that the push for coal — “burn, baby, burn” — along with Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” agenda are part of the “all-of-the-above approach to energy” to deal with “all this increased demand for electricity.”
Anchor Cheryl Casone suggested that Trump's energy strategy is about “hundreds of thousands of jobs,” claiming that “this is why President Trump has been so keyed into the energy infrastructure industry.” She also argued that the U.S. is going to “need all of the energy sources for AI data centers.”
The Trump administration approach is not encompassing “all energy sources.” It is actively rolling back clean energy, which is putting energy and manufacturing jobs at stake while jeopardizing U.S. leadership in clean energy development. And several new analyses say energy prices for Americans will rise and hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost if Trump’s campaign promise to repeal the Inflation Reduction Act is achieved. For example, according to one report, repealing IRA incentives and program funding would cause the loss of more than 700,000 jobs throughout the country in 2030 (while also increasing cumulative household energy costs by $32 billion from 2025-2035).
Notably, as The Wall Street Journal reported, oil industry jobs are shrinking even in the best of times:
Falling prices put an additional squeeze on an already tight job market for petroleum engineers, geologists and drilling-rig hands. Recruiters say oil-industry workers are already having a tough time finding jobs after a series of layoffs in the wake of mergers and other cost-cutting moves.
Chevron said it planned to cut some 8,000 jobs globally by the end of 2026 in a bid to bring down structural costs, while Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips had previously said they plan to cut hundreds of jobs in the wake of their acquisitions of Pioneer Natural Resources and Marathon Oil.
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