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see big lie --> GOP STEAL ELECTION
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Laura Ingraham claims there is a leftist “plan” to “overthrow” the government. What in the world is she talking about?
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 10/22/26
Republicans are panicking and right-wing media are desperately churning out “fear porn” as polls continue to point to a devastating midterm environment for their party with less than two weeks remaining before election day. From presidential rallies to Fox News primetime, MAGA stalwarts are trying to bolster their party’s turnout by warning Republican voters that if they do not go to the polls, their freedom and very lives may be at stake.
That increasingly deranged environment is generating a level of demagoguery that at times becomes simply absurd.
Fox host Laura Ingraham, for example, announced on her show Wednesday that if Democrats win control of the U.S. House and Senate, a leftist cabal of activists, journalists, “top former staffers” in the Obama and Biden administrations, and even Democratic governors will carry out a plot to force President Donald Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act as a mechanism to “dissolve” the U.S. Constitution and “crush their enemies.”
The argument that the left is planning to destroy the federal government if and only if Democrats triumph in the midterms makes a lot of sense as an attempt to scare Republicans to the polls but none at all as a plot in its own right.
Questions abound: Why in the world is this plan only enacted after Democrats achieve actual congressional power for the first time in Trump's second term? If there is clear evidence of a sweeping plot including “top” Obama and Biden officials, why is the best example Ingraham can point to former Obama White House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen talking about protecting the Constitution with legal action? Why does the plan revolve around getting Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act — an outcome MAGA pundits like Ingraham herself have been lobbying for and Democrats have publicly opposed?
Lastly, why does Ingraham think this grand conspiracy is underway? We don’t really know — she cited no direct evidence for what on-screen Fox graphics described as “The Left’s Plan To Overthrow The U.S. Gov’t.”
But Ingraham’s claims align with a conspiracy theory that Jennica Pounds, a right-wing influencer who goes by the pseudonym DataRepublican and briefly worked for the Defense Department this year, floated over the weekend based on videos of activist meetings she obtained. Pounds’ claim of a leftist “operational plan” seems to be much less than advertised — but has nonetheless been trumpeted this week by prominent MAGA figures like Glenn Beck, Vince Coglianese, Jesse Kelly, and podcaster-turned-deputy-FBI-director-turned-podcaster Dan Bongino.
It’s the sort of wildly incendiary claim that should demand copious evidence before making it to the airwaves of a major news outlet — but Fox is a MAGA propaganda network devoted to Republican electoral victory at any cost.
Unpacking Ingraham’s evidence-free claim of a leftist plot
Ingraham built her conspiracy-minded edifice on a faulty foundation.
She began her opening monologue on Wednesday by using a deceptively cropped video snippet of Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) to allege that the former CIA officer had promised “punishment for young conservatives.”
While many on the right have tried to generate outrage based on that false interpretation, Slotkin had actually been discussing how providing “accountability” for mid-level enablers of the Trump administration’s corruption could disincentivize similar behavior in the future.
From there, Ingraham pivoted to arguing that Democratic victories would hasten the downfall of the republic. “If voters give Democrats control of the House and even the House and the Senate, the punishment that Slotkin alludes to will be severe,” she claimed, adding that such punishment would be “meted out not only against individuals and corporations that work with Trump, but against the democratic system itself.”
After explaining that an unnamed leftist “they” intend to “force Trump's hand and use Paris riots, perhaps, as their guide,” Ingraham laid out her understanding of the “plan.”
“Now, the radical left's current thinking is that if they're able to mobilize in huge numbers in the streets, President Trump, if it's nationwide, will decide to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows him to deploy the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement,” she said. “Activists will then claim widespread abuses as the military struggles to restore law and order. Then the press will collaborate with activists, amplifying their wild claims with video snippets on social media.”
“Then blue state governors — this is their dream — seeing the chaos, will unite to try to override federal authority, take over federal functions, and eventually even rewrite our Constitution or just dissolve it altogether,” she continued.
Ingraham went on to claim that “this scenario is being openly discussed among top former staffers of Obama and Biden, former government employees of agencies like USAID, and of course community organizers” — but provided no examples of anyone actually discussing such a scheme.
Instead, Ingraham claimed that the plot’s adherents say they’re “reforming the government” rather than “overthrowing it,” adding, “former USAID staffer Danielle Reiff makes it sound like utopia.” Ingraham then played a brief clip of Reiff appearing on a December edition of Dr. Paul Zeitz’s Revolutionary Optimism Podcast and saying: “You have to reform your institutions so that it, you know, that becomes the foundational framework for society. And so, we're going to have to, if we want to live in peace and deeper democracy, reform our legal frameworks to foster collaboration across divides and unity and diversity.”
The Fox host later described Eisen as “one of the godfathers of this effort” because he “advances the fraudulent claims that democracy is in crisis.” But she provided no evidence actually linking him to the supposed “plan,” instead airing a clip in which Eisen is asked if he thinks of his work as part of a “war” and replies, “Yes — peaceful, lawful, vigorous battle, you do have to think of it in those terms to stop what Donald Trump began after the 2020 election and has continued a coup against the Constitution.”
Ingraham concluded her monologue by suggesting that “the real tyrant” is not Trump but “Democrats like Slotkin, who want to remake the government to crush their enemies.”
Ingraham then brought on Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), telling him, “These conversations, this playbook, is real. They might not be able to get there in the next year or so, but they have that plot cooking.”
Schmitt replied in part that “their march through the institutions is almost complete” and “the goal is absolute and total control” with “no room for dissent.”
“When you go vote, there’s a lot of issues that are on the table that you’re voting on, but I think a central issue is what the Democrats are willing to do with power,” he added. “They’re telling us all over again, and I think it’s terrifying and why this election is so important.”
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From the October 21, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle.
What “conversations”? What “playbook”? Who is supposed to be behind this “plan,” and how developed is it?
Ingraham didn’t say.
Where we think this is coming from
Jennica Pounds is a MAGA influencer with nearly 1 million followers who posts online under the moniker DataRepublican and is perhaps best known for accusing a Trump administration official who was attempting to hand her a scoop of trying to entrap her to commit a crime. Following that August debacle, she and the Pentagon disclosed that she had been secretly working as a special government employee for the Defense Department (according to Pounds, she applied for a credential as a “journalist” in the Pentagon press corps, received a press pass in April, held it until June, and joined the administration in July).
Soon after her Pentagon role became public, Pounds launched a website mapping left-wing groups called “DSA Explorer.” And on Sunday, Pounds (“fresh off her brief stint as a Special Government Employee with the Pentagon,” according to RedState’s writeup), claimed online that she had obtained access to a vast trove of transcripts and recordings of online meetings of progressive activists.
She then laid out a narrative that closely resembled what Ingraham ran with on Wednesday:
You've heard that the DSA is proposing structural reforms to America, including abolishing the Senate and imposing term limits.
What you not have heard is - there is an operational plan to put it all into action. If the Democratic Party sweeps 2026, then DSA will become “foot soldiers” in constant clashes with the administration to cross a “red line” or invoke a “doomsday scenario” - meaning, President Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, probably sometime in 2027.
Then, a lot of coordinated responses kick off, including delegitimizing the federal government itself and handing that legitimacy to Democratic governors. 2028 then becomes a vote on whether to keep America governance as-is or to burn it all down to appease a “young and brown” demographic.
But the 1-minute video snippet Pounds appended to her post does not show anything like a well-developed “operational plan” to do anything at all, much less one involving DSA “foot soldiers” plotting to force an invocation of the Insurrection Act.
Indeed, Pounds appears to be taking a series of disaggregated remarks from different people at different calls and events and weaving them together into a single coherent apocalyptic narrative. By her own subsequent admission, “almost nobody knows the ‘grand plan’ so to speak,” the various parties “simply agree to play a role.”
The video attached to Pounds’ original post, titled “April 10, 2026 - R2T core team call,” shows Reiff and Zeitz, from the podcast clip Ingraham aired, on an online video call with three other individuals. Zeitz recounts a recent meeting he and Reiff had with more influential figures at Governors Safeguarding Democracy, described as “a forum that convenes Democratic governors,” to discuss their “work around the emergency scenario planning.”
Reiff then says that they were asked in the meeting to develop “a panel of a couple of people who could talk to the governors, who could do a briefing for the governors and walk them through like the doomsday scenario and help them think through what their options are as a response,” and adds that such an opportunity would be “a huge breakthrough for us.”
That video and others Pounds released triggered a firestorm on the right, with influencers and podcasters largely adopting her narrative.
But Tim Pool, of all people, suggested she’d gotten out over her skis.
“Many people have asked me my thoughts on this and asked me what I think is going on, and I’ve said, listen, DataRepublican, with all due respect, coming out and just saying I have this data is not enough to launch a story,” he said on his show on Tuesday. “I cannot just come out and say hey, guys, someone says they’ve seen stuff the DSA is doing.”
That’s apparently a higher standard than Fox requires — because if Ingraham were aware of hard evidence of the leftist plot to destroy the country she claimed exists, she surely would have aired it. Instead, her coverage leaves so many obvious questions unanswered that it only emphasizes just how frenzied the network has become as it tries to concoct enough “fear porn” to save the GOP from electoral devastation.
Is it possible Pounds has a recording of random activists proposing something resembling her above plan? Sure, but that wouldn't be evidence of a grand conspiracy involving people with actual power and influence — and says nothing about the plausibility of such a plot, which in this author's opinion is frankly nonsensical.
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Fox News is peddling election “fear porn” about Democrats to rescue Republicans
10/16/26
10/22/26
Peter Navarro rails at Fox News personalities: “Turn Fox off”
10/20/26
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On Monday, Fox News and its Republican guests warned their fellow conservatives that the impeachment of President Donald Trump could be right around the corner. With just over two weeks to the midterms, the GOP has rallied around the message that if the Democrats win majorities in the House and Senate, it could mean the end of Trump’s historically unpopular agenda.
According to Fox News host Chad Pergam, Republicans are “leery” of what Democrats have in store should they secure the major victories polls have suggested are on the way. He spoke with MAGA-oriented Senator Jon Husted (R-OH), who is running an extremely tight race against former Senator Sherrod Brown, with most polls showing that the latter has a lead of between 1 and 6 points. In Husted’s estimation, the Ohio race “will determine whether Republicans stay in the Senate majority or not.” Pergam went on to share a clip of Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), who ran and was elected as a Democrat in 2019 before switching to GOP in 2020, though the Fox segment still identifies him as the latter. According to Van Drew, criticisms of the administration come down to “Trump Derangement,” and he warns that his former Democratic colleagues are “gonna slow them down and try to stop the government. It's gonna be mayhem.”
If Van Drew is right, then Trump Derangement Syndrome is catching, as polls show the president, his policies, and his corruption are historically unpopular – findings borne out by surveys conducted by Fox News itself. In a poll released last week, Fox found that Trump’s approval has plunged to 36 percent – the lowest he’s ever charted on the network – while other polls have placed him even lower. And Trump’s plunging numbers aren’t driven by Democratic disapproval, who have always rated the president poorly, but by Independents and Republicans who are increasingly turned off by his disastrous policies and self-serving agenda. As the Fox poll revealed, for the first time ever, Americans rate government corruption as their top concern, surpassing even the economy. On that note, the Fox survey found that 74 percent of voters view Trump’s economy negatively, while a mere 18 percent say their lives are better now than they were two years ago.
In the face of such numbers, Fox News has turned up the volume on its alarm for Republicans. As longtime Fox financial analyst Stuart Varney explained last week, “Fox Power rankings suggest the House is very likely to go Democrat. The Senate is a toss-up. The latest Fox poll shows 54 percent prefer Democrat candidates, 45 percent Republicans, and the lead by the Democrats is widening. Worse, voters are very unhappy with inflation – increasingly unhappy. 77 percent disapprove of his policy, only 22 percent think he's doing an OK job. That's a massive gap.” In light of voters’ profound rejection of Trump’s second term and the likely GOP midterm beating to come, said Pergam on Monday, “Voters should expect two years of investigations and even impeachment if Democrats prevail.”
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Fox News is peddling election “fear porn” about Democrats to rescue Republicans
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 10/16/26
Fox News host Jesse Watters effectively summed up his network’s recent election coverage on Thursday when he said that Republicans need to churn out “fear porn” that paints Democrats as “scary and dangerous” in order to avoid calamity in the midterms.
Watters told his fellow panelists on The Five that “polling” shows “MAGA is engaged, it’s the non-MAGA faction and independents that the Republicans are worried about” in the midterms. He then pointed to an interview he conducted with Caroline Sunshine, a former Disney star turned MAGA political operative, saying, “She said you can't just go out and sell all the great stuff Trump did. It's been great, but it doesn't motivate."
“You got to go out and have fear porn,” Watters continued. “You have to say, these people are going to take your healthcare, they're going to let in the Third World, they’re going to jack up your taxes, and that’s what’s going to get people to come out to vote. You have to say, these people are scary and dangerous, you know what we're all about. And that’s really a choice."
Greg Gutfeld praised Watters’ analysis, saying, “Good for you, fear porn."
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From the October 15, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Five
“Fear porn” is an apt characterization of the tenor of Fox demagoguery as the midterms approach and polls show Democrats poised for a wave of victories even in deep red states.
The network’s stars — apparently finding that their hagiographic coverage of the Trump administration isn’t doing enough to help the president’s party — are trying to inculcate a sense of panic in their viewers. They are warning in the strongest possible terms that if Democrats take control of Congress, their prosperity, freedom, and very lives are at risk.
Watters himself, for example, warned last month that “the Democrat party and its communist base are running against America” and “want to shatter the pillars of Western civilization.”
“They want to abolish the Senate, police, ICE, and of course the border,” he explained on the September 9 broadcast of his show. “Some of them are even calling for reparations and rent control. Others have a little bit of a problem with whites, and a majority of Democrats don't prefer capitalism. It's like we're fighting the Cold War here in our own country.”
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From the September 9, 2026, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
For Watters’ colleague Sean Hannity, the Trump political operative with a Fox primetime show, this is “the single most important, consequential midterm election in our lifetime” and “the stakes, they couldn’t be any higher, nor could the choice be any more clear.”
“We can vote to build on the successes of President Trump, his first two years in office, or you can shred your Constitution, allow our country to be taken hostage by this new radicalized leftist democratic socialist communist movement and their far-left extremist candidates,” Hannity claimed on his September 28 show.
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From the September 28, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
According to Hannity, Republicans may be “imperfect” and even “pathetically weak,” but “Democrats are completely insane.”
“They want to abolish, now, the family,” he told his Fox audience on September 17. “They want to seize your assets, they want to control the means of production, they want to control your healthcare, your food” as well as “your decisions, your children.” He went on to invoke “the 574 ‘mostly peaceful’ riots in the summer of 2020” before warning viewers not to “let perfect be the enemy of good, especially when the alternative is socialism, communism, statism, shredding our Constitution, and outright insanity.”
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From the September 17, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
Fox’s Laura Ingraham warned on Wednesday that Democrats are demanding the public “submit or be crushed.” She told her viewers that voting for them due to concerns about affordability “will only make things worse” because Democrats will “keep prices high permanently,” “want a war with Russia,” and have “horrid tax-and-spend policies.”
“While voting Democrat or not at all may punish Trump politically, the people you'll really be punishing are yourselves,” she added. “Oh, yes, the punishment is coming. They can't eliminate conservatives altogether, but they can and they will make your life as miserable as possible by taxing you, canceling you, and restricting you.”
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From the October 14, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
Ingraham alleged last month that “Democrats are rethinking democracy.” According to Ingraham, “If the Democrats win the House, take the Senate, they intend to shred the Constitution and punish the country.”
She later added that the party’s leaders are “acting as mini-tyrants,” claiming: “If they had their druthers and they were in office, there would be no Fox News. They would regulate that out of existence. There would be no talk radio. There would be no alternative media.”
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How Fox News stars are covering the 2026 Senate midterm elections
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Fox News: Where Ken Paxton partying with fugitives is much less interesting than James Talarico getting the flu
Just a minute and a half of coverage after days on Talarico’s campaign trail absence
Written by Matt Gertz
Research contributions from Tyler Monroe
Published 10/14/26
Fox News barely covered Monday's report that Texas attorney general and GOP nominee for U.S. Senate Ken Paxton had partied overseas with two fugitives from U.S. justice — one of whom was a major donor to his campaign — as well as his mistress. Its hosts’ nonchalant reaction to Paxton’s new scandal comes amid their multi-day fixation on his Democratic opponent James Talarico’s temporary absence from the campaign trail due to illness.
The Wall Street Journal, which like Fox is part of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, reported late Monday:
As fireworks exploded over the Burj Khalifa skyscraper to welcome 2025, Paxton and his girlfriend Tracy Duhon watched from a luxury high-rise balcony full of people, according to a video of the gathering viewed by The Wall Street Journal, details of which were contained in court filings and confirmed by people familiar with the matter.
Among those at the event with Texas’ top law-enforcement official were two Americans who had been indicted months before on federal healthcare-fraud charges but failed to return to the U.S., Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, according to the court records and people familiar with the matter. Ahmed, a healthcare executive, had donated $190,000 to Paxton, campaign-finance records show, including $25,000 days after he was indicted.
The Journal’s story, which featured video of Paxton at the event, was widely covered across Texas print and national television news — but not on Fox, which provided a grand total of 1 minute and 33 seconds of airtime to the bombshell as of noon ET on Wednesday. The coverage was limited to network correspondents who referenced the Paxton story during packaged reports on Tuesday's editions of The Story and Special Report and Wednesday's edition of Fox & Friends.
Each Fox segment describes Paxton as having attended a party in Dubai with “two men who had been indicted on federal healthcare fraud charges,” highlights the Paxton campaign’s response that the candidate had been subjected to a “politically motivated attack,” and contrasts the Journal report with Talarico’s absence from the campaign trail the previous week. None of the segments explicitly mention that the men were fugitives, that one of them was a major donor to Paxton’s campaign, that Paxton’s mistress was also present, or that the “attack” originated from another Murdoch-controlled outlet.
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From the October 14, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Fox stars like Jesse Watters, Laura Ingraham, and Sean Hannity, along with the co-hosts of Fox & Friends, all ignored the story on their programs.
But those Fox hosts do find stories about the Texas Senate race newsworthy — when they emanate from rumormongering by Republicans and MAGA influencers rather than well-sourced accounts from their network's corporate cousins at the Journal.
The underlying facts are incredibly banal. On September 30, Talarico revealed that he had been diagnosed with the flu during a virtual appearance at an event. After eight days at home, he returned to public events on Friday, and on Sunday gave an interview in which he said, “I had the flu.”
But in the days in between and following those appearances, Paxton attempted to turn Talarico’s absence from the trail into a campaign issue, President Donald Trump tossed off some baseless insinuations, and right-wing media went berzerk. “By Sunday, the conservative internet was consumed by an unsubstantiated claim from a right-wing influencer that Mr. Talarico had flown to a mental health facility in Ohio, more than 1,000 miles away from Austin, for treatment of an undisclosed illness,” The New York Times reported.
The Talarico conspiracy theory never made any sense and was thoroughly dismantled by the Times and The Bulwark. But Fox, as a MAGA propaganda front whose hosts are deeply invested in the Texas Senate race, plugged into the GOP effort to turn Talarico staying home with the flu into a major scandal.
While the network’s stars largely avoided citing the most fetid insinuations of the online right, they nonetheless spent several days talking up the Paxton-Trump attack lines. Jesse Watters Primetime and Hannity each covered the story on Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday; The Ingraham Angle on Friday and Monday; and Fox & Friends on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday.
Talarico’s return to the campaign trail and the collapse of the right’s narrative did little to slow the Fox frenzy — instead, they simply scrounged for new angles. Watters, for instance, said Monday that Talarico’s absence showed he “doesn’t run his own campaign because his staff told him to stay in bed for two weeks” and that he had spent his time “in bed … thinking about all those trans kids.”
By Tuesday, Fox News Digital was acknowledging that the “viral rumor” that Talarico had checked into a mental hospital “has now been debunked” — but cited Republican strategists and a right-wing media figure to frame Talarico’s campaign as the story’s villain for not stopping the frenzy.
Even as late as Wednesday morning — five days after Talarico’s return to the campaign trail — Fox’s America’s Newsroom ran a segment highlighting comments Trump made on the stump about the Democrat’s absence the previous week. The program, putatively part of the network’s “hard news” hours, has not reported on the Journal’s Paxton story.
It turns out that the MAGA media is marbled-through with reprobates who have no interest whatsoever in providing their audiences with truthful information about Democrats — or in reviewing the corruption scandals of Republicans.
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The negative space in Fox News coverage
09/22/26 4:03 PM EDT
How Fox News stars are covering the 2026 Senate midterm elections
10/14/26 8:03 AM EDT
Fox News at 30: Even the pretense of impartiality is all but gone
10/07/26
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Fox is using climate denial to undermine bipartisan support for AI safeguards
Fox personalities and guests compare AI warnings to supposedly discredited climate predictions, drawing on decades of attacks on climate science to cast widely supported protections as another bid for power and control
*Special* ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Evlondo Cooper
Published 10/08/26
In September, former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced his resignation from the company, issuing a stark warning that increasingly powerful AI systems could threaten human survival. To date, his September 9 interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper has received nearly 10 million views on YouTube, and industry insiders are calling for stronger safeguards and increased government involvement. As those warnings drew wider attention, Fox News and Fox Business hosts and guests dismissed them as the next manufactured panic from people they claimed were already proven wrong about global warming.
In addition to portraying climate change as a political hoax that has run its course (with AI now supposedly taking its place), both Fox networks have characterized calls for safeguards as an election-year scare tactic, a pretext for government control, and a threat to innovation — even as polling shows broad support for AI oversight among Republicans as well as Democrats.
Fox has already cast local opposition to data centers as a threat to American competitiveness, with many network personalities crediting foreign influence for the backlash, even as resistance has spread through Republican communities and divided conservative media. By associating AI warnings with climate “alarmism,” Fox draws on the distrust it spent years cultivating in order to now discredit calls for limits on an industry it has championed.
Warnings about catastrophic AI risks are drawing national coverage and calls for safeguards
- Former AI researchers and industry executives have warned that increasingly powerful systems could outpace efforts to control them, prompting debate over the pace of development and the need for government oversight. Public statements and television interviews have brought those concerns to wider audiences, with warnings about potential threats to human survival accompanying calls for stronger safeguards.
- Jacob Coxon’s interview with Anderson Cooper has drawn nearly 10 million views on YouTube. Coxon warned that future AI systems capable of improving themselves could threaten human survival and called for international oversight. [CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, 9/9/26]
- Coxon continued to raise concerns about the pace of AI development in a subsequent PBS interview. On PBS News Hour, Coxon discussed how increasingly capable systems could accelerate their own development and outpace efforts to establish safeguards. [PBS News Hour, 9/17/26]
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for slower AI development and independent oversight. In his September 12 essay “We Must Pace the Frontier,” Amodei wrote, “We must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models.” He argued that safety work needed time to keep up with advances in AI and called for companies to give “ongoing, employee-like access to a team of embedded third-party evaluators.” He also called for governments to coordinate internationally on AI safety. [Dario Amodei, 9/12/26]
Climate “alarmism” has become a recurring reference point for dismissing AI warnings
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been a frequent target of Fox’s attacks on AI safeguards since he and Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX) announced forthcoming legislation on September 3 to ban artificial superintelligence and pause advanced AI development until a federal regulator establishes safety rules. Hosts and guests have invoked Sanders’ past climate warnings to dismiss his proposals as another manufactured panic.
- Those attacks echo President Donald Trump’s dismissal of calls to slow AI development as a “hoax” and right-wing media’s comparisons to climate change and “COVID hysteria.” Across Fox News and Fox Business, hosts and guests have used the same claims that climate predictions had failed in order to portray calls for AI safeguards as an election-year scare tactic and a threat to innovation.
- Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: “The AI Armageddon, like the climate hoax, is an election-year Democratic ruse.” Kudlow compared calls to halt AI development to Democrats’ “existential hysteria” over climate change, claiming climate policies would have caused “our complete economic ruination” without Trump’s reelection. He cast Anthropic and OpenAI as Democrats’ “fellow travelers” and argued that letting “free enterprise work its magic” would allow the U.S. to outpace China. [Fox Business, Kudlow, 9/14/26]
- Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones claimed Sanders’ previous climate timeline meant “we should have already been dead.” Jones then described people warning about AI as “the same alarmists that jumped from scandal to scandal of doomsday.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 9/17/26]
- Fox News contributor and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt invoked climate warnings to dismiss AI “doomerism” and argue for trusting the marketplace. Hewitt dismissed lawmakers from both parties as “not smart enough yet to tell the country what to do” and rejected business leaders’ “self-interests” in setting rules for AI. He then explained, “I’m not into AI doomerism at all because we’ve heard this all before with climate change and global warming and nuclear winter. I’m just not alarmed by anything.” [Fox News, America Reports, 9/17/26]
- As a guest host on Gutfeld!, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery claimed Democrats were “replacing global warming heroin with tech-pocalypse fentanyl.” Attacking California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s AI safeguards, Kennedy described climate change as “the hysteria flavor those statist freaks served up to scare people into votes and higher taxes.” She added, “Well, here we are, all still here, along with the polar bears and ice caps.” [Fox News, Gutfeld!, 9/18/26]
- Guest host Michael Lee argued that Democrats’ climate warnings were grounds to reject their calls for AI regulation. Lee asked why policymakers should heed “the same people that were telling you climate change was an existential threat,” then asked, “Why do we need to do something special?” He characterized AI regulation as “stifling innovation at the behest of the richest people in the world to ring fence their industry.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Fox Business, 9/21/26]
- Fox News host Will Cain invoked supposedly failed climate warnings to dismiss AI concerns as “the boy who cried wolf.” After playing a 2019 video of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) discussing the dangers of climate change, Cain said she was “exaggerating” an “end of the world prophecy” and cited increasing coral cover in the Great Barrier Reef to discredit climate predictions. [Fox News, The Will Cain Show, 9/25/26]
- Fox Business host Stuart Varney accused “climate warriors” of linking “climate disaster to AI disaster.” On Varney & Co., he dismissed Ocasio-Cortez’s concerns about AI as “irrational fear mongering” and “blatant distortion of reality to enhance a political position.” [Fox Business, Varney & Co., 9/29/26]
Fox is recycling climate denial to discredit cross-partisan concern about AI
- Climate denial campaigns targeted public agreement that once crossed party lines. In 1997, 68% of strong Republicans and 72% of strong Democrats accepted the science of global warming. The following year, a communications plan developed by the American Petroleum Institute, fossil fuel companies, and allied groups sought to transform scientific uncertainty into conventional wisdom. By December 2009, Fox was explicitly directing reporters to question the accuracy of climate data whenever they reported that the planet was warming.
- Fox now treats climate warnings as discredited while ignoring what efforts to address global warming have accomplished. The International Energy Agency, for example, has estimated that solar, wind, nuclear power, electric cars, and heat pumps deployed since 2019 avoided 2.6 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually by 2024, even as global emissions continued to rise. Fox elides those benefits to portray climate warnings as an exercise in needless alarm and is now using that reasoning to argue against safeguards for AI.
- But support for AI safeguards crosses party lines. Ipsos found in March that 67% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans wanted the federal government to ensure AI outputs do not cause harm. A June Artificial Intelligence Policy Institute survey found that 88% of Democrats, 86% of independents, and 83% of Republicans wanted a “guaranteed off switch” for the most powerful AI systems. More recently, a CNN poll found that 85% of Democrats, 67% of independents, and 63% of Republicans believed the federal government was not doing enough to regulate AI’s development.
- Fox News and Fox Business are using their legacy of climate denial to undermine that bipartisan support. Decades of campaigns to discredit climate science helped turn broad agreement about global warming into a partisan divide that protected fossil fuel interests. By dismissing people raising concerns about AI as “the same alarmists,” hosts and guests draw on that distrust to portray widely supported safeguards as the work of discredited experts and advocates seeking power and control, making opposition to oversight a matter of political allegiance.
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Fox Business is framing local data center opposition as a threat to America in the AI race
06/11/26
Data center fight forced right-wing media to cover environmental justice
07/24/26
FOXLEAKS: Fox boss ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science
12/15/10
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Fox News at 30: Even the pretense of impartiality is all but gone
Fox News at 30: Even the pretense of impartiality is all but gone
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 10/07/26
Fox News’ role as a Republican propaganda machine is clear to anyone who has bothered to peruse its programming — President Donald Trump knows it, Fox co-founder Rupert Murdoch knows it, disgraced network co-founder Roger Ailes knew it, and longtime viewers like me certainly know it. The last holdouts arguing otherwise at this late date are some combination of ignorant, naive, on the Fox payroll, lying to the public, or lying to themselves.
To wit, Fox chief political analyst Brit Hume, touting the 30th anniversary of the network’s launch on Wednesday’s Fox & Friends, offered up a hoary chestnut in praising his employer.
“We program it in such a way that for the times of the day when people are looking for hard news, they can get it,” Hume argued. “And if they’re sitting back in the evening after they watch the news, consume whatever news they like, and we do these opinion shows at night. There’s news in them for sure, but it is a mix and I think it works well and the balance is real.”
Meanwhile, viewers who tuned in to one of those daytime “hard news” hours the day before heard the anchor open her program by effectively urging viewers to vote for Republicans: “Priority No. 1, 28 days out from midterm Election Day, Republicans must maintain their majorities in the House and Senate. I'm Harris Faulkner, you are in The Faulkner Focus.”
Fox executives have attempted to draw Hume’s distinction between “hard news” and “opinion” for decades, pointing to the hours of network programming that resemble typical news shows in order to maintain their ad sales to blue-chip companies while drawing a huge audience thanks to its right-wing personalities pumping out bigotry and propaganda. But that fig leaf has been ripped to shreds since the dawn of the age of Trump, as the network effectively merged with the president’s political operation and administration.
Indeed, the increasingly propagandistic tenor of Fox over the last decade sent a number of network veterans scrambling for the exits — and then denouncing the place they had worked, in many cases for years. Their rhetoric often echoed that of Fox critics like me — Fox was deemed “a destructive propaganda machine” (former contributor Ralph Peters) rife “with partisan misinformation” (former chief political correspondent Carl Cameron), the “arm of a political party” (former political editor Chris Stirewalt), and a network whose stars “question the truth” (former anchor Chris Wallace).
But not everyone at Fox found the network’s shifts excessively distasteful. Some used Trump’s rise to become more influential than ever before.
Hume was notably speaking alongside fellow network veteran Sean Hannity, who is not merely a Fox “opinion” host but a Trump propagandist who moonlights as a presidential confidant, adviser, and political operative. Over the years, Hannity has appeared in a Trump campaign video, drafted a campaign ad, spoken at a presidential rally, employed his lawyer, and served as a back channel to him, among other ethical improprieties no other network would tolerate. Their colleagues include Trump’s daughter-in law (who hosts a weekly program that promotes his administration); two of his former White House press secretaries; and his former campaign manager, secretary of state, and top economic adviser.
That revolving door between Trump’s orbit and his propaganda outlet swings both ways — more than two dozen former Foxers have joined Trump’s administration.The former co-host of Fox’s weekend morning show now runs the Pentagon, a former co-host of its afternoon panel show oversees federal prosecutions in Washington, D.C., and a former Fox Business host (who is married to another Fox & Friends weekend co-host) leads the Department of Transportation.
Over the past decade, any purported guardrails between the “news” and “opinion” sides have been stripped away, and the network’s number of hours that even look like “hard news” shows have dwindled. At best, such programming now occupies 8 of the 19 hours from 5 a.m. to midnight — and calling even those timeslots legitimately “hard news” is a big stretch.
Special Report, the flagship “hard news” show on which Hume often appears, is anchored by a guy who golfs with Trump and has spent his second term burying scandals about the president’s family after previously devoting his program to ripping apart the Bidens over much less egregious behavior.
Amid Trump’s 2020 election subversion plot, anchor Bret Baier privately urged network brass to keep Fox from calling states for Biden, while his on-air coverage led a longtime Fox executive to comment: “It’s remarkable how weak ratings make good journalists do bad things.”
10 26 POD SAVE SHE SPIN PUNDIT?
America’s Newsroom, which provides the first “hard news” hours of the weekday lineup, is co-anchored by a former White House press secretary to President George W. Bush who is also one of the conservative co-hosts of the afternoon “opinion” panel show The Five. Other supposed “hard news” daytime anchors regularly parrot the right-wing narratives of the network’s “opinion” hosts.
Fox’s 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. hours — previously anchored by Neil Cavuto and Shep Smith, who would both often go viral for not following the Trump line — are now hosted by Republican party appendages Will Cain and Laura Ingraham.
And Fox News Digital, the network’s online reporting arm, is helmed by Hannity’s former producer, who hired several Republican political operatives and former Trump administration officials following a purge of more traditional journalists after the 2020 presidential election.
“Brit always understood opinion, which I’ve got to give him credit for — there were some news people that didn’t love the opinion part,” Hannity quipped on Wednesday’s Fox & Friends.
Those who remain at Fox to celebrate its 30th anniversary, like Hannity and Hume, either revel in or are willing to accommodate its core aims of GOP dominance and Trumpian propaganda.
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Fox News Turns 20: Two Decades Of Hate, Misogyny, And Smears Disguised As Journalism
10/07/16 12:13 PM EDT
Fox News is the Republican Party. Here are over 400 examples proving it.
05/16/22 10:59 AM EDT
Fox vets keep leaving the network and saying it is propaganda
03/28/22
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Why has Fox News benched Karl Rove?
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 10/05/26
Fox News political analyst Karl Rove has not appeared on his network’s weekday programming for the last three weeks, even as the midterm elections loom. Rove’s absence coincides with his newsmaking public statements warning about extremism within the Republican Party — and his denunciation by President Donald Trump.
While Rove appeared alongside Fox senior political analyst Juan Williams on the October 4 edition of Fox News Sunday (which airs on Fox broadcast stations and reairs later in the day on Fox News), he last appeared on a Fox weekday program on September 14, when anchor Martha MacCallum interviewed him on The Story.
Rove’s absence at a time when his analysis would theoretically be most useful is notable. He averaged 7 weekday Fox appearances per month from March through August, and that interview on The Story was his 5th of September, according to a Media Matters review of our database.
Rove makes news — but not for his employer
Rove’s disappearance from Fox's weekday airwaves overlaps with his increasingly strident criticism of extremist elements in the GOP, which has drawn attention from other news outlets.
Two days after Rove’s most recent Fox weekday appearance, The Wall Street Journal published a column in which the veteran Republican strategist and former top aide to President George W. Bush called out the “raw, uncut bigotry” of Texas GOP candidate Bo French, vowed to “vote for only the second Democrat in my life” rather than support French’s campaign, and warned that “the GOP has a growing number of Bo Frenches—and not only in Texas.”
Rove doubled down during a September 26 appearance at the Texas Tribune Festival and drew more headlines for his lament that the Republican Party is “being infiltrated by people like Bo French” and the white nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes, who he described as “a Nazi.”
No one needs to hear that message more than the audience at Fox, whose hosts played an essential role in mainstreaming and sanitizing the GOP’s far-right elements. But Rove’s denunciations of the extremists he says are taking over the party have been mentioned just once on Fox, according to a Media Matters review.
Fox contributor Josh Kraushaar crowned “our very own Karl Rove” the “winner” of the week during a panel discussion on the September 18 edition of Fox’s Special Report, arguing that Rove “spoke out with principle against the Texas railroad commissioner candidate, a Republican, Bo French, who made some racist tweets about Indian Americans attending the Texas football game.”
“You don't hear people going against party very often, and to hear those principles standing out, I think, was a real example that Karl Rove set,” Kraushaar said.
No one at Fox is apparently interested in following that example. Even Rove himself, in his Fox News Sunday appearance, did not address his critique of the GOP, instead focusing on downplaying the prospect of a Democratic midterm wave. The GOP’s extremism falls into what I’ve termed Fox’s negative space, the stories that the network’s stars seem loath to defend or even acknowledge to their viewers.
Fox benched Rove after Trump asked why the network helps “keep his RINO Voice alive”
Rove’s absence from Fox’s weekday airwaves also lines up with his denunciation by the president.
During his September 14 interview on The Story, the Fox analyst criticized Trump’s promise to give every American citizen $5,000 if Republicans hold the House and Senate, calling the proposal neither “well thought out” nor a political boon for the GOP.
Trump regularly watches Fox and responds to the programming he sees there, mixing praise of Fox coverage he appreciates with criticism of the network for failing to produce sufficiently consistent propaganda on his behalf. Just a few hours after Rove’s appearance, the Fox analyst received a harangue from the president.
“Karl Rove is so bad for the Republican Party, and completely wrong so often,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “He suffers from a major case of Trump Derangement Syndrome primarily because, for almost 10 years, I beat back and won against so many of the people and things that he wanted and espoused.”
“Why does FoxNews and the WSJ keep his RINO Voice alive,” the president added. “The guy is a stone cold loser!”
The network’s executives are keenly interested in maintaining good relations with Trump. Just last week, network founder Rupert Murdoch and several senior figures in his media empire reportedly dined with the president at the White House in an effort to “reset the relationship.”
And on Monday, The New York Times reported that Fox had hired as a contributor Karoline Leavitt, who served as White House press secretary in his second administration. Leavitt’s new colleagues will include Kayleigh McEnany, one of Trump’s first-term White House press secretaries; Mike Pompeo, who served as Trump’s secretary of state; Kellyanne Conway, who managed his 2016 presidential campaign; and Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law.
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The negative space in Fox News coverage
- 09/22/26 4:03 PM EDT
Fox News hides contributor Karl Rove’s warning about the GOP’s “growing number of Bo Frenches”
- 09/17/26 1:57 PM EDT
Donald Trump’s insatiable demand for Fox propaganda
- 10/01/2
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MAGA piles on Karoline Leavitt as she ditches family for Fox News stint
Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s move to Fox News drew mockery Monday from critics who pointed to her continued presence inside President Donald Trump’s political and media orbit just two months after she left the administration to spend time with her family.
Fox News has confirmed that Leavitt, who is 29 years old, will be joining the network as an on-air contributor with her start date being Nov. 1, and she will appear on both its news and opinion programs. Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, stated that Leavitt's experience gained during her time in the White House and on the campaign trail gives her a “distinct understanding of today’s political landscape.”
Amy Siskind took notice of the announcement, writing on X that "Karoline Leavitt is going to work at Fox News" and stating that "the cycle of MAGA life and reinforcement loop continues".
Siskind, author of The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump’s First Year, has long been a critic of Trump and a political activist.
It also brought back doubts regarding Leavitt's reason for leaving the White House in August. Back then, she had stated that, after the birth of her daughter, she did not think it was possible to give her two young children the things they needed while at the same time spending the time and energy required of a press secretary.
President Trump also announced that Leavitt was resigning so as to spend more time with her children and family, adding that she would still remain one of his top external advisers.
A self-styled "MAGA patriot" on X referred to those statements following the announcement on Monday and claimed that Leavitt had abandoned the reason she had given for her departure.
“Sorry folks, no more integrity left here, someone sold out,” the user wrote, adding, “pray for her children and her family.”
Progressive commentator Jamie Bonkiewicz also hammered Leavitt on the same point, writing on X, "I guess Karoline Leavitt had enough of being a stay-at-home mom and taking care of her grandpa husband."
Greg Gutfeld had already made a joke about exactly this situation the day after Leavitt announced that she was leaving the White House.
“There is a concern that she will join Fox, which would then leave us with three women,” Gutfeld said on The Five in August, when referring to the Fox personalities Dana Perino and Kayleigh McEnany, who had both been White House press secretaries. Co-host Emily Compagno later made the joke that Gutfeld was trying to get her off the show “to make room for Karoline.”
Leavitt has stayed closely linked with Trump ever since she left office. She went back to MAGA Inc., the superPAC that supported Trump and where she had previously worked, and has continued appearing often on Fox.
She said that she intends to bring to her new position at Fox the "unique perspective and candor" gained during her time in the Trump administration.
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Donald Trump’s insatiable demand for Fox propaganda
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 10/01/26
President Donald Trump lashed out at Fox News on Wednesday with a lengthy online harangue that made little sense but demonstrates the network’s impossible task in satisfying the president’s demand for pure propaganda.
“Why does FoxNews always put Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Jessica Tarlov, and every Democrat on, saying bad things about the Republican Party and, of course, me?” Trump posted to his Truth Social account at 12:15 pm ET. “I actually think they get more airtime than Pro Republicans. This is why MAGA, and REAL Patriots, will never like Fox! They repeat a completely negative narrative, on and on it goes, and then we get a quick retort.”
I’ve spent nearly a decade following the twists and turns of Trump’s symbiotic relationship with Fox, particularly the ways in which his social media activity often corresponds to what he sees on his television — and I’m not quite sure what he’s talking about. The president’s commentary about Fox typically blends praise for the hosts he loves and segments he appreciates with critiques of personalities who don’t meet his standard for sycophancy and attacks on the network’s accurate pollsters, but usually his complaints are more coherent than this.
The most plausible hypothesis I can come up with is that Trump looked up at his television at 12:09 p.m. ET, saw a brief clip that Fox Business was airing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) criticizing the GOP’s AI strategy, and flipped out — and that suggests that Trump doesn’t want his propaganda network to even air footage of the Democratic opposition (except, perhaps, to deride them).
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From the September 30, 2026, edition of Fox Business' The Big Money
Meanwhile:
- Schumer does not appear in Media Matters’ database of Fox News weekday appearances, which dates to August 2017.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has made at least 5 appearances on Fox weekday shows since November 2018, with the most recent airing in January of this year.
- Fox’s Jessica Tarlov is the Democratic host tasked with matching up against four conservatives at once on the network’s weekday panel show, The Five. She made 2 guest appearances on other Fox shows in September; conservative co-hosts Jesse Watters, Greg Gutfeld, and Dana Perino all have separate weekday Fox shows of their own.
- In September, weekday appearances on Fox News by congressional Republicans and Trump administration officials outnumbered appearances by congressional Democratic guest appearances by 148 to 7.
- Fox literally employs the president’s daughter-in-law, former Republican National Committee chair Lara Trump, as the host of a weekly program she uses to promote his administration. (And of course, his current defense secretary is a former Fox host; his U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia is a former Fox host; his transportation secretary is a former Fox host whose wife still works for the network; his former campaign manager, his former secretary of state, and his former White House press secretary are on the Fox payroll; and so on and so forth.)
- The network relied on Sean Hannity — a confidant and adviser to Trump who uses his show to propagandize on the president’s behalf — to lead its coverage of the GOP’s midterm convention.
And that’s before we even get into the network’s sycophantic coverage of Trump and his administration.
Fox's coverage is animated by celebrating Trump's supposed successes and trying to will the GOP to midterm victories — but it's never enough for Trump
Fox programming — in the lead-up to the midterms in particular — is a non-stop exercise in assuring viewers that Trump is giving them everything they’ve ever wanted, while sidelining stories that could potentially upset them or harm the GOP’s election push.
On Monday night, for example, Jesse Watters opened his primetime show with a mash note to Trump that simply must be seen to be believed.
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From the September 28, 2026, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
Watters and his colleagues have spent substantial portions of their shows this week lavishing Trump with praise and issuing dire warnings to their viewers about what might occur if Democrats were to triumph in the midterm elections.
Just hours before Trump lashed out at the network, high-brow hack Hugh Hewitt said on Fox & Friends that the president would be a boon to GOP candidates because Trump is “the get-out-the-vote machine for the MAGA base and for everyone that doesn't want their inflation to go nuts.” (As of October 1, The New York Times poll average places Trump’s approval rating at a catastrophic 37-61.)
“Trump has won in Iran,” Hewitt explained. “He’s won in the battle of the Strait of Hormuz. He's won with his economic policies. I think the Republicans have a good case to make. They just have to make it every day, morning, noon and night, and I think they're beginning to get into that groove and they've got plenty of time to make the argument.”
Later in the program, the hosts highlighted different Trump policies that appealed to them, with Lawrence Jones concluding that the White House simply faces a messaging problem.
“I just think that maybe it has been bad producing from the White House when it comes from the message, but this story has not been told,” he said. “Maybe so much and so complex or the president is just focused on doing his agenda, but the communications need to do a better job letting the American people know exactly the benefits that they’ve been — because a lot of people don’t even know about it."
Examples like these are a dime a dozen — but apparently not enough for Trump. The president won’t be satisfied until every minute of Fox programming is indistinguishable from North Korean state TV — and every minute of coverage at every other outlet is as well.
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How Fox powered Trump’s first term — and what that means for his second
11/19/24 7:30 AM EST
Trump’s press grievances are based in their refusal to do propaganda
09/28/26 1:07 PM EDT
The North Koreans do a more nuanced show than Sean Hannity’s take on Trump’s State of the Union
02/25/2
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Fox News is running its midterms migrant caravan playbook again
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Over 7 days, Fox News spent only 1 minute covering rising diesel prices caused by Trump’s Iran war
- 08/06/26
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Laura Ingraham is rewriting her mealy-mouthed acquiescence of the Iran war into opposition from the beginning
09/22/26
The Ingraham Angle on Fox News, 3/2/26
Fox News’ Laura Ingraham said on her September 21 show that she opposed President Donald Trump’s war on Iran, a position that would almost certainly come as a surprise to her viewers. Those who had watched her show in early March, as the Trump administration launched its war against Iran alongside Israel, heard something very different.
“I've not been for the war in Iran,” Ingraham said. “I'm not happy with high gas prices — I see a lot of other good trends, but I'm not happy with those at all.” She added that she’d been opposed to it “from day one."
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From the September 21, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
Ingraham’s revisionist history is self-serving, as public opinion about the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran sinks and the MAGA movement lurches toward whatever form it may take after Trump is no longer sitting in the Oval Office.
It is true that prior to Trump launching the war on February 28, Ingraham was mildly skeptical of it by Fox News standards.
On January 12, Ingraham said, “We know that America does not have the best track record when it comes to regime change in the Middle East, so that can’t really be the goal here."
During an interview with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on January 14, she said about a war in Iran: “How does that help the average American who is still struggling to pay some bills?”
On the eve of the war on February 27, Ingraham worried about the possible spike in “energy prices, which could be affected if we get into some really protracted engagement in Iran."
Ingraham gets on board with the Iran war
None of that is a full-throated denunciation, of course, but it does evince some small degree of reluctance.
Within days, Ingraham’s weathervane had caught the breeze and her tone was markedly more hawkish. Her March 2 show was a full endorsement of Trump’s war of aggression.
“Only a few days into military strikes, none of the major objections to this action withstand serious scrutiny,” Ingraham said.
This is not a “pointless war,” she said, adding: “Trump has given us no indication that he is going to betray his supporters by asking them to make unnecessary sacrifices.”
Her guest and Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump falsely claimed that Iran was “very clearly on the path to making another nuclear weapon,” and Ingraham fueled baseless and Islamophobic speculation “about sleeper cells in the U.S.”
On March 5, Ingraham declared: “Trump has already won in Iran.”
On March 25, she cautioned that the conflict with Iran could be creating “a series of cascading problems for the region, including maybe outside the region — political problems for the president in a midterm election year.” Later in the episode, she warned that voters are “very impatient for victory,” and polling suggests “the American people are sending a message to President Trump that it's time to put the focus back on the home front.”
But by March 31, Ingraham had fully reverted to the Fox News neocon mean.
“Why are people calling this a quagmire after a month?” she wondered. “Trump is taking some big risks. But, with big risks come great rewards. Eliminating the Iranian threat is a gift to future generations.”
Ingraham has not been the loudest voice at Fox News in favor of the Iran war. But to claim she has opposed it “from day one” is a self-serving fantasy.
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Inside the right-wing media split on AI regulation
- 09/22/26 4:26 PM EDT
The negative space in Fox News coverage
09/22/26
MATT G , MSNOW
Fox News’ MAGA stars have spent Donald Trump’s second term lavishing praise on the president and his purported accomplishments, denouncing his opponents in vitriolic terms and telling their viewers which culture war enemies to hate.
But any understanding of the goals of a political outlet like Fox is incomplete without considering the stories it doesn’t cover: a list that, as of late, includes the Iran war, the Trump family’s alleged corruption and the president’s unpopularity. This negative space in Fox’s coverage largely emphasizes its hosts’ choices, just as an artist’s use of the empty area around a subject is part of their work (though at times, the network’s executives seem to be calling the shots).
And while it’s hardly novel for Fox to dodge bad news for Republicans, the network’s hosts are going to remarkable lengths in Trump’s second term to avoid what should be important subjects.
When Fox ignores a story, it represents information that is not making its way to the president through his television.
Within Fox’s negative space are stories that the network’s stars seem loath to defend or even acknowledge to their viewers. That’s a high bar, considering that Fox hosts eagerly covered the various indictments of Trump for storing highly classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and fomenting an insurrection. Yet network stars like Sean Hannity won’t even try to explain, for example, why it is appropriate for a Russian oligarch to bankroll the president’s son’s wedding. These omissions speak to just how damning Fox talent may consider such narratives for the MAGA movement and Republican Party.
Fox’s negative space also has implications for the political and public policy arenas. Trump’s worldview is shaped by the Fox content he regularly consumes, and he has often taken action in response to what he sees from the trusted figures on his television. When Fox ignores a story, that represents information that is not making its way to the president through his television.
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New poll shows Americans’ most-used word for the Trump administration: ‘Corrupt’September 18, 2026 / 07:15
Consider, for instance, the war with Iran. In the run-up to the conflict, the network’s biggest hawks urged Trump to attack. Other voices went silent, rather than point out, say, that Iran might close the Strait of Hormuz.
When Trump launched the war, the network moved in lockstep to support it and praise him. As the conflict became increasingly unpopular and settled into a quagmire, the network’s on-air talent toggled between calls for risky escalations to finish the fight and declarations that the United States was already on the verge of victory. Skeptical statements that the war may have been a mistake were rare. Eventually, Fox largely stopped talking about the war. On five of the network’s most influential programs, mentions of Iran fell 78% from June to August.
In place of these news stories, the network increased its already frequent culture war programming.
Gone missing, as well, is coverage of conflicts of interest and the business dealings of the president and his family. Fox spent years drowning its audience with coverage of the foreign business interests of Hunter Biden. Its stars regularly — and baselessly — accused former President Joe Biden of profiting from his son’s dealings or rewarding Hunter Biden’s partners with favorable government action. After Trump returned to the White House, he and his sons saw their wealth soar thanks in part to sprawling international business deals and even contracts and other administration policies. Yet Fox’s interest in presidential ethics simply vanished.
Most recently, ProPublica’s bombshell report that a “lavish, three-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands” to celebrate Donald Trump Jr.’s May wedding “was heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin.” (Trump Jr.’s wife, Bettina, confirmed the report but said, “Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda.” The president said his son had paid back Kremlev.) In the two days after its publication, the story received just three minutes of coverage on Fox — all from a single show, “Special Report.” That show’s host, Bret Baier, even noted that “in a Democratic administration, there would have been a lot of coverage of this.”
More articles
Trump and Fox News are trapped in a doom loop on Iran
Maria Bartiromo out at Fox News Media after 12 years
Play
Toxic Trump distracts from plummeting polls with media threats: ‘He wants people to be afraid’September 18, 2026 / 07:15
Nowhere, however, is the silence louder than Trump’s polling. With six weeks to go to the midterm elections, perhaps the most salient fact in American politics right now is that Trump is broadly unpopular. Poll aggregators show the president’s job approval below 40%, at or just above all-time lows. Those figures, analysts warn, could prove cataclysmic for Republican candidates and incumbents.
But Fox consistently hides the president’s unpopularity from its viewers, with hosts talking up Trump’s performance and dodging signs of dissent. The network’s most recent poll, published Wednesday, Sept. 16, found the president with a 39% job approval to 61% disapproval. Fox did not mentioned that headline figure once through noon on Friday, however, even as the network covered other numbers from the survey.
These are just three areas where Fox has avoided delivering bad news to its audience — including the president. We at Media Matters have observed the network also giving short shrift to rising inflation and gas and diesel prices; health crises like the summer’s outbreaks of measles and cyclospora; reports that the Trump administration denied disaster requests and canceled energy grants to states because they had voted for Democrats; Republican scandals like Rep. Max Miller’s alleged domestic abuse and Texas candidate Bo French’s bigotry; and the reality that most immigrants targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement have no criminal record.
In place of these news stories, the network increased its already frequent culture war programming. In August, Fox’s evening shows mentioned “socialism” 730 times, the WNBA 238 times and Dr. Anthony Fauci 193 times. On Monday alone, Fox covered an essay by New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones in eight separate segments between the 7 a.m. hour and the 9 p.m. hour.
But though such segments may fill airtime, they don’t fill in viewers on how this MAGA administration is unfolding. Only by observing what Fox ignores do the contours of Trump’s second term — the dangerous incompetence, blatant corruption and cratering popularity — snap into focus.
Guest on a Fox News podcast: “If people in this country are like, gas is too high, man the F up”
09/21/26
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Fox News all but ignores report that a Russian oligarch bankrolled Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding
Fox News anchor defends Mike Rogers skipping a debate on a Detroit station owned and operated by Fox
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While liberal-leaning MS NOW regularly features a who's-who of Never Trump conservatives — including George Conway, The Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson, The Bulwark's Bill Kristol, and hosts Joe Scarborugh, Nicolle Wallace and Michael Steele — Fox News and Fox Business are much more favorable to President Donald Trump. But according to Guardian opinion columnist Margaret Sullivan, Trump is becoming a "problem" for Fox News as the right-wing cable news outlet goes out of its way to cut off viewers from negative information about him.
"No Fox, no President Trump, one might argue," Sullivan writes in a column for The Guardian. "But now, Trump, with his bottom-dwelling approval ratings and waning power, looks more and more like a problem for the network. So far, though, he's one problem that Fox refuses to ignore."
Sullivan cites recent examples of Fox News going out of its way to avoid negative coverage of Trump.
"Two breaking stories roiled U.S. politics this week and immediately got big play on most news sites," Sullivan explains. "The Supreme Court surprisingly rejected — for now — Donald Trump's attempted restrictions on mail-in ballots, a blow to Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections. And the investigative site ProPublica revealed that a Russian oligarch had helped to bankroll the Bahamas wedding of Trump's son Donald Jr., to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The blockbuster story quickly became ProPublica's most-read article this year and was covered heavily elsewhere."
Sullivan continues, "'There's no looking away from this Trump scoop,' wrote CNN's Brian Stelter. Unless you watched Fox News, of course. There, it was business as usual. The wedding blockbuster got barely a nod on Monday night: a mere minute on the right-wing network's evening programming, as the progressive non-profit watchdog Media Matters reported."
Sullivan notes that Fox News also downplayed the "vote-by-mail story."
According to Sullivan, "'The news broke during the 7 p.m. hour, but Laura Ingraham, a law school grad, didn't bother to tell viewers,' Stelter noted. Neither did the other big-name Fox opinion hosts, Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity. You would have had to wait until 11.30pm for that 45-second report, Stelter wrote, even as it was a leading story in many other places."
Media Matters' Matt Gertz, in an interview, described the lengths that Fox News goes to when it comes to protecting Trump.
Gertz told Sullivan, "This is the 'negative space' of Fox News coverage, in which they pretend something is simply not happening. Trumpian corruption is the biggest part of this … They are concerned with coddling their audience and maintaining the GOP's political power."
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RWW
09/16/2026
- Malcolm Ferguson @ The New Republic: House Cancels Votes to Avoid Embarrassment Over Hegseth Impeachment
Republicans are sending members of Congress home early to avoid a vote on the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
- Ed Mazza @ HuffPost: Kash Patel And GOP Lawmaker Have Bizarre ‘Bestiality’ Debate
The FBI director struggled to explain a change in the agency’s hiring rules.
- Kathryn Wilkens @ Mediaite: Kash Patel Rages About His Viral Clashes With Democrats in Wild Senate Hearing: ‘Buffoons on Capitol Hill!’
FBI Director Kash Patel tore into the Democratic senators he clashed with during a blockbuster hearing Tuesday, accusing them of acting like “buffoons on Capitol Hill” during an appearance on Fox News.
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Right-wing media downplay AI safety concerns as a hoax by comparing them to climate change and “COVID hysteria”
Written by Helena Hind, Jane Lee & Evlondo Cooper
Published 09/15/26
Right-wing media are following President Donald Trump in dismissing calls to slow down AI development in the wake of multiple hacking incidents as a “hoax,” comparing concerns over AI to “climate change apocalyptic talk” and “COVID hysteria” including support for vaccines.
Reports have surfaced in recent months that rogue AI agents from OpenAI anonymously hacked into AI startup Hugging Face servers and into software service RubyGems. As Reuters explained: “Many incidents where AI agents from developers such as OpenAI and rival Anthropic have hacked or attempted to access external systems have heightened concerns over the increasing capacity of AI models and developers' ability to contain them.” On September 12, both Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly called for a slowdown in AI development, with Altman announcing that his company would be delaying its initial public offering until 2027.
Trump vehemently rejected the idea of an AI slowdown in a series of Truth Social posts on September 14, calling the push for caution a “hoax,” “scam,” and a “SICK conspiracy.” Trump wrote: “The people that say AI is going to destroy the World, and that Data Centers are bad for your neighborhood, are the same people that said, just a short time ago, that the World would be extinguished by ‘Climate Change.’”
The claim that climate scientists’ predictions have failed is not borne out by the evidence — warnings about greenhouse gases causing more warming have now come to pass, with over a decade of record-breaking heat and thousands of excess deaths across Europe in climate-driven heat waves this year alone.
Nonetheless right-wing media followed Trump’s lead, comparing concerns about unregulated AI development with supposedly fabricated climate change warnings and COVID-19 pandemic safety measures like vaccines. (In reality, researchers have repeatedly proven that vaccines limited the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic, reduced the rate of severe complications and death, and continue to be a safe, effective treatment.)
On his September 14 radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity accused former President Barack Obama of “urging Democrats to fearmonger AI just like Democrats fearmongered and flat-out lied about global warming,” claiming those concerns “turned out to be bunk.” Hannity then reassured his listeners that Trump said that “the U.S. has already put guardrails in place to regulate and prosecute AI companies.”
Dismissing AI warnings on his Daily Wire podcast, Ben Shapiro stated, “This is pretty redolent of the climate change apocalyptic talk. Like all the ice caps were going to be gone, the polar bears were all going to drown, all the rest of it.”
Video
Citation
From the September 14, 2026, edition of the Daily Wire's The Ben Shapiro Show.
Fox host Will Cain referenced climate change while discussing AI warnings: “Vested interests did stop nuclear [power] and set it back half a century. And that same playbook of fears played out with climate change and COVID. So now, what is so scary about AI?”
Downplaying the “AI apocalypse alarm” during Fox’s The Five, co-host Jesse Watters referenced both climate change and the COVID vaccine, asking, “If I told you the world was going to end if you didn't take this vax, what would you do? Or if the world was going to end because of global warming, what would you do? Same thing's happening here — some people get rich and we all still survive.” B/C OF LIE/HYPE?
Video
Citation
From the September 14, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Five
Fox’s Laura Ingraham echoed Watters’ comments later that evening, saying AI concerns reminded her of “the first several months of COVID hysteria.” She later evoked “fearmongering about climate change, same thing. Al Gore's film, Inconvenient Truth, oh my God. That still echoes in politics today.”
Hannity rounded out Fox's evening coverage with yet another comparison of AI fears to climate change and the pandemic.
Decrying “the climate alarmist cult religion,” Hannity said, “Al Gore was preaching from the pulpit of climate alarmism. … All these predictions have come and gone and the time frame he said it would happen, none of it came true.”
“We were lied to about COVID at a high level,” he added. “I just don't trust the government at all in that sense. But I trust America enough that we would use this for good.”
However, the over-the-top comparisons are not limited to Trump and right-wing media dismissing AI concerns. Joe Allen, previously the “transhumanism editor” on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, opposed AI at a debate held in Dallas during last week's GOP midterm convention by bizarrely referencing “algorithmic immigrants.” Semafor reported:
“You look at the data center, this incubator for algorithmic immigrants,” he said. “They’ve already broken out and invaded other companies. These immigrants are out of control.”
Allen was speaking at Forum, a policy discussion staged at a stylish venue fifteen minutes from the convention center to give the new American right an opportunity to debate some of the policy issues currently dividing it— in particular, the tension between populism’s activist promises and traditional small government, and the rise of artificial intelligence.
(Allen’s opponent at the debate, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, reportedly “compared complaints about AI to the ‘Black Lives Matter hysteria,’ and suggested they were driven by ‘psyops from China.’”)
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MMA
Right-wing media downplay AI safety concerns as a hoax by comparing them to climate change and “COVID hysteria”
Written by Helena Hind, Jane Lee & Evlondo Cooper
Published 09/15/26
Right-wing media are following President Donald Trump in dismissing calls to slow down AI development in the wake of multiple hacking incidents as a “hoax,” comparing concerns over AI to “climate change apocalyptic talk” and “COVID hysteria” including support for vaccines.
Reports have surfaced in recent months that rogue AI agents from OpenAI anonymously hacked into AI startup Hugging Face servers and into software service RubyGems. As Reuters explained: “Many incidents where AI agents from developers such as OpenAI and rival Anthropic have hacked or attempted to access external systems have heightened concerns over the increasing capacity of AI models and developers' ability to contain them.” On September 12, both Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman publicly called for a slowdown in AI development, with Altman announcing that his company would be delaying its initial public offering until 2027.
Trump vehemently rejected the idea of an AI slowdown in a series of Truth Social posts on September 14, calling the push for caution a “hoax,” “scam,” and a “SICK conspiracy.” Trump wrote: “The people that say AI is going to destroy the World, and that Data Centers are bad for your neighborhood, are the same people that said, just a short time ago, that the World would be extinguished by ‘Climate Change.’”
The claim that climate scientists’ predictions have failed is not borne out by the evidence — warnings about greenhouse gases causing more warming have now come to pass, with over a decade of record-breaking heat and thousands of excess deaths across Europe in climate-driven heat waves this year alone.
Nonetheless right-wing media followed Trump’s lead, comparing concerns about unregulated AI development with supposedly fabricated climate change warnings and COVID-19 pandemic safety measures like vaccines. (In reality, researchers have repeatedly proven that vaccines limited the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic, reduced the rate of severe complications and death, and continue to be a safe, effective treatment.)
On his September 14 radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity accused former President Barack Obama of “urging Democrats to fearmonger AI just like Democrats fearmongered and flat-out lied about global warming,” claiming those concerns “turned out to be bunk.” Hannity then reassured his listeners that Trump said that “the U.S. has already put guardrails in place to regulate and prosecute AI companies.”
Dismissing AI warnings on his Daily Wire podcast, Ben Shapiro stated, “This is pretty redolent of the climate change apocalyptic talk. Like all the ice caps were going to be gone, the polar bears were all going to drown, all the rest of it.”
Video
Citation
From the September 14, 2026, edition of the Daily Wire's The Ben Shapiro Show.
Fox host Will Cain referenced climate change while discussing AI warnings: “Vested interests did stop nuclear [power] and set it back half a century. And that same playbook of fears played out with climate change and COVID. So now, what is so scary about AI?”
Downplaying the “AI apocalypse alarm” during Fox’s The Five, co-host Jesse Watters referenced both climate change and the COVID vaccine, asking, “If I told you the world was going to end if you didn't take this vax, what would you do? Or if the world was going to end because of global warming, what would you do? Same thing's happening here — some people get rich and we all still survive.” B/C OF LIE/HYPE?
Video
Citation
From the September 14, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Five
Fox’s Laura Ingraham echoed Watters’ comments later that evening, saying AI concerns reminded her of “the first several months of COVID hysteria.” She later evoked “fearmongering about climate change, same thing. Al Gore's film, Inconvenient Truth, oh my God. That still echoes in politics today.”
Hannity rounded out Fox's evening coverage with yet another comparison of AI fears to climate change and the pandemic.
Decrying “the climate alarmist cult religion,” Hannity said, “Al Gore was preaching from the pulpit of climate alarmism. … All these predictions have come and gone and the time frame he said it would happen, none of it came true.”
“We were lied to about COVID at a high level,” he added. “I just don't trust the government at all in that sense. But I trust America enough that we would use this for good.”
However, the over-the-top comparisons are not limited to Trump and right-wing media dismissing AI concerns. Joe Allen, previously the “transhumanism editor” on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, opposed AI at a debate held in Dallas during last week's GOP midterm convention by bizarrely referencing “algorithmic immigrants.” Semafor reported:
“You look at the data center, this incubator for algorithmic immigrants,” he said. “They’ve already broken out and invaded other companies. These immigrants are out of control.”
Allen was speaking at Forum, a policy discussion staged at a stylish venue fifteen minutes from the convention center to give the new American right an opportunity to debate some of the policy issues currently dividing it— in particular, the tension between populism’s activist promises and traditional small government, and the rise of artificial intelligence.
(Allen’s opponent at the debate, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, reportedly “compared complaints about AI to the ‘Black Lives Matter hysteria,’ and suggested they were driven by ‘psyops from China.’”)
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MMA 9 26
Fox News all but ignores report that a Russian oligarch bankrolled Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding
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Newsmax attacks Fox for ousting Maria Bartiromo
Citation- Newsmax
- Fox announced last week that longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo has left the network; her attorney has disputed that. As Matt Gertz notes for MS Now, “The central offense that resulted in Fox apparently parting ways with her was that she gave the White House internal Fox News communications about claims Trump was pushing about China and the 2020 election. Rather than encouraging the network’s stars to tell their viewers the truth about the president’s fantasies, Fox executives ordered them not to mention them.”
- Steve Bannon, who has ties himself with Bartiromo, hosted White House adviser Peter Navarro. Navarro defiantly admitted that he shared a text from Bartiromo with the White House and told Bannon that Fox News' CEO Suzanne Scott “should prostrate herself before President Trump for disrespecting the office” and “put Maria right back in the anchor chair.”
- Perhaps one has jumped on this story more than people on air at Newsmax.
- Host Bob Brooks said Baritormo’s ouster suggests that Fox has moved further to the left, while host Rob Finnerty said Fox has a history of firing “very big Trump supporters.” Greg Kelly agreed that Fox is “anti-Trump."
- Newsmax is always happy to attack a competitor, but there may be more here than a petty rivalry. The Dominion case revealed that Fox News paid very close attention to how Newsmax tried to attack it from the right, and it reacted accordingly when it started to lose viewers. Should something similar happen again — say, if Republicans lose seats in the midterms and Fox acknowledges them while Newsmax says otherwise, and Fox's audience prefers the Newsmax narrative — Fox would be in the same bind it was in 2020. That is a hypothetical of course and there are numerous other ways this all may play out. Either way, this situation is worth keeping an eye on.
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Iran coverage collapsed this summer on Fox News’ evening “opinion” shows
No war but the culture war: Network stars’ references to socialism, WNBA, Fauci, now swamping Iran
Written by Matt Gertz
Research contributions from Rob Savillo & Harrison Ray
Published 09/09/26
Six months into the war Donald Trump launched against Iran, the campaign “has deteriorated into a quagmire of the president’s own making with no clear goals, no obvious strategy and no end in sight” while senior U.S. military leaders are reportedly warning that “prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland.”
But on Fox News — the MAGA propaganda network that urged Trump to attack Iran in the first place — some of his most devoted allies have all but completely stopped talking about it.
Fox’s evening “opinion” shows dramatically reduced their coverage of the Iran war over the summer, as the conflict they initially celebrated as an historic success became ever-more intractable and unpopular.
As Fox’s stars tamped down their discussions of the war, they instead focused their audiences’ attention on more palatable culture-war fare. Their programs became rife with warnings of the rise of socialism, fixated on race and gender debates in the WNBA, and revived attacks on former federal health official Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Media Matters identified mentions of “Iran,” “Iranian,” and “Iranians” (hereafter consolidated as “Iran”); “socialism,” “socialist,” “communist,” and “communism” (coded as “socialism”); “WNBA” and “women’s basketball” (“WNBA”); and “Fauci” across five Fox programs — the network’s highest-rated program, panel show The Five; premiere star vehicles The Ingraham Angle, Jesse Watters Primetime, and Hannity; and the “comedy” program Gutfeld!.
We found that coverage of the Iran war on those Fox evening “opinion” shows, which had already plummeted from the heady first months of the war, fell still further over the summer.
KEY FINDINGS
- Mentions of Iran on those five evening “opinion” shows fell 78% from June to August. There were just 178 mentions of “Iran” combined on the five shows we reviewed last month — fewer than 2 references per episode, and down from 801 mentions in June.
- Jesse Watters’ program had the biggest “Iran” decrease in raw numbers, dropping from 258 mentions in June to just 46 in August, while Laura Ingraham’s show had the largest decline by percentage with a drop of 87%.
- The five shows referenced “socialism” 730 times, “WNBA” 238 times, and “Fauci” 193 times in August — collectively mentioning the 3 culture war topics 6 times more frequently than they did the actual war.
As Trump’s war failed to reach the speedy resolution promised by Fox hosts, they converged on a strategy in which they stopped talking about Iran and fell back on demagoguing familiar foes — seemingly in hopes of salvaging the GOP’s standing and preventing a Democratic wave in the midterm elections.
How the Iran war fell out of Fox’s evening programming
- The Iran war marks the most consequential test yet of the Fox-Trump feedback loop, the process by which the president’s actions are shaped by the coverage he sees from his favorite Fox programs. As a massive U.S. military force converged around Iran in February, primetime host Sean Hannity led the network’s hawkish commentators in urging Trump to attack while his less-enthused colleagues preferred to avoid the topic. Hannity’s arguments reportedly helped convince the president, and the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes against Iran on February 28, beginning the ill-conceived war.
- The entire evening “opinion” lineup rallied to Trump once the war started, flooding their programs with glowing praise in its first few months. As the war ground on, however — becoming both a geostrategic debacle and an anvil on the GOP’s election hopes — all of them, including Hannity, largely stopped talking about it.
- All five shows saw precipitous collapses of their “Iran” mentions over the summer. Watters’ program had the biggest “Iran” decline in raw numbers, dropping from 258 in June to just 46 in August, while Ingraham’s show had the largest decrease by percentage with a drop of 87%.
- March: 2,327 “Iran” mentions across Fox News evening “opinion” programming. Fox’s hosts cheered as the initial U.S. and Israeli strikes destroyed Iranian targets and assassinated its former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. They quickly declared the mission accomplished, lavished Trump with praise, and savaged the war’s critics, drawing complaints from other right-wing figures for producing “blatant propaganda.” But the Iranian regime remained intact and in control of its nuclear stockpile — and quickly followed its well-known doctrine by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for the global trades in energy and fertilizer.
- A split briefly emerged between hawks like Hannity, who called for tactics including seizing Iranian uranium, destroying its regime, and forcing open the Strait, and Ingraham, who warned that a prolonged conflict could damage the American economy while further escalations risked “cascading problems” that would hurt the GOP’s standing in the midterms. Ingraham quickly pivoted back, however, telling her viewers that “Trump is taking some big risks, but with big risks come great rewards,”and that she was “choosing not to panic” about the midterm elections.
- “Trump has already won in Iran.” — Laura Ingraham, March 5
- April: 1,680 “Iran” mentions across Fox News evening “opinion” programming. When Trump backed down from a threat to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization” and instead declared a ceasefire on April 7, he kicked off a monthslong cycle of fruitless diplomacy, tit-for-tat strikes, and bluffs at escalation. His Fox allies, though, quickly switched from offering support for Trump’s proposal for a massive war crimes campaign to praising him for supposedly forcing Iran to “cry uncle,” as Watters put it. And as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz began triggering rising gas prices for Americans, the hosts responded by celebrating the U.S. oil industry’s profits; attacking Democratic critics of the war as traitors; and calling for the resumption of the U.S. bombing campaign.
- “He is, in effect, a traitor.” — Greg Gutfeld on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz criticizing the Iran war in a speech abroad, April 20
- May: 763 “Iran” mentions across Fox News evening “opinion” programming. The president spent May toggling between saber-rattling and claims that a deal with Iran to end the war was at hand. All the while, Trump continued to count on Fox for fawning coverage of his administration and his war as his poll numbers fell amid the ongoing stalemate. The result was a doom loop in which Fox’s hosts, desperate to hold on to their MAGA audience, kept telling viewers that the war was on the verge of a historic victory that simply needed more time and troops — and apparently convinced Trump not to end the conflict, even as it became a global strategic debacle and a domestic economic and political disaster.
- “President Trump is now poised for a major geopolitical win in Iran.” — Sean Hannity, May 29
- June: 801 “Iran” mentions across Fox News evening “opinion” programming. The fourth month of the war was the only one in which Fox’s evening “opinion” shows mentioned “Iran” more frequently than it had the month before. Trump praised Fox’s “great” coverage of the war during a June 11 interview, praising “fantastic” hosts Hannity, Watters, and Ingraham, and adding that “every single anchor has been great.” His signing that month of a “memorandum of understanding” with Iran triggered dismay from many on the right because it failed to achieve his objectives and left the U.S. in a weaker position and Iran in a stronger one than before the war began. But it drew praise from Fox hosts like Gutfeld, Watters, and Hannity, with the latter declaring it “history in the making,” even as retaliatory strikes continued despite the purported ceasefire.
- “Iran signed on the dotted line and Trump did it all before dinner. … Trump is creating a New World Order.” — Jesse Watters, June 16
- July: 545 “Iran” mentions across Fox News evening “opinion” programming. Iranian forces struck commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. retaliated by resuming military strikes, Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran “over,” the war’s scope widened across the Arabian Gulf, and the president again threatened further escalations even as reports circulated that the U.S. military was running critically short of key interceptor missiles — but as others in MAGA media became increasingly despondent over the state of the conflict, coverage of the war from Fox’s evening “opinion” hosts dropped.
- “I'm pretty well wired in the Pentagon and I have not heard that.” — Watters on reports of a U.S. munitions shortage, July 27
- August: 178 “Iran” mentions across Fox News evening “opinion” programming. Fox’s evening “opinion” hosts all but abandoned talking about the Iran war as Trump again threatened a massive attack before again backing down; transits through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for global trade, remained limited; Iran and Oman closed in on a deal that would impose transit fees for passage through the strait; and reports circulated about poor living conditions on a U.S. aircraft carrier that were due in part to successful Iranian strikes on a U.S. base in Bahrain. Hannity did briefly address the war on August 19 — to declare that it had already been won. Trump, in turn, posted a “Mission Accomplished” image on social media the following week.
- “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon thanks to Donald Trump. Does anyone ever give him credit for that?” — Hannity, August 19
As Iran coverage falls, Fox hosts warn of a red menace
- Something had to fill the void as Fox hosts reduced their coverage of Iran over the summer, and they ended up settling on a new red scare focused on Democratic candidates who were members of, supported by, or somehow associated with the Democratic Socialists of America or the concept of democratic socialism.
- Fox quickly found its narrative as such candidates competed for and sometimes won the Democratic nomination for public office: Portray their primary victories as a national phenomenon that showed that the Democratic Party was now in hock to socialism and that Democratic victories in the midterm elections would put communism on the table — along with mass suffering and death.
- On the Fox evening “opinion” shows we reviewed, beginning in late June there were more collective mentions of “socialism” than “Iran” during 9 of 10 weeks.
- Each individual program had more “socialism” mentions than “Iran” mentions in August. Ingraham’s show had the most “socialism” references that month, with 203 against just 25 “Iran” references. Hannity, Jesse Watters Primetime, and The Five each had more than 100 “socialism” mentions and 50 or fewer “Iran” ones. On Gutfeld!, “socialism” was referenced 9 times more frequently than “Iran.”
- They’re all speaking from the same hymnal, as a sampling from their voluminous commentary shows.
- Watters warned in June that victories by two democratic socialists in Democratic congressional primaries in New York City were “dangerous,” saying of them: “You're coming for us. You're coming for our money, you're coming for our people, you're coming for our way of life. It's not socialism, guys. This is communism. You can't reason with these guys. You have to crush them. And we will.”
- “We're not going to let our civilization get destroyed,” he added. “These people are going to steal from us. These people want to hurt us.”
- Hannity said in July that the “extreme positions” of Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong, a self-described democratic socialist, were “the perfect illustration, representation of the socialist base, the radical communist base now, that is the Democratic Party.”
- (Hong subsequently lost the primary to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a “moderate Democrat.”)
- Discussing Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan and a self-described capitalist, Gutfeld claimed in August that “America is not going to become a socialist country, but the Democrat Party could become a socialist party,” adding: “I resent having to debate over ideologies that have not only failed, but killed millions.”
- “Every Democrat should be condemning this language and this movement, but they're not, because above all, they want to win and they're afraid of losing,” Ingraham added later that month. “So, for all you job creators, all you entrepreneurs out there, sorry, because if the DSA-ers tolerated by the Democrat Party have their way, it's confiscation time.”
- Trump’s symbiotic relationship with the network’s coverage has been on full display.
- Trump “has seized on ‘communism’ as his new favored line of attack against Democrats, having invoked the word more than 100 times since late June as he tries to rouse voters and preserve a narrow Republican congressional majority in the upcoming midterm elections,” NBC News reported on August 21.
- Speaking at Mount Rushmore on July 3, the president warned of “a resurgence of the communist menace in our land” and promised to “vanquish communists quickly” and “send them into exile.”
No war but the culture war — as Iran coverage fades, a new focus on WNBA, Fauci
- As the summer wore on, familiar culture war fixations joined fearmongering about socialism as major topics on Fox’s evening “opinion” shows.
- The WNBA suddenly became a regular topic of discussion across the network beginning in late June and continuing through the summer (with no end in sight).
- Much of the debate revolved around criticizing the league over issues pertaining to race and trans inclusion, with the network’s stars devoting significant airtime first to whether Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark received hard fouls because she is white, and eventually to a monthslong firestorm over the possibility of trans athletes in the WNBA, kicked up by comments made by the Fever’s Sophie Cunningham and subsequently accelerated by former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom’s antics (even though, as Wired noted, “no transgender women have ever played in the league”).
- The deluge of coverage led Watters to comment during a segment on The Five: “I don’t want to cover women’s basketball. … We have to do this again, really?”
- Meanwhile, the Fox hosts devoted significant time to relitigating the response to the COVID-19 pandemic after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) released over 1,000 pages of entries from former public health official Anthony Fauci’s diary written from 2019 to 2022, and Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment rather than giving testimony at a subsequent hearing before Paul’s committee.
- Hannity’s show, which played a key role in encouraging Trump to attack, mentioned “WNBA” nearly twice as frequently as it did “Iran” in August (93 to 50). Gutfeld! and The Ingraham Angle also had more “WNBA” mentions than “Iran” mentions. Gutfeld!, Jesse Watters Primetime, and The Ingraham Angle had more “Fauci” references than “Iran” mentions.
- The choice of topics is reminiscent of 2021, when Fox responded to Trump leaving office in disgrace by churning up culture war fights around “critical race theory,” trans athletes, and the COVID-19 vaccines.
Methodology...
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Fox News is treating the GOP's midterm convention as a very special episode of Hannity
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 09/09/26
“‘The vibes are very bad’ in Texas” is the headline of Politico Playbook’s dispatch from Dallas, where the GOP’s “Trump-a-palooza” midterm convention has Republican attendees fearing “what could transpire on the stage — and what it might mean for lawmakers back home.”
But let not your heart be troubled, Fox News has the solution on hand — more Sean Hannity.
The Fox brass has decided to give its 10 p.m. timeslot during the convention to the network figure closest to President Donald Trump, “to make sure all the key speeches and anti-Dem video montages are seen,” CNN’s Brian Stelter reported Wednesday. That’s a shift from its coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention, when Fox assigned chief political anchor Bret Baier and The Story’s Martha MacCallum to host a nightly special featuring a panel of the network’s political contributors
Hannity’s selection is a clear signal that Fox plans to produce a GOP infomercial, and it is functionally equivalent to simply letting the Republican National Committee program the coverage. Hannity is a confidant and adviser to Trump who uses his show to propagandize on the president’s behalf. Over the years, the host has appeared in a Trump campaign video; spoken at a Trump rally; scripted a Trump campaign ad; served as a White House back channel; sought, received, and carried out marching orders from the Trump White House about what to say on Election Day 2020; and strategized with Trump family members and White House aides.
The decision also raises questions about how Hannity will treat election denial when it emanates from the convention speakers. The host carried Trump’s speech from the White House on the subject in July, then offered a brief discussion of his claims. But despite promising “a deep dive into all this documentation in the days ahead for sure,” Hannity did not subsequently return to it — possibly adhering to the reported Fox ban on such discussions that reportedly played a role in longtime host and conspiracy theorist Maria Bartiromo’s departure from the network last week.
Hannity and colleagues try to manifest a GOP vibe shift
On the eve of the midterm convention start, Hannity and his colleagues are trying to raise Republican spirits by sheer force of will, highlighting Trump’s purported successes and warning of dire consequences if Democrats muster election victories.
Hannity opened his Fox primetime show on Tuesday with a segment on the convention, promising viewers that “we will be there” and urging them not to read anything into the numerous Republican candidates in tough races who aren’t appearing at the event. He assured the audience that he “was able to get confirmation” that the candidates attending “were invited and they're the most competitive races in the country. … Not every Republican that's running for office was invited.”
He went on to give viewers a pep talk, urging them to “take nothing for granted” because “the stakes have never been higher during a midterm election” and instructing Republican candidates to “treat every single day with the proper amount of urgency.”
Hannity reeled off a list of “promises made, promises kept by President Trump and his Republican allies,” which he contrasted to “what the radical socialist Democratic Party is now offering the country. They want to completely upend our way of life. They want to strip you of your very humanity. If they get their way, you — you will have domain over nothing. Not even your own family.”
“In 56 days, this November, the choice will be very simple,” he concluded. “You can vote for Democrats who believe America is fundamentally evil and want to humble and humiliate the American people, or you can vote for liberty, freedom Republicans, albeit many Republicans, far from perfect, but they're not DSA members. And by the way, they believe in lifting everybody up through the concepts of liberty and freedom and safety and security and opportunity.”
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Citation
From the September 8, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters similarly touted Trump’s leadership and emphasized that the midterm elections will be a referendum on his performance on their Tuesday broadcasts.
“Tomorrow in Dallas, Republicans kick off that first-ever midterm convention, and gavel to gavel, the Angle will be there,” Ingraham said. “We'll broadcast live from the American Airlines Center. Cannot wait. President Trump will headline both nights. Now, what's the goal? To fire up the base with his vision, the Republican vision for continued economic growth and rigorous border enforcement.”
While she spoke, on-screen text read, “History in the making in Dallas.”
Ingraham later claimed that “we always take these polls with a grain of salt … I mean, at this point, you don't even know what's what with the polls, but there does seem to be some pro-GOP movement in some of these polls, especially the ones that came out today.”
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From the September 8, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
Watters launched his own broadcast with fulsome praise for the convention and the president at the top of his show the following hour.
“We're less than 24 hours from Trump-a-palooza where the Republicans are going to hold their first ever midterm convention right in the heart of Texas,” he said. “President Trump will be there, so will JD Vance, Bobby Kennedy, and a long list of big-name Republicans. The goal of the convention: You make this election between communism and common sense, and the commies are making it too easy.”
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From the September 8, 2026, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
Watters then offered a paean to what he portrayed as a laundry list of Trump accomplishments — over a chyron that read, “Republicans have a record to show off.” The host’s litany included that “jobs market has never been hotter for people with just a high school diploma”; “people took home big refund checks and realized if you start a family and open Trump accounts, your children will retire as millionaires”; “we just captured the world's largest oil reserves in Venezuela”; “the border sealed, crime all-time low, and doctors aren't giving sex change surgeries to kids anymore”; and “MAHA is cleansing what we eat.”
He went on to praise the Iran war, saying, “Republicans will have to tackle high gas prices but they'll argue that President Trump stopped Iran from nuking up, killed the ayatollah, took out the world's No. 1 state sponsor of terror, and our Navy in the strait [is] bringing prices down.”
“So the election is going to come down to Republican results and whether voters are going to buy what Democrats are selling,” Watters concluded. “They have no record to run on, no new ideas, just a mix of TDS with a whiff of communism. Republicans have to lock in these gains because there's a lot at stake.”
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Watters and his Fox colleagues will be doing everything they can over the next few days — and weeks, and months — to ensure that happens.
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Fox News is treating the GOP's midterm convention as a very special episode of Hannity
- 09/09/26 12:41 PM EDT
Newsmax host on the midterms: “Republicans do not have a great story to tell right now. I’m sorry to tell you that, but it’s true.”
- 09/09/26 12:40 PM EDT
Iran coverage collapsed this summer on Fox News’ evening “opinion” shows
- 09/09/26 11:13 AM EDT
Fox Business contributor claims “people don't give [Trump] enough credit for how he's kept gasoline prices under control”
- 09/09/26
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MAGA launches 'revolt' after shock ouster at Fox News
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Maria Bartiromo is out at Fox. What took so long?
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 09/04/26
My latest for MS NOW is about Fox’s decision to cut ties with network veteran and Trump loyalist Maria Bartiromo:
Fox News Media announced on Thursday that it had parted ways with longtime host Maria Bartiromo with a brusque 22-word statement: “We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 1/2 years and wish her all the best on her next chapter.” As soon as the announcement was made, media observers wondered: What development led to her long tenure’s abrupt end?
The answer says a lot about Fox’s unprecedented role in the political landscape, its unhealthy relationship with the president, and the ongoing fallout of Trump’s obsession with unhinged conspiracy theories.
Even among her network’s assembly of Trump friends, former employees and family members, Bartiromo stood out for her zealotry and close ties to the president. Once an award-winning financial reporter and anchor at CNBC, she joined Fox in 2013. As Trump rose to political power, she aggressively rebranded as an unrestrained MAGA warrior. She was so loyal that, according to a book by Axios’ Alex Isenstadt, Trump considered her for his 2024 running mate.
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926 an DING DONG, WHY NOW?
Bartiromo lawyer 'threatening legal showdown' as war with Fox explodes
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Pete Hegseth hasn't been on Fox News in 11 months
09/02/26
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Fox pundits egg on Trump’s trade war with Canada
09/02/26
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The delusional right-wing media figures declaring victory in Iran
The Trump administration’s war of aggression against Iran has failed to achieve its stated objectives. Just don’t tell that to its most die-hard sycophants.
Written by John Knefel
Published 08/28/26
By any objective metric, the Trump administration has failed in its war of aggression against Iran. Once maximalist goals of destroying Iran’s nonexistent nuclear weapons program have been tabled. In the United States, energy costs — especially diesel fuel — are skyrocketing, while missile stockpiles are dwindling. Iran has exerted control over the Strait of Hormuz, an outcome U.S. war planners had long predicted in the event of an extended conflict. Reports that the U.S. military has wrested control of the waterway should be taken with a shipping-freighter-sized grain of salt, as recent data shows that traffic through the strait dwindled on Thursday, and even days with the most activity only reached to about half of pre-war levels.
But what if all of that wasn’t the case? What if President Donald Trump had already won the war, and the only thing that was missing, geopolitically speaking, was the recognition of that fact? That would really be something. And, thanks to a set of especially sycophantic pundits aligned with the White House, that alternate reality is just one livestream or TV show away.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity, as reliable a hack for the Trump administration as you can find on cable news, argued on August 19 that the president hadn’t gotten enough “credit” for stopping Iran’s ability to build a nuclear bomb. (Of course, an obvious consequence of bombing a country, assassinating its leadership, and threatening to destroy its entire civilization is that the new government, entirely rationally, is more interested than ever in developing a nuclear deterrent to avoid such attacks being repeated.)
Hannity also claimed that Iran was “breaking financially,” though close observers believe it is well-positioned to withstand even escalated U.S. sanctions.
The next day, CNN contributor Scott Jennings — currently auditioning for the role of White House press secretary — was even more obsequious.
“It may be time for the president to declare victory in this war because it's obvious that we've won,” Jennings said on his YouTube show.
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From the August 19, 2026, edition of The Scott Jennings Show, streamed on YouTube
MAGA media influencer Benny Johnson was similarly shameless, titling an August 21 segment: “Iran's President SURRENDERS | Calls To 'End The War' With America Immediately As US CONQUERS Hormuz.” Then, on August 22: “Iran Thought They Won…Now It’s All OVER | How Trump Secretly DESTROYED Them Without a Single Bomb.”
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From BennyJohnson.com, posted on August 21, 2026.
On August 24, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a series of punishing sanctions on Iran — a so-called “economic D-Day” — and much of the right-wing media coverage framed it as the latest sign of victory.
That morning, Fox News’ Lawrence Jones, echoing a recurring theme in right-wing media, argued, “You know what’s worse that no new wars — and this is not a new war, this has been going on 47-plus years — is losing. And we're winning right now."
The chyron referenced a New York Post editorial headlined: “Trump is winning the Iran war— stay the course.”
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From the official website of the New York Post, published August 23, 2026.
Citing Bessent’s comments, Newsmax’s Rob Finnerty claimed, “Despite what they’re saying about this war on CNN or MS NOW or in The New York Times, this war's about to end and America is about to win.”
Back on his YouTube show, Jennings offered a list of accomplishments the United States had not in fact accomplished.
“The United States has won the war against Iran,” Jennings said, arguing that “many in our political class refuse to acknowledge” this fact.
“Iran entered this war with four great pillars of strength: its nuclear program, its missiles and drones, its regional terror network, and its ability to hold the world economy hostage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Jennings said. “Every one of those pillars has been severely damaged or outright destroyed.”
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From the August 24, 2026, edition of The Scott Jennings Show, streamed on YouTube
On August 26, Trump posted an image on Truth Social reading, in part, “Mission Accomplished 2026.”
Like with Bessent’s announcement, the administration’s media allies ran with it.
Johnson once again painted a rosy picture of the conflict. “Iran is effectively admitting defeat,” he said. “The Iranian leadership is saying what we all know to be true, which is that you cannot fight a war if you cannot feed your army.”
Hannity boasted that “we have a nuclear-free Iran” among a list of Trump’s supposed successes — a thin accomplishment given that Iran has never had a nuclear weapon and U.S. intelligence agencies determined as recently as last summer it was not pursuing one.
Within the first few days after the United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February, right-wing media figures were eager to declare victory. Half a year later, that outcome remains easier said than done.
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STUDY: Figures on Fox News' key programs have called for escalation in the Iran war more than 250 times since the initial ceasefire
Mark Levin, Brian Kilmeade, and Gen. Jack Keane accounted for nearly 90 calls for escalation
Written by Harrison Ray
Research contributions from Isabella Sherk, Rob Savillo, Tyler Monroe & Casey Wexler
Published 08/26/26
In the four months since the initial ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran, Fox News figures have continuously warmongered. Throughout the cycle of ceasefire violations and stalled peace talks, individuals on Fox have urged the president to “decapitate and destroy this regime,” send Iran “back to the Stone Age,” and urged him to “send the SEALs in and blow something up just for grins.”
Media Matters found that 7 key shows on Fox News — which includes Fox's evening programming as well as some shows hosted by commentators whom President Donald Trump has praised or promoted during the Iran war — called for escalatory action in the Iran War at least 252 times since the initial ceasefire agreement on April 7.
Key Findings
From April 7, when the U.S. and Iran reached the first ceasefire of the war, through August 6, network personalities and guests called for the Trump administration to escalate its war in Iran at least 252 times. Over the period, figures on Fox frequently argued for military strikes, ground invasions or seizing territory, regime change, arming Iranians, or attacks on civilian infrastructure.
Just 5 individuals — host Brian Kilmeade (35 calls for escalation), host Mark Levin (32), Fox News senior strategic analyst retired Gen. Jack Keane (22), former national security adviser and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (16), and Fox News contributor Marc Thiessen (13) — accounted for nearly half of all these calls for escalation. These 5 figures have all played a prominent role at some point in informing Trump's foreign policy, at times specifically on Iran. Trump has discussed Iran with Kilmeade directly and encouraged people to watch Levin's coverage of Iran, while Thiessen and Keane reportedly have his ear on Iran strategy as well. Kellogg has played high-level national security roles in both Trump administrations.
Top 5 warmongers on key Fox News shows
The network's flagship 3-hour morning show, Fox & Friends, led all shows in our study with 92 calls for escalation, followed by Life, Liberty & Levin (50), Hannity (35), and Jesse Watters Primetime (32). Laura Ingraham's show The Ingraham Angle, which has notably pushed back on the war at times, produced only 8 total calls for escalation in our study.
Key shows calling for escalation in Iran war NO GRAPH
Calls for escalation consisted of several types of arguments
The arguments within these calls for escalation fell in 1 of 5 categories — Fox figures arguing for resumed or expanded military strikes, ground invasions or the seizure of territory, further regime change, arming the Iranian populace, or attacks on civilian and non-military infrastructure.
All together, there were 299 unique arguments made over the course of the study period (calls for escalation could — and often did — include more than one argument).
Arguments calling to escalate Iran war
Speakers consistently advocated to resume or expand military strikes
As the Trump administration repeatedly announced imminent peace deals throughout the four-month period, network guests and personalities argued for the resumption or expansion of military strikes. Over that period, speakers on the 7 Fox News programs argued for resuming or expanding military strikes at least 119 times.
Brian Kilmeade, who was the network's chief advocate pushing for military strikes, argued 21 times in favor of additional strikes. Kilmeade frequently argued that the U.S. should resume military action, saying he doesn’t “see any scenario” in which the Trump administration would not have to “go back in and finish the job.” The Fox & Friends host argued that “the quicker we start again, it’s the quicker we end it.”
Fox & Friends led the key shows by a large margin, arguing for resuming or expanding strikes at least 65 times.
Jack Keane (14) and Marc Thiessen (11) followed Kilmeade with the most arguments to resume or expand military strikes. On June 5, in the middle of the supposed ceasefire, Keane said, “Let's go big, take down as much of their capability as we possibly can, and get these guys as close to collapse as a military operation can possibly achieve.”
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From the June 5, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Speakers frequently suggested deploying ground troops or seizing territory
Throughout the war, network guests and personalities frequently advocated deploying ground troops or seizing territory. Suggestions from these figures included seizing Kharg Island or other islands in the region, taking further military action in the Strait of Hormuz including reclaiming or occupying the waterway, and for the Trump administration to go in and physically seize enriched uranium. In total, network guests and personalities argued for deploying ground troops or seizing territory at least 63 times.
Brian Kilmeade led all speakers, arguing at least 13 times that the U.S. should deploy more troops or seize territory, often focusing on U.S. control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Keith Kellogg argued to deploy ground troops or seize territory at least 12 times, the next most of any speaker, often focused on seizing Kharg Island. Kellogg acknowledged in his appearances that he has "repeatedly" and "consistently" argued for taking Kharg Island, adding the president should “put a provisional government in charge.”
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From the May 18, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
Speakers often advocated for further regime change in Iran
After the initial assassination strikes on the first day of the war, network guests and personalities continued to argue for further regime change at least 51 times.
Mark Levin led all speakers, arguing for this at least 11 times. His show Life, Liberty, & Levin led the charge with at least 21 such arguments. Levin frequently argued for the Trump administration to “eliminate” the regime, insisted that nothing would change Iran “except its destruction,” and argued that “the regime itself must be pulled out by the roots.”
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From the April 11, 2026, edition of Fox News' Life, Liberty, & Levin
Speakers pushed for arming Iranians
Network guests and personalities argued for the Trump administration to arm or fund the Iranian populace or Iranian opposition groups in their fight against the Iranian regime at least 42 times.
Life, Liberty, & Levin (27 arguments) led all shows by a large margin, followed by Hannity (12).
Mark Levin was seemingly the network's chief proponent of arming Iranians, arguing for this 22 times. Levin leaned on comparisons to the Reagan administration, saying in one segment, “We need to arm the Iranian people the way we armed other entities, freedom fighters, throughout the world under the Reagan administration,” and in another, touted the “success” of the Reagan administration when they “armed the freedom fighters.”
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From the May 9, 2026, edition of Fox News' Life, Liberty, & Levin
Speakers advocated for attacks on civilian and non-military infrastructure
With network guests and personalities seeming to grow frustrated with stalling negotiations, speakers resorted to arguing for attacks on civilian, oil, or other non-military infrastructure at least 24 times over the four month period.
Fox News host Sean Hannity proposed a campaign to “take out 10%” of Iran's infrastructure every three days until “everything is wiped out.” Keane argued to “destroy and dismantle” the country's energy infrastructure “on the mainland.” And Fox host Jesse Watters repeatedly touted Trump's so-called “bridge and power plant day.”
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From the April 7, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Five
Fox News' warmongering rhetoric has real-world implications
Donald Trump's close relationship with Fox News has blurred the line between the network's political commentary and unofficial policymaking. The president watches the channel “religiously,” its personalities have direct access to him, and their on-air demands often worm their way into the administration's political agenda.
And while the promised “four to five week” war — which has strained household budgets, failed to achieve its stated objectives, and killed thousands overseas, including at least 18 U.S. troops — ran on, many of Fox News' personalities and guests spent their time on air encouraging the president to dig in his heels and escalate.
Methodology...
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Nick Fuentes on the Iran war: “This is the worst loss of the 21st century and it isn’t even close”
08/20/26
Rudy Giuliani calls Fox News a “bad station”
08/20/26
08/20/26
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Real wages have fallen for several months, but these Fox hosts claim wages are rising
08/24/26
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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.”
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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.
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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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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]
- Jobs growth has been negative during six months of Trump’s second term so far. The July jobs report showed a loss of 23,000 jobs, and revised jobs during May and June down by 103,000. As Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg pointed out, “Trump now has the worst jobs record of any president since Hoover.” [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed 8/7/26; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8/7/26; Bluesky, 8/7/26]
- As of June, real average hourly earnings (earnings minus inflation) have increased by a mere 0.1% over the past year. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, production and non-supervisory employees have seen a decrease of 0.1% in their real average hourly earnings between June 2025-26. [Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7/14/26]
- Economic growth under Trump so far lags behind economic growth during the last two years of the Biden administration. [Bluesky, 8/7/26]
And the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have taken numerous actions that have worsened affordability
- Trump has continued to impose universal tariffs, even after the Supreme Court overturned his first series of import taxes on Americans. Trump’s latest round of universal tariffs have a thinly veiled justification to encourage trading partners to address the use of forced labor in their supply chains. Trump’s tariffs have been costly; the Tax Foundation has estimated that “in 2025, the Trump tariffs amounted to an average tax increase of $1,000 per US household.” And Yale’s Budget Lab estimated that Trump’s new tariffs will cost the average household “about $1,100 annually.” [Media Matters, 7/24/26; Tax Foundation, 7/27/26; The Budget Lab, 7/24/26]
- Republicans are removing health insurance from at least 10 million Americans, and the Trump administration has moved to withhold Medicaid funding from some states. According to KFF, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that due to the cuts to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and other Republican policies in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, 10 million more individuals will be uninsured in 2034. The Trump administration in July “deferred more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota,” and as reported by The New York Times, the administration “has already been withholding around $250 million from Minnesota since February and $1.3 billion from California since May.” [KFF, 8/3/26 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 7/21/26; The New York Times, 7/21/26]
- Trump has tariffed prescription medication imports and ended a federal subsidy of Medicare Part D, driving up costs for American seniors. In April, Trump imposed a 100% tariff on brand name medications from “a small portion of drugmakers.” In July, Trump announced that generic drug imports will face a 100% tariff beginning in 2028, doubling to 200% in 2029. Also in July, The Wall Street Journal reported that the administration plans to end a subsidy for Medicare drug plans, “resulting in higher costs for some seniors.” [CNBC, 4/8/26, 7/21/26; The Wall Street Journal, 7/28/26]
- As electricity costs have continued to rise during the Trump administration, Trump has taken actions to slow down or halt renewable energy generation. The Consumer Price Index for electricity surged during the second Trump administration, from 1.8% in January 2025 to 7% in November, before declining slightly to its currently still elevated level of 4% in June 2026. Throughout this time, the Trump administration has engaged in a war against renewable energy; it “canceled more than $7.5 billion in Biden-era federal grants for clean energy projects in October” for purely political reasons, it spent billions paying energy companies to abandon offshore wind energy leases, and announced a 15% tariff on key solar energy components beginning in December. [Federal Reserve Bank of New York, accessed 8/7/26; The New York Times, 7/24/26; The Hill, 8/6/26; Politico, 8/6/26]
- Republicans have made huge cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as food costs have increased more sharply under Trump. In July, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast that inflation for groceries (known as food at home) is predicted to increase 2.7% in 2026, and 2.9% in 2027, which, as reported by The Associated Press, is “higher than the grocery inflation shoppers saw in 2024 and 2025.” Yet the OBBBA included $186 billion in cuts to the SNAP program, which according to the Urban Institute, will affect “22.3 million US families” who would lose “some or all of their SNAP benefits.” Millions of Americans have already lost access to SNAP benefits during Trump’s second term. [Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, accessed 8/7/26; U.S. Department of Agriculture, 7/24/26; The Associated Press, 7/25/26; Urban Institute, 8/6/25, 7/2/25; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/29/26]
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One year in, Fox News can’t decide if it’s a “booming” Trump economy or Biden’s economic “mess”
01/15/26 10:11 AM EST
After the economy fell flat in 2025, Fox promised: “Next year looks like it’s going to be amazing”
12/18/25 10:33 AM EST
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Fox fixates on Fauci instead of numerous current health crises
07/31/26
Right-wing media's unhinged response to Fauci's diary and congressional testimony
07/30/26
Right-wing media's unhinged response to Fauci's diary and congressional testimony
Right-wing media obsessed over Fauci, mentioning him relentlessly on cable news and podcasts
Written by Helena Hind, Reed McMaster, Jane Lee & Isabella Corrao
Research contributions from Rob Savillo
Published 07/30/26
Right-wing media have gone into overdrive to denigrate Dr. Anthony Fauci following the release of his private diary by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), accusing him of being a “mass murderer” whose “body count is higher than Hitler” and claiming he “deserves to be in prison.”
Right-wing media revived their anti-Fauci coverage after Republicans published pages from Fauci's journal
- On July 25, Rand Paul published over 1,100 pages of COVID-19-era journal entries from former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci in an attempt to claim that he had covered up the origin of the virus. Paul also released records ranging from 2001 to 2015, which he dubbed the “prequel” to Fauci’s diary. These releases are Paul’s latest effort in his yearslong investigation into claims that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. Despite Paul's claims, the diary does not provide any “smoking gun”; rather, as New York Times notes, “It echoes past disclosures showing Dr. Fauci wrestling with a fast-moving crisis as scientists’ views evolved.” [NPR, 7/27/26, 7/29/26; New York Times, 7/27/26]
- On July 29, Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to the committee’s questions. With Fauci making it clear he was going to plead the Fifth, Paul used the hearing to repeatedly accuse him of lying, suggesting “that while Fauci said publicly that Covid originated naturally, he privately believed the virus originated in a medical lab.” [NPR, 7/29/26; AP, 7/29/26; BBC, 7/29/26]
- Right-wing media have long used Fauci as a pandemic scapegoat. Conservative media personalities started attacking Fauci in 2020, with Fox News programs portraying him as power-mad and using his influence to “favor what the Democrats want.” In 2022, then-Fox host Tucker Carlson called Fauci a “dangerous fraud, a man who has done things that in most countries, at most times in history, would be understood perfectly clearly to be very serious crimes.” [Media Matters, 8/23/22, 3/24/20]
Following the diary release, right-wing media devoted significant coverage to Fauci
- Right-wing media went all-in on covering the Fauci story. From Monday through noon on Thursday, Fox News mentioned Fauci 687 times, while on Newsmax, Fauci was mentioned 740 times (this includes mentions when the networks aired live coverage or clips of the hearing). In the online media space, Megyn Kelly said Fauci at least 75 times on her podcast across 3 episodes; The Charlie Kirk Show mentioned Fauci at least 87 times across 3 episodes, and Steve Bannon devoted significant attention during the July 29 edition of War Room to airing live portions of the hearing, with Bannon himself saying Fauci at least 26 times.
Right-wing media accused Fauci of being a “mass murderer” and called for his imprisonment
- Podcaster Benny Johnson claimed Fauci's “body count” is higher than Adolf Hitler’s. He said Fauci is the “single greatest mass murderer in modern history, who has a body count much higher than Hitler.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 7/30/26]
- Radio show host Megyn Kelly claimed “Fauci hurt a lot more people than Epstein did.” [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 7/27/26]
- TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet claimed Fauci “deserves to be in prison.” [Rumble, The Charlie Kirk Show, 7/29/26]
- Podcaster Tim Pool suggested that the Trump administration should attempt to charge and jail Fauci in El Salvador. He said, “Go to El Salvador, calculate what was their — how many deaths. Criminally charge Fauci under Salvadoran law; El Salvador can then file for extradition and we can send him on his way.” [Youtube, Timcast, 7/29/26]
- Pool also claimed, “If Fauci doesn’t go to prison, you have no country.” He added, ”The American people come to realize you can murder millions of people. You can massacre en masse at the institutional international level and you will never face accountability. And then what happens? Confidence in the system breaks down and you get chaos." [YouTube, Timcast, 7/29/26]
- Fox News contributor Clay Travis claimed that “Fauci belongs in prison for the rest of his life.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 7/28/26]
- Newsmax host Carl Higbie argued that “Anthony Fauci should just be in jail, full stop.” He later added, ”I hope they find the deepest prison on earth to bury this guy in." [Newsmax, Carl Higbie: Frontline, 7/29/26]
- Article III Founder Mike Davis called Fauci “one of the worst criminals in our history.” Davis claimed Fauci “got this pardon from Biden because he's a monster and he needed a pardon because he's one of the worst criminals in our history, a mass murderer.” Host Megyn Kelly agreed with him, saying, “You state your opinion that he's a mass murderer. Maybe some who are thinking that's too harsh. I'm not one of them.” [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 7/29/26]
- Podcaster Steve Bannon claimed, “Fauci's a mass murderer. A mass murderer.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 7/29/26]
- PBD Podcast panelist Vincent Oshana called Fauci “a freaking mass murderer.” He added, “If you think about it, Pat, he's been killing people for how long?” [PBD Podcast, 7/27/26]
- Fox News @ Night guest and Moms for Liberty chapter leader Becky Grosskreutz said she hoped Fauci would experience “consequences both here on Earth, and beyond.” Talking about Fauci's testimony, she said, “I saw his smug face today and all the times that he pleaded the Fifth, and I honestly just want, you know, something to happen, and I want to have him to have consequences both here on Earth, and beyond.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 7/29/26]
- Newsmax host Rob Finnerty claimed Fauci is a “sociopath” who deserves to be alone. [Newsmax, Finnerty, 7/29/26]
Methodology
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Fox's Jack Keane calls for “an all-out attack” in Iran: “We're going to have a spike in prices for sure”
- 07/30/26 MMA
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DA confirms no drugs were found after Fox News anchor previously claimed Houston man shot by ICE had meth in his car
Fox’s Trace Gallagher: “We now know that they found — put these pictures on the screen — they found three bags of methamphetamine in this car.”
Written by Gideon Taaffe
Published 07/27/26
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shot and killed a Mexican national during a Houston traffic stop in July, Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher parroted FBI claims, saying that agents “found three bags of methamphetamine” in the vehicle and “there probably is a reason that they were trying to get away from ICE agents.” The local district attorney’s office later confirmed the substance was not drugs.
On July 7, ICE shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who had lived in the United States with his family for decades. Following the shooting, the FBI claimed in an affidavit that a “white crystal-like substance” that appeared “consistent with methamphetamine” was seen in the vehicle. Araujo’s family pushed back against the allegations, saying the substance was likely salt used for “a homemade electrolyte mix used by outdoor workers in extreme Texas heat.” The Harris County District Attorney’s Office later noted that the substance was tested and was determined not to be narcotics.
On July 15, Gallagher used the initial unconfirmed FBI claims to undermine descriptions of Araujo as a father and “good citizen,” saying, “We now know that they found — put these pictures on the screen — they found three bags of methamphetamine in this car. There probably is a reason that they were trying to get away from ICE agents.”
“We talk about this all the time on the show,” the Fox anchor added. “Which is that because the border has been shut down, because they have done such a good job in eradicating these drugs in there, the methamphetamine deaths in the country since the president took over have dropped dramatically.”
Video
Citation
From the July 15, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox News @ Night
The Fox News segment also featured an image from the FBI affidavit alongside the chyron “Court doc: Meth found in van after I.C.E. shooting.” However, the affidavit never confirmed that the substance was meth, only that the “appearance of the controlled substance” was “consistent with methamphetamine.”
Citation
From the July 15, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox News @ Night
Gallagher has previously echoed unconfirmed claims from the Department of Homeland Security about ICE operations as fact.
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07/06/26 2:25 PM EDT
Bannon calls for ICE at polling locations based on Trump admin claims about noncitizen voting
07/17/26
MMA
Fox News barely covered latest waves of Trump tariffs
07/24/26
Fox News stars are still ducking Trump’s election security speech
MMA 7 26
MMA
Fox News stars are still ducking Trump’s election security speech
07/21/26
07/21/26
07/21/26
mma
07/17/26
Bannon calls for ICE at polling locations based on Trump admin claims about noncitizen voting
07/17/26 1:18 PM EDT
07/17/26 12:35 PM EDT
Fox News buries Trump’s election denial address
07/17/26
mma
On the One Big Beautiful Bill's anniversary, Fox elided the energy story
Fox spent years blaming Biden's clean energy investments for higher costs, but around the anniversary of Trump's signature law, which rolled back those investments, Fox and Fox Business had little to say about the bill's energy consequences
*Special* ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Evlondo Cooper
Published 07/16/26
On July 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sprawling tax and spending law that also rewrote federal energy policy. It rescinded most of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act grant and loan programs and accelerated the phaseout of its wind and solar tax credits.
A year later, a Media Matters analysis finds that Fox News and Fox Business aired 10 segments on the law around its anniversary, from June 28 through July 12, with only 3 mentioning its climate or energy provisions.
Fox’s coverage elided how the One Big Beautiful Bill and Inflation Reduction Act have interacted. And while IRA-era investments have continued to support clean energy growth since the OBBBA’s passage, softening the rollback’s immediate harmful impacts, energy experts still expect Trump’s signature law to slow future wind and solar development and raise electricity prices.
The Inflation Reduction Act softened the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s immediate harmful impacts
- Though Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act sunsetted the tax incentives supporting clean energy development, some projects already in the works have still been able to take advantage of them — provided that developers “have already hit certain construction benchmarks,” according to Canary Media. The outlet also reported that “more than 90% of the power plants brought online in America in 2025 were solar, wind, or battery farms,” and the Energy Information Administration expects “clean resources will account for 93% of new additions to the power grid” in 2026.
- This new wind and solar capacity helped the grid meet record-high demand during the anniversary period, when a heat wave pushed electricity demand to new highs. Solar supplied more than 30% of Texas’ record-high July peak, while new offshore wind helped New England burn less oil than it had during a comparable heat wave last year.
The One Big Beautiful Bill weakened the outlook for new energy
- That near-term resilience in part reflects projects that were already in the pipeline before the OBBBA’s passage. However, by restricting the tax credits that supported renewables, the bill has weakened the future outlook for clean energy. A July 2026 report from MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research found that restricting the credits will contribute to “higher energy prices, project cancellations, job losses, and less energy added to the grid.” And, according to Axios, BloombergNEF has cut its forecast for new wind capacity through 2035 by 42% from its pre-OBBBA outlook and has also reduced its solar forecast.
Fox’s anniversary coverage largely omitted the One Big Beautiful Bill’s energy provisions
- Fox News and Fox Business each aired 5 segments around the One Big Beautiful Bill’s anniversary period, from June 28 through July 12, for a total of 10 segments. Of those 10, 7 segments failed to mention the law’s climate or energy provisions, while 3 segments briefly referenced the elimination of Biden-era clean energy subsidies without examining how this affected electricity supply or pricing. During the June 28 episode of *Fox News Live, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said that the law replaced “green new scam” subsidies. And, during the June 30 episode of Fox Business’ *Kudlow, conservative economist Stephen Moore bragged, “We got rid of the Green New Deal.”
- The remaining segment aired during the July 10 episode of Fox Business’ *Mornings with Maria*. Republican strategist Chris Jackson noted, “We got rid of a lot of the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits, but we have not seen a slowdown in clean energy growth.” He credited the One Big Beautiful Bill and Trump’s permitting agenda for energy abundance while treating continued clean energy growth as evidence that repealing Biden-era tax credits had not harmed the energy landscape. But he ignored how much that growth is still being carried by the IRA-era project pipeline, remaining clean energy policy, and market momentum that Fox spent years dismissing as a costly “Green New Deal.”
- In contrast to the few climate and energy mentions Fox made during its OBBBA coverage, the network made energy policy central when covering the Inflation Reduction Act. During the two-week window around the IRA’s first anniversary, August 9 through August 23, 2023, Fox News mentioned the law 153 times, while its climate and energy provisions got 25 mentions. Fox’s coverage has frequently attacked the law using false and misleading claims.
- By not applying the same scrutiny to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Fox is ignoring how the Trump administration has made new wind and solar projects harder to build and reduced the energy available to meet rising demand. This will allow the network to continue to blame future price increases and grid strain on climate and clean energy policies rather than on the law that is constraining new supply. As a result, viewers will be less equipped to understand rising bills, assess threats to grid reliability, or hold accountable the officials who shaped those outcomes.
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...Others on the right have denied, excused, or downplayed Trump’s self-dealing
- Fox host Greg Gutfeld excused Trump's Qatari jet and crypto ventures, saying that Trump was “making billions before and he will make billions after.” Gutfeld said, “He didn't put a gun to anybody's head and took money from them” and questioned, “How much money did the Clintons and the Obamas make after they were president?” [Fox News, The Five, 7/1/26]
- After Fox anchor Bill Hemmer talked about the danger of “investigations” into the Trump family if they “lose control of Congress,” Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said, “Both Eric and Don said they have nothing to do with that mining company.” Hemmer immediately clarified that they were discussing the mine in Kazakhstan. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/1/26]
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mma omg
Fox blames climate policy for Europe’s climate-exacerbated heat deaths
Fox News and Fox Business figures applied that same framing to U.S. heat coverage to make fossil fuels look like the answer to deadly heat
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Evlondo Cooper
Published 07/09/26
As Europe reeled from a deadly heat wave, coverage on Fox News and Fox Business made air conditioning the story, claiming that climate policy had made it harder and more expensive for Europeans to survive the heat.
However, extreme heat is becoming more dangerous because of fossil fuel-driven warming, which makes climate policy more necessary. Fox networks instead used Europe’s deaths to argue against climate action, doubling down on the fossil fuel economy that is exacerbating dangerous climate impacts.
That argument is already being adapted to U.S. heat coverage. As American heat waves expose the strain on infrastructure built for a less dangerous climate, Fox figures blamed climate policy for making cooling more expensive, attacked climate mitigation and resilience planning, and defended more fossil fuel infrastructure. It is a convenient reversal: Fox casts fossil fuels as the answer to deadly heat, while eliding their role in making extreme heat worse.
Europe and the U.S. are both facing deadly heat made worse by climate change
- Extreme heat is killing people on both sides of the Atlantic, and scientists have connected both events to fossil-fueled warming.
Reuters reported at least 3,700 excess deaths during the June 20-28 heat wave that gripped France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. World Weather Attribution found that climate change made the European heat wave hotter and more likely, with a similar weather pattern now producing temperatures that would have been “virtually impossible” in June 1976 and still “highly unlikely at any time of the year.”
Europe’s lack of widespread air conditioning — which is shaped by its historically cooler climate, higher energy costs, and concerns about rising power demand from cooling — helps explain the death toll, but not in the way right-wing media suggest.
Much of Europe was built for a cooler climate baseline that no longer exists. As Mark O’Connell wrote in The Irish Times, “Our societies are not built, either figuratively or literally, for the world we now inhabit.” Europe is now the fastest-warming continent, warming more than twice as fast as the global average, and extreme heat is exposing the gap between the climate its systems were designed for and the climate people are now living in.
The American heat wave showed why the story cannot stop at air conditioning. Even though the U.S. has far more air conditioning than Europe, deadly heat is still outpacing the energy infrastructure that keeps people safe.
The New York Times reported that World Weather Attribution scientists also determined that the recent heat and humidity across the northeast U.S. and eastern Canada would have also been “virtually impossible” without human-caused warming, while Axios reported the event killed at least two dozen people, including 22 heat-related deaths in New Jersey.
Air conditioning saves lives during extreme heat, and more people will need it as heat waves become more frequent and deadly. However it does not solve the underlying danger. Instead, it moves part of the risk onto the power system, which is already being stressed by hotter summers, higher cooling demand, and climate-driven disruptions. During the recent heat wave, the Department of Energy issued an emergency order for PJM, the nation’s largest grid operator, as extreme heat pushed electricity demand toward possible shortfalls.
In addition, widespread air conditioning cannot protect people working outside, people without stable housing, people who cannot afford reliable indoor relief, or people who lose power when demand peaks. The scale of the risk is already visible in the American Southwest. In Maricopa County, Arizona, home to Phoenix, heat killed at least 579 people in 2023, the county’s deadliest year on record. As United Nations climate assessments link rising extreme heat to worsening health risks in the region, more of daily life is becoming harder to sustain safely without major adaptation.
Right-wing media coverage strips this context away. Global warming is making dangerous heat more frequent, but their answer is to attack climate policy while directing people back to the fossil fuel economy that has already made extreme heat worse. More cooling will be essential, but expanding air conditioning alone is not the solution. It will need to be paired with clean power, more energy efficiency, and heat adaptation to mitigate stress on fragile grids and reduce the burning of fossil fuels that are driving these harmful impacts.
- ## Fox claimed Europe’s heat deaths were caused by climate policies that limited access to air conditioning
- Fox’s coverage turned Europe’s heat wave into a story about air conditioning, energy restrictions, and green ideology.
- Climate contrarian Bjorn Lomborg pitted air conditioning against climate action during an appearance onAmerica’s Newsroom. After anchor Dana Perino asked whether “government policies have failed the people,” Lomborg argued that Europe needed “much more air conditioning,” questioning whether governments wanted to help vulnerable people “a tiny bit in 100 years” or help “old and vulnerable people right now.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [6/26/26; DeSmog, accessed 7/7/26]
- The Ingraham Anglecalled European heat deaths “the true cost of the green energy scam.” Over a chyron that read “Sweating the green agenda,” guest host Charlie Hurt said “Europe spent years treating air conditioning as the problem and now we’re having a reality check,” while guest Lawrence Newport, co-founder of U.K.-based group Looking for Growth, claimed air conditioning is “essentially banned” in “a vast number of homes across this country.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [6/26/26]
- Fox News host Sean Hannity used Europe’s heat wave to attack “climate alarmism” and European climate politics. Hannity said Europe was blaming U.S. emissions for the heat wave after embracing “socialism” and “radical climate alarmism,” while his guest, Outnumberedco-host Emily Compagno, argued that Europe was making “a ridiculous stance against climate change” rather than protecting elderly people from deadly heat. Fox News, *Hannity*, [6/29/26]
- Discussing heat deaths in Europe onThe Five, Fox’s Greg Gutfeld suggested “this is a way for Europeans to unload the elderly and blame it on climate change.” Co-host Dana Perino argued that the “so-called science” has been “debunked” and said European officials had a “tool” that could alleviate the problem but “would rather their people suffer and die.” Fox News, *The Five*, [6/30/26]
- Hannity blamed Europe’s deaths on “climate alarmism” and an “anti-air conditioner crusade.” He said the “brutal heat wave now gripping Europe” had caused more than 1,300 deaths, “which by the way is all thanks to the climate alarmism and the anti-air conditioner crusade that’s taken place in Europe.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [6/30/26]
- ## Fox is also turning American heat waves into an argument against climate policy
- Fox figures treated the burden of surviving extreme heat as proof that Americans need fewer climate rules, not stronger climate actions to mitigate worsening heat.
- Discussing the European heat wave on Fox News, Environmental Protection Administration head Lee Zeldin portrayed climate policy as a threat to Americans’ access to air conditioning. On America Reports, Zeldin dismissed the idea that Americans should feel “guilt or shame” over air conditioning use and attacked new environmental rules that could leave “grandma” without a working air conditioner during the summer. He added, “There’s no more hoax where we are saying that the world is about to end.” Zeldin ended by claiming Europeans were “seeing the implementation of their standards, and it’s destroying their economy.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [6/30/26]
- On Fox Business’Mornings with Maria, Energy Secretary Chris Wright framed extreme heat-driven stress on power grids as a reason to loosen climate constraints on utilities. Wright said peak demand would test the PJM grid, blamed “the previous administration” for leaving too little capacity, and argued that the Trump administration was “letting utilities run their business” to prioritize reliability and ratepayers over “climate cult gods.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [7/2/26]
- Perino connected New York City’s thermostat guidance to Europe’s lack of air conditioning and blamed “liberals” for weakening the grid. After co-host Greg Gutfeld said New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani was “coming for your thermostat,” Perino pointed to Europe’s heat wave and said that at an European Union building, lower floors “were not allowed to have air conditioning” while “all the fancy people” above them could keep air conditioning. “You start rationing things,” she said, before blaming New York’s vulnerability on “liberals who took away Indian Point” nuclear facility and “only want renewables.” Fox News, *The Five*, [7/2/26]
- Hannity defended fossil fuels as the source of lifesaving air conditioning during heat waves. The Fox host attacked New York City’s thermostat guidance as “a small taste of socialism,” saying “the same fossil fuel industry” Democrats want to challenge provides the electricity for “the very air conditioning systems that are protecting all of us from heat waves.” He warned that “new regulations will make everything a struggle” and drive energy bills “through the roof.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [7/2/26]
- OnJesse Watters Primetime, longtime climate contrarian Marc Morano recast New York City’s heat wave and air conditioning guidance as “climate communism.” After guest host Charlie Hurt mocked New York City’s 78-degree air conditioning guidance and referenced a New York Times report linking the heat wave to fossil fuels, Morano claimed “climate communists” were relying on “scientifically fabricated fears” to “control every aspect of our lives.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [7/6/26; DeSmog, accessed 7/8/26]
- ## Deadly heat is exposing the lie at the center of right-wing climate politics
- The recent heat waves in Europe and the U.S. show the contradiction in right-wing media's response to deadly heat. They defend the fossil fuel system that is making extreme heat more dangerous, then cast fossil fuel energy as the only practical way to survive it. Their coverage gives audiences a simpler story: The real danger is climate policy, not the fossil fuels driving the heat. But each devastating heat wave makes that story harder to sustain because the crisis they blame on climate action is the crisis climate action is meant to contain.
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MMA As MAHA activists fumed over the Supreme Court’s decision to shield Monsanto owner Bayer, right-wing cable news networks appeared to avoid the topic
Though the cancer liability case and the herbicide glyphosate have received significant attention from Trump supporters, Fox ignored it, and Newsmax barely discussed it
Written by Ilana Berger & Harrison Ray
Published 06/30/26
While MAHA decried the Supreme Court’s recent Monsanto Co. v. Durnell decision, Fox networks completely ignored the ruling, and Newsmax barely touched it, dedicating only 3 minutes of coverage to the decision.
The scant coverage on right-wing cable networks is notable given the immediate wave of backlash to the decision that came from the MAHA coalition, which Donald Trump successfully courted during the 2024 campaign cycle with promises that “we’re going to get toxic chemicals out of our environment, and we’re going to get them out of our food supply.” Prominent figures in the MAHA movement, which became a key component of Trump’s voting base, called the Supreme Court’s decision a “betrayal of the American people” and expressed outrage with the administration for orchestrating the outcome of the case.
- In a 7-2 June 25 decision, the justices “agreed to shield Monsanto from liability over its popular weed killer, Roundup, dealing a victory to the company's new owner as it struggles to resolve thousands of costly lawsuits from people who claim the key ingredient caused their cancer,” wrote NPR.
Media coverage framed the ruling as a victory for the agrochemical industry and the Trump administration, which carried out a multipronged effort to shield Monsanto-owner Bayer from accountability for the harms allegedly caused by its controversial product. President Donald Trump issued an executive order in February declaring glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, critical to national security, and in March, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to rule in favor of Bayer.
According to the environmental advocacy group EarthJustice, the Monsanto v. Durnell ruling could allow companies to “escape liability simply because the EPA approved their labels at some point in the past, even if the company concealed how harmful their pesticides were to people.”
Despite widespread condemnation from MAHA advocates, many of whom have supported Trump in the past, major right-wing news networks largely ignored the ruling. From June 25, 2026, when the U.S. Supreme Court released its Monsanto v. Durnell decision, through June 29, 2026, Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel both failed to mention the ruling even once. Meanwhile, Newsmax gave the ruling only about 3 minutes of coverage across 2 segments and 1 mention in a segment about a different court case.
In one segment on the June 25 episode of Bianca Across the Nation, host Bianca de la Garza noted that the case had received “a lot of attention" from the MAHA movement and questioned whether the decision would be “letting people who believe they were sick be blocked altogether from making claims?"
- Video file
Citation
From the June 25, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Bianca Across The Nation
- Following Trump’s February executive order and in the leadup to the case, some in right-wing media joined the chorus of voices criticizing Trump’s actions to protect glyphosate producers, going so far as to declare that he is “committing political suicide.” Turning Point USA-affiliated MAHA podcaster Alex Clark told The New York Times in April that MAHA voters “feel like the Republicans lied to them, and they’re not planning on voting.”
Some other media figures have defended Trump’s characterization of glyphosate as essential to the United States’ national security and food systems. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the figure at the helm of the so-called Make America Healthy Again movement, also defended the administration's actions around glyphosate in March on The Joe Rogan Experience.
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The Daily Beast
Key Iraq War Architect at White House as Iran War Rages
Sarah Ewall-Wice
:{:{Fri, 6 March 2026}:
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was spotted at the White House attending a roundtable discussion on college sports in the East Room on March 06, 2026 after Trump launched a war with Iran.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was spotted at the White House on Friday as President Donald Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” by Iran.
The timing of Rice’s visit to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue turned heads as she served as national security adviser to President George W. Bush and was a major proponent for the Iraq invasion in 2003, while claiming Iraq was lying about disarmament.
Rice went on to serve as Bush’s secretary of state from 2005 to 2009 throughout the ongoing Iraq War.
The former top Republican administration official has not served in the government for some time, but just Thursday, Rice appeared on Fox News, where she urged President Donald Trump to take care of Iran once and for all.
She also made some of the same arguments as the White House for “Operation Epic Fury” despite the death toll rising and the war escalating as Iran strikes countries throughout the region in retaliation for the U.S. attack.
“The most important thing is to recognize that Iran has been at war with us for at least 47 years, all the way from 1979,” Rice told Special Report with Bret Baier.
She insisted that to say the Iran regime is not a threat is “ahistorical” and said “they have been a threat for a long time.”
The former secretary of state noted that there is “uncertainty with any military operation and what the aftermath might be.”
While Rice acknowledged there are concerns about what comes next, she argued: “If you can render Iran essentially incapable of military action against us and against our allies, that’s worthy, and I think what they’re trying to do is to neuter Iran as a military power in the region.”
The former top Bush official did say she believes the question of making sure the administration does not unintentionally expand on the operation’s goals, or get “mission creep,” was important, but insisted taking care of Iran’s military capabilities is very important.
More in Politics
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Scott Pelley Accuses Bari Weiss Of 'Putting A Thumb On The Scale' For Trump
HuffPost
Bill Maher Invites Mike Pence to Get High as F*ck With Him on Podcast
Mediaite
The very next day, Rice showed up at the White House. The former secretary of state was a participant on Friday at a roundtable on college sports with Trump.
After she left the Bush administration, Rice, a known sports enthusiast, went on to become one of the inaugural members of the College Football Playoff selection committee and is even a partial owner of the Denver Broncos.
During the event, the president praised her as a “champion of college athletics” and “really respected.” She could be seen seated at the table listening, but did not speak.
The Daily Beast asked the White House if Rice had any other meetings with Trump officials during her visit.
At the end of the roundtable, cameras captured her shaking hands with Trump and then exiting the room with him and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
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Fox's deranged reaction to NYC Mayor Mamdani's affordable housing proposal
Fox personalities side with negligent landlords and rant about “wealth confiscation” and “mass killing”
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 05/29/26
After New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled his plans to make affordable housing more available in the city, Fox News personalities and guests fixated on the plan’s efforts combating negligent landlords. They declared that enforcement against negligent landlords amounted to “public theft,” said it was a “throwback to Stalin,” and ranted that legal action to turn over properties from them to more responsible stewards will lead to “mass killing” and similar atrocities.
Mamdani proposes affordable housing initiatives, action against negligent landlords}:
- NBC News: “New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled proposals Tuesday to build 200,000 affordable housing units and preserve an additional 200,000 over the next decade as part of a comprehensive housing plan.” The article continued: “The plan, dubbed ‘Block by Block, a Housing Policy for a New Era,’ includes $22 billion in new investments to build affordable housing, $5.6 billion in funding to enhance the New York City Housing Authority and a new $40-per-hour minimum wage for construction workers on city-financed projects. The proposal also outlines new aggressive code enforcement measures, investment in a city-backed home insurance provider and loosened regulations around prefabricated homes.” NBC News, [5/26/26]
- Politico: “Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to tackle ‘inequitable’ residential growth across New York City that allows many wealthy neighborhoods to add scant housing amid a massive shortage.” The article continued: “Mamdani will roll out a set of zoning and land use initiatives on Tuesday aimed at changing this paradigm, as one plank of a wide-ranging housing plan. City Hall will explore land use changes to allow residential development in neighborhoods with the lowest rates of affordable housing production, and citywide zoning reforms to permit more housing to be built near public transit, among other policy changes.” Politico, [5/26/26]
- :{Mamdani’s “Block by Block” affordable housing plan includes numerous steps to take action against negligent landlords, including a formal process to seize their buildings if they refuse to comply. Chapter 1 of:{ Mamdani’s “Block by Block” plan details how the city plans to enforce regulations and code requirements against “a small group of persistent ‘bad actor’ landlords [who] have willfully and routinely neglected their buildings.” This includes plans to “aggressively use the 7A Program” to “initiate legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers from day-to-day management,” and “where appropriate, engage with lenders to force compliance or immediately begin foreclosure proceedings when landlords refuse to comply.”}:
- Gothamist reported that the city is also working on formalizing procedures for tenants to purchase their buildings either sold by or seized from their landlords. New York City, The Office of the Mayor, [May 2026; Gothamist, 5/26/26]}:
- In a speech outlining his plan, Mamdani said: “When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers. And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards.” Mamdani continued, stating that those “responsible stewards … include community land trusts, nonprofits, or even the tenants themselves.” CBS New York via YouTube,[
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- In a speech outlining his plan, Mamdani said: “When necessary, we will take aggressive legal action to remove negligent owners and property managers. And for buildings that have suffered chronic neglect, we will work to transfer ownership to responsible stewards.” Mamdani continued, stating that those “responsible stewards … include community land trusts, nonprofits, or even the tenants themselves.” CBS New York via YouTube,[
- ## Fox personalities and guests side with negligent landlords, claim Mamdani’s plans will lead to mass violence and death
- Fox Business host Charles Payne on Mamdani’s plan to transfer ownership from negligent landlords: “This will be public theft. Public theft.” Payne added: “He’s actually hijacking a real problem; the transfer of ownership of private property from struggling landlords — mostly folks who own one or two buildings, in part because of, you know, rent controls and things like that — and he is hijacking the problem. Because this is what Democrats do very well — they take a problem, they take acute pain — then they find a way to hijack it and give it to their friends.” Fox News, *America’s Newsroom*, [5/28/26]
- Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Mamdani’s plans regarding negligent landlords: “I'm thinking, do people not know where this always leads? I mean, socialism to communism always leads to mass killing.” Ingraham continued: “It just does. It leads to extermination.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [5/27/26]
- Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis on Mamdani threatening a “property takeover”: “It feels like wealth confiscation, that’s honestly what it is.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [5/27/26]
- Washington Examiner editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon on Fox: “All socialist systems, ultimately, use force, and you can see it with Mamdani now” regarding his plans for negligent landlords. Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [5/27/26]
- Fox anchor Sandra Smith said Mamdani’s plan to hold negligent landlords accountable “is outright blatant theft,” while guest and Republican NYC council member Vickie Paladino cited a quote she attributed to “Zohran’s good buddy” streamer Hasan Piker: “Let the streets run red with their capitalistic blood.” Piker previously explained that the quote, which was slightly different, “was in a conversation that I was having with a landlord friend of mine, and it's of course hyperbolic and it's not meant to be sincere. This is not sincere advocacy. It's not a real policy that I would ever advocate for.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [5/27/26; Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 9/17/25]
- Fox Business host Larry Kudlow claimed Mamdani “is a throwback to Stalin” over plans to address negligent landlords, likening the plans to “when the Soviet Union would confiscate the means of production.” Kudlow continued: “This stupid kid is doing the same thing, because it's what he thinks is the right thing to do. I mean, it's a throwback. I mean, nowadays the modern socialist Democratic Party uses regulatory apparatus to do this kind of thing. This kid's coming in and just, he's just taking the assets and changing ownership. … It’s like setting up little soviets.” Fox Business, *The Big Money Show*, [5/27/26]
- Discussing Mamdani’s plans for negligent landlords on Fox Business, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said: “Let’s be real and call it what this is — trying to seize private property, that is communism.” She additionally claimed: “New York City is actually the biggest slumlord in the city of New York.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [5/27/26]
- Fox anchor Martha MacCallum on Mamdani possibly turning over properties from negligent landlords to tenants: “This is Marxism. It’s collectivism. It’s government apprehending all of the means of production, property, all of the things that Marx writes and talks about are exactly what we’re seeing here.” Fox Business, *Varney & Co.*, [5/27/26]
- OnFox & Friends, network contributor and New York Post columnist Miranda Devine said Mamdani’s “communist prescriptions” targeting negligent landlords will lead to “bloodshed and mayhem and abject misery.” Devine added that Mamdani has an “eerie smile ... when he closes his eyes and says something really frightening.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [5/27/26]
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Right-wing media defend ICE detention center amid protests over horrible living conditions
Written by Sophie Lawton
Research contributions from John Knefel
Published 05/29/26
Right-wing media are defending the living conditions at Delaney Hall, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in New Jersey, following reports of a detainee hunger strike sparking protests outside. In addition to repeating Department of Homeland Security talking points about the conditions, media figures have attacked protesters outside the facility, claiming the demonstrations are “performance art,” among other allegations.
According to NBC, one lawyer who represents multiple detainees said her clients at Delaney Hall “have been given expired food and meals with worms in them” and that some “have been released in recent months because they were not receiving medication or treatment for cancer, diabetes, depression and other conditions.”
The Department of Homeland Security has denied that a hunger strike is taking place at the facility, and both DHS and private prison company the GEO Group, which operates Delaney Hall, have rebuked claims that conditions are unsanitary or “subprime.” In the past year, reports of poor conditions at ICE detention centers have arisen across the country, including from locations such as Fort Bliss Army Base in Texas and the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in Florida.
Right-wing news pundits and podcasters have contested such reports, repeating DHS talking points claiming that conditions in immigration detention facilities are “clean and nice” and possibly offer “better meals” and “better healthcare” than detainees had previously. Further, several have argued that it shouldn’t matter whether the detainees are on a hunger strike.
Besides defending the facilities, right-wing media figures have also attacked the protesters demonstrating outside Delaney Hall, encouraging escalation from the federal government and accusing protesters of being an “organized agitator group” that aims to stir up votes for the midterm elections and set violent criminals loose on the streets.
Right-wing media dismissed the hunger strike, defended detention center conditions, and attacked demonstrators for protesting
- Fox's Greg Gutfeld said onThe Five, “Maggots or not, the food is dietitian approved.” Fox News, *The Five*, [5/28/26]
- OnOutnumbered, Fox host Carley Shimkus said of federal detention centers, “Let's not make this a luxury experience on the taxpayer dollar,” and questioned, “Could this be a protest that sparked for political reasons to get this back in the news cycle?” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [5/28/26]
- Fox & Friendshosts Lawrence Jones, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade made various arguments against the protests, including Eardhart’s claim that “they are mad at Trump for trying to clean up the problem” of immigrants on “the streets” by putting them “in these facilities that are clean and nice.” Kilmeade also encouraged the federal government to pull resources from New York airports, saying, “Make your choice, sanctuary cities. Do the right thing or you going to pay the price.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [5/28/26]
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From the May 28, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
- The previous day onFox & Friends,Jones argued, “If they are choosing not to eat … we don't care.” Earhardt read aloud a social media post from DHS that claimed, “ICE has higher detention standards than most U.S. prisons that hold actual U.S. Citizens." Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [5/27/26, 5/27/26]
- On Fox Business'Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, former ICE Director Jonathan Fahey claimed that “this idea that these people aren't being fed or getting medical care is completely false, or my guess it is.”Fahey then threatened the protesters with imprisonment, saying, “These people that are basically assaulting and obstructing ICE agents are going to find out the hard way — they’re going to get to compare what it's like being in a federal detention center to an ICE detention center because a lot of these people are going to get locked up. But this is all performative nonsense designed to obstruct, to disrupt.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [5/27/26]
- Newsmax host Carl Higbie said about the hunger strike: “If they want to not eat, that's on them. I don't really care. Saves us some taxpayer money, I guess.” Higbie also claimed that “half of the people in the ICE clink are probably getting better meals and probably getting better healthcare than they did before they were picked up.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [5/26/26]
- Speaking with Trump “border czar” Tom Homan, Fox host Laura Ingraham said reporting of bad living conditions at Delaney Hall “doesn't pass the straight-face test” because “this is not supposed to be a spa with foot massages and facials,” and suggested that China was “behind some of this agitation” to make “America look bad.” Fox News, *The Ingraham Angle*, [5/26/26]
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From the May 26, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
- Fox host Jesse Watters replied to co-host Jessica Tarlov explaining the protests at Delaney Hall: “Who cares if there's a hunger strike for criminal illegals?” Fox News, *The Five*, [5/26/26]
- A panel member on Newsmax'sThe Right Squadclaimed: “If they're electing to have the hunger strike, I mean, you know, that's of their own choosing.” Newsmax, *The Right Squad*, [5/27/26]
- Megyn Kelly alleged that Democrats started protesting at Delaney Hall because they “are looking for another Minneapolis” and repeated claims from DHS that “there is no hunger strike happening” and “there are no subprime conditions whatsoever, … these are all lies for attention, either by leftists or the inmates or both.” Kelly's guest, National Review's Rich Lowry, claimed, “There's probably a large element of organic nature to it [the protest] because they hate ICE and they believe the lies about ICE, that ICE is an American Gestapo.” Lowry also praised ICE for its standards of detention, saying “it's very unlikely that these horror stories [about conditions inside] are happening.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [5/26/26]
- Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner expressed disbelief over the protests: “What do these sanctuary districts want us to do with the illegals that we have in detention centers? Do they want us to release them just out on the streets?” Faulkner also asked “for those lawmakers showing up, I mean whose side are they really on?” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [5/28/26]
- Fox host Will Cain said “this idea that these people [detained at Delaney Hall] didn't commit a crime is simply absurd. It is simply absurd.” Cain called the protesters “an organized agitator group.” Fox News, *America's Newsroom*, [5/28/26]
- In an interview on Fox discussing protests at Delaney Hall, correspondent Bill Melugin asked former ICE Director Jonathan Fahey, “Do the feds need to up their posture a little bit, maybe get a little bit more aggressive?”Fahey responded, “Yeah, I think arrests need to be made.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [5/26/26]
- Former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino called the protests “performance art” and argued Democrats want people who “committed serious crimes in the United States” to be “released in their communities to rape, assault, burglarize your home, rob you, and potentially murder you, because they don't give a shit.” Rumble, *The Dan Bongino Show*, [5/26/26]
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05/27/26
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NOTE NOT ON FOX AIR
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The Supreme Court, mired in accusations of "corruption" and "bias," has dealt what one Fox News analyst writing for The Hill called the "most destructive blow against Black political power in my lifetime."
Juan Williams is a political analyst for Fox News who is regularly one of the conservative network's most vocal critics of President Donald Trump and the GOP's acquiescence to his political machinations. In a piece published on Memorial Day, he called out the Supreme Court's continued trend of ruling in ways that run afoul of legal principles in order to benefit Trump, while reserving particular scorn for its gutting of the Voting Rights Act.
"Here’s the biggest mystery in Washington," Williams wrote. "Was it a six-sided conspiracy? Or are there only one or two Supreme Court justices behind the chaos caused by the recent ruling allowing new congressional districts to be drawn even after midterm primary voting has started?"
He added: "Among Democrats, there is no mystery. There is talk of outright corruption. The only question is the extent of the corruption among Supreme Court justices. How many have abandoned judicial impartiality to help President Trump hold his Republican majority in the House?"
Williams further highlighted Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's recent comments during a meeting of the American Law Institute, where she chastised her conservative colleagues on the court for straying from their duty to be "neutral" and "nonpartisan," arguing that, instead, they are now getting "into the [political] fray," with their rulings. This was particularly true of the 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which effectively gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act and spurred a whirlwind of red-state gerrymandering in order to create new districts that disperse the influence of black voters.
Justice Samuel Alito, one of the most conservative members of the court with a history of antipathy towards the VRA, dismissed Jackson's claims as "groundless and utterly irresponsible," but in his piece for The Hill, Williams noted that, "it is hard to ignore the political fact that Republicans in Louisiana as well as Alabama halted primary elections to draw new maps that are more favorable to Republican congressional candidates."
"In Tennessee, the congressional map is similarly being redrawn before Election Day," Williams added. "And in South Carolina, the Republican governor asked for a special legislative session to review redistricting and possibly squeeze out the one Black-majority district. It is the only congressional district that favors Democrats. By some estimates, the wave of districting now spreading through the South, with approval of the Supreme Court, will reward Republicans with about seven to 10 more seats."
This, he noted, follows on from prior efforts by red states to use redistricting to pad the GOP's House margins, hopefully helping them to keep their thin majority in the chamber after the coming midterms. In exchange for this potential advantage politically, Williams warned that the court has created the possibility of "real racial division and pain," that could undo the vital gains of the Civil Rights Movement.
"With recent rulings, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for 21st-century white, southern politicians to silence the voices of Black voters while raising the volume of voices belonging to white voters with a history of voting for Republicans," Williams continued. "The high court’s recent ruling amounts to the most destructive blow against Black political power in my lifetime."
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Trump’s Fox Cabinet urges escalation as he ponders a return to war in Iran
05/18/26
Trump’s Fox Cabinet urges escalation as he ponders a return to war in Iran
Written by Matt Gertz
:{:{Published 05/18/26}:
As President Donald Trump prepares to meet with top aides to discuss next steps in the Iran war, his Fox News Cabinet is advising him to escalate.
Influential pundits on the MAGA propaganda channel are telling the president that he currently holds “the cards” and are urging him to use U.S. military might to seize Iran’s uranium stockpile, force open the Strait of Hormuz, assassinate the country’s leaders, and overturn its regime.
Fox has played a key role in getting the U.S. into the quagmire in Iran, with the network’s hosts (who often double as off-the-books presidential advisers) counseling him to launch the campaign in February. They continued to cheer him on over the following weeks, even as Iran’s regime remained intact and in control of its nuclear stockpile, its seizure of the Strait of Hormuz sent fuel prices soaring, public support for the war cratered, and analysts issued dire warnings of U.S. strategic defeat.
With Trump’s ceasefire with Iran failing to produce a more permanent agreement to end the conflict, the president has returned to saber-rattling and reportedly plans to meet with “his top national security team in the Situation Room on Tuesday to discuss military options.” And Fox, which often plays an influential role in shaping Trump’s worldview through its coverage, is already banging the drums for a return to war, telling its viewers — which on any given day can include the president — that the war is a success and that Trump is in control of the situation and can easily escalate without risk.
Brian Kilmeade, one of the network’s most prominent hawks and a co-host of the president’s favorite morning show, Fox & Friends, on Monday morning proposed a series of simultaneous U.S. strikes against Iranian targets.
He called for the U.S. military to “open up the strait,” “grab the uranium,” and “target these bad actors that have been insincerely negotiating with our group,” an apparent reference to assassinating Iran’s diplomatic team. Kilmeade added that “the best chance for no casualties is you open up four different fronts immediately, simultaneously.”
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From the May 18, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Fox correspondent Trey Yingst stressed on the same broadcast that Trump’s strategy has put him in control of the situation and left Iranian leaders desperate for a deal to avoid further U.S. strikes.
“President Trump holds the cards here, according to regional officials, who say that his strategic patience has given him not only the upper hand on the battlefield but also at the negotiating table,” Yingst said. “Now the Iranians … are grasping at straws. They are trying to find some path forward that would give them an agreement at least temporarily to enter into deeper negotiations to avoid such a bombing campaign.”
He added that Iran’s economic situation is “truly dire” and its officials “are having to try to sell a reality to the people that doesn’t exist. They were defeated militarily during Operation Epic Fury.”
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From the May 18, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
And KT McFarland — a former Fox personality turned Trump national security adviser — even suggested during her Fox & Friends appearance that China would hesitate to engage the U.S. militarily because the U.S. success in Iran has shown them to be “no match for America militarily.”
“If you are the Chinese leader, you’ve got to look at what the United States is just pulling off in Iran,” she said. “The unbelievable precision, the capability, how everything seems to work together. We seem to have done the miraculous.”
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From the May 18, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Likewise, Mark Levin, the nasal-voiced Middle East hawk who Trump has urged supporters to watch for his Iran commentary, spent the weekend urging the president to push for regime change in Iran.
On Saturday night, Levin hosted retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, a former Fox contributor Trump named as a special envoy in 2024 who has called for “putting boots on the ground” in Iran and for the U.S. to seize its territory “like the Romans did” in Carthage.
After Levin called Trump “the only president that's put his foot down firmly and said no,” Kellogg added that “there's been eight presidents since the revolution in Iran, and only one, Donald Trump, has done something about it.” He then called for Trump to seize Iran’s Kharg Island and Qeshm Island to force open the strait.
“I would just say, go full in, get rid of this regime, whatever it’s going to take out there, because as long as you’ve got the theocratic leaders, as long you’ve got mullahs running that government, you’re going to have this problem, not just today, tomorrow, a month from now, but five or 10 years for the next presidency or our grandchildren, or children as well,” Kellogg added.
“All right, I appreciate that,” Levin replied. “I agree with that. And we’re there. Let’s get it over with already. And what do I mean by that? Destroy the regime, help the people, so they can help themselves.”
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From the May 16, 2026, edition of Fox News' Life, Liberty, and Levin
After a similar segment on Sunday night’s show featuring right-wing commentator Josh Hammer, Levin again said the U.S. needs to “eliminate that regime, because it’s the only way to prevent them once and for all from getting a nuclear weapon, tomorrow, 10 years from now, 20 years from now.”
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From the May 17, 2026, edition of Fox News' Life, Liberty, and Levin
Levin followed that up by interviewing right-wing commentator Jim Hanson, who served in the U.S. Army special forces, about how the U.S. could, as Hanson put it, “slow roll an internal unrest” in Iran “until the regime finally gets overthrown from within.” Levin suggested that this would be necessary because the Iranian regime could not be trusted to follow through on any deal Trump made.
“We have a deal, whatever the deal is, let's say it's the greatest deal since sliced bread,” Levin pontificated. “Are future presidents, future Congresses, the American people in the future, do you think we're going to be willing to enforce a deal if they break the deal, which I think they obviously will when the president leaves?”
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03/02/26 1:12 PM EST
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05/18/26 12:23 PM EDT
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Whenever a new poll comes out showing Trump’s abysmal ratings, public reactions follow a pattern. Public comments don’t question Trump’s disapproval rating. Rather, millions of people question the flip side: how does 38% of the nation still support such an obvious charlatan? Are supporters delusional? Suicidal?
Specifically, does MAGA not know that 15 million Americans, mostly their own, have now lost health insurance because of him? Can they not read the Walmart price tags they hold in their own hands? Do they not know he’s weakening the NATO alliance their granddads fought for, or that he single-handedly empowered one of the most dangerous regimes in the world?
The answer is ‘No, no, and no.’ Nearly 40% of the country—38%, to be exact— can’t connect the dots on who’s making their lives harder. We don’t need another study to figure out why, because it couldn’t be more obvious: As of May 12, 2026, 38% of the nation still supports Trump because 38% of the nation watches Fox News, purveyors of pure Trump propaganda. And compared to other consumers, Fox News viewers do not diversify their sources.
After the 2020 election, the Pew Research Center did a deep dive to learn what Americans heard, perceived and knew about it. Researchers found, for example, that 63% of Fox News viewers had given Trump an “excellent” rating on Covid. Trump suggested injecting bleach into unspecified orifices while over 1 million Americans died, yet Fox viewers thought he did an excellent job??
More accurately it was a con job, perpetrated by Fox News.
Fox News propaganda
Coming into the present news cycle, the Pope-Trump conflict illustrates the con in real time. Pope Leo XIV criticized Trump’s war with Iran by condemning leaders who manipulate religion for military gain. Trump, manifestly devoid of impulse control, immediately shot back on Truth Social that the Pope was “weak on crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy” as if he were a political adversary. In follow up Fox News Digital interviews, Trump doubled down and refused to apologize as Fox hosts clapped like seals.
While most media outlets questioned Trump’s sanity for attacking the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion people, Fox dissembled with headlines like, “60 Minutes accused of using left-leaning Cardinals to bait Trump into feud with Vatican” and “{Pope Leo says remarks about world being ‘ravaged by a }_}_{}__{{handful of tyrants’ were not aimed at Trump}. When Trump dispatched Marco Rubio to patch things up with the Pope last week, most media {reported that it didn’t work}, but Fox called it a big success and applauded {what a great job Rubio did.}
Fox News even tried to accuse other media networks of intentionally ‘baiting’ a response from Trump. They invited Elise Stefanik onto the network to tell Pope Leo XIV to “stay out of politics,” while other guests labelled the Pope’s foreign policy views ‘wrong’ and ‘liberal.’ Sean Hannity questioned whether the Pope fully understood the Iran conflict, and several other Fox commentators questioned whether the Pontiff had “read the Bible” about geocomplexities in Iran. To be clear, not one Fox host questioned whether Trump had “read the map” before he delivered the Strait of Hormuz to the mullahs.
The First Amendment protects political speech but it does not protect fraud
The Pope example alone illustrates how MAGA is being lied to on a daily basis, but it’s just one example. Fox News serves up daily falsehoods about climate change, immigrants, public education, NATO, black crime, ICE, and the war in Iran to craft a pro-Trump narrative, assuming their lies are legally protected by the First Amendment as “political speech.”
Enough damage is now evident to challenge that legal assumption.
In 2010, Supreme Court republicans fast-tracked America’s slide into oligarchy when they ruled in Citizens United that corporate political donations were a form of free speech. Citizens United further clarified that, under the First Amendment, political speech warrants the “highest level of protection against government regulation” following the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan’s restatement, and an earlier ruling that any regulations on political speech must withstand the highest level of strict scrutiny.
But while First Amendment protection for political speech is old news, there’s another long-toothed maxim: The First Amendment does not protect fraud. In 2012, under United States v. Alvarez,the Court confirmed that fraud is a ‘narrowly limited class of speech’ not entitled to First Amendment protection. In Alvarez, the Court struck down the Stolen Valor Act, a law that made lying about military medals a crime, because no one gained a ‘material advantage’ from the lie. Unless someone is profiting from their false speech, the court ruled, there’s no actionable fraud—they’re simply lying. But false speech connected to economic gain on one side and economic harm on the other is fraud, legally unprotected under the First Amendment.
Under this definition, Fox News is engaged in classic consumer fraud. Fox admitted in the Dominion case that they lied to their viewers for profit, and paid out nearly $1 billion in settlement as a result. But their lies didn’t stop after that case, they continue to sell 24/7 Trump propaganda as ‘news.’ They are perpetrating the same fraud, one that hooks viewers, profiting Fox and their corporate backers, while materially harming victims by convincing them to vote against their own economic interests.
Under Supreme Court precedent, Fox News isn’t engaging in protected political speech. It’s engaging in commercial fraud. And the victims aren’t just Fox viewers, even though studies show they are harmed the most: the entire nation is enduring political violence, because 38% of the country is being lied to.
Albert Einstein once said, “A people that were to honor falsehood…would be unable, indeed, to subsist for very long.” Is mere national survival a sufficient justification to return to requiring accuracy in the news? Is it legally sufficient to pass strict scrutiny? If it is not, after a Democrat-run Congress returns to the Fairness Doctrine, this high court will have elevated partisan interests to the point of national suicide.
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05/13/26
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As Trump accuses news outlets of “TREASON,” Fox models MAGA Iran coverage
Written by Matt Gertz
:{:{Published 05/13/26}:
While President Donald Trump accuses news outlets of committing “virtual TREASON” by producing reporting that suggests the United States is losing his war against Iran, the president’s loyal Fox News propagandists keep telling him that he’s doing a great job, saying he’s on the verge of victory, and suggesting he can fail only by backing down.
Ten weeks after U.S. and Israeli forces attacked Iran — and nine weeks after Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” of its leaders — Iran’s regime remains intact and in control of both its nuclear stockpile and the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global trade whose closure has spiked domestic fuel prices. In The Atlantic, Brookings Institution senior fellow Robert Kagan wrote Sunday that Trump’s decisions have put the country on the brink of a “total defeat” whose consequences “can neither be repaired nor ignored,” and he noted that “any resolution other than America’s effective surrender holds enormous risks.”
With his war at a standstill and the Iranians rejecting his demands for a negotiated settlement, the president has repeatedly lashed out at the press for undermining the effort by producing “treasonous” reporting — an attack he resumed on Tuesday afternoon.
“When the Fake News says that the Iranian enemy is doing well, Militarily, against us, it’s virtual TREASON in that it is such a false, and even preposterous, statement,” he wrote on Truth Social. “They are aiding and abetting the enemy! All it does is give Iran false hope when none should exist. These are American cowards that are rooting against our Country."
Recent reporting suggests that Trump and his allies have been lying about how successful the war has been.
Minutes after he posted that remark, The New York Times published a report revealing that contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, classified intelligence analyses reveal that “Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities."
Earlier this month, The Washington Post determined that satellite imagery shows that “Iranian airstrikes have damaged or destroyed at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites across the Middle East,” far more destruction than the administration has publicly acknowledged, while Reuters reported that U.S. intelligence indicates the war has not impacted Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon, one of Trump’s putative rationales for starting it. NOT COUNTED IN COST?
Meanwhile, NBC News reported that Trump abruptly canceled his “Project Freedom” plan to force the reopening of the Strait after Persian Gulf allies objected.
But on Fox this week, the hawkish sycophants who encouraged Trump to launch the war in the first place are still telling him he’s doing everything right.
Mark Levin: Trump’s war prevented a second holocaust and a nuclear attack on America
Mark Levin, the nasal-voiced Fox host and sometime presidential adviser whose program Trump has urged the public to watch, devoted a lengthy and increasingly loud monologue on Sunday’s broadcast to lavishing the president with praise for launching the war and averting a second holocaust.
Levin denounced the Iranian regime and the war’s critics, claiming the latter “hate America and Israel so much they'd rather tens of thousands more Iranians die horrible deaths than see our country defeat this homicidal regime” and “care not at all, not one whit, that they are not only giving aid and comfort to this horrific enemy, but they are encouraging this enemy to slaughter, to execute, to rape, to torture, and to do what homicidal regimes do, because they know the enemy, that these people are in the bag.”
After urging the U.S. to arm and organize a Kurdish resistance to the regime, Levin praised the president, saying that while “humanity allowed the Holocaust to occur,” Trump and his administration had put “this Iranian Nazi regime … on its back."
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From the May 10, 2026, edition of Fox News' Life, Liberty, and Levin
“The only president with the courage, the wisdom, the fortitude to confront this Nazi-like regime, this mass-murdering, nuclear-obsessed Islamist enemy, the world’s enemy, is Donald Trump,” he said. “And unlike other such circumstances around the world where genocide is taking place — and as a practical matter, we can’t get involved in all of them — in Iran, we have the opportunity to do something about it,” he continued, calling Iran “the biggest concentration camp in human history right now.”
Levin went on to host Fox contributor Newt Gingrich, who said the Iranian regime was “fully as evil as Adolf Hitler was or Joseph Stalin was” and the war was necessary to prevent Iran from deploying a nuclear weapon “in your neighborhood,” and Fox senior strategic analyst and retired Gen. Jack Keane, who urged the president to revive Project Freedom, “return to combat operations,” “put Kharg Island on the table,” and implement an intelligence operation to overturn the Iranian regime.
Sean Hannity: Iran’s leaders should “get out while they can”
Sean Hannity, the president’s chief mouthpiece at Fox, said on Monday’s show that Iran’s leaders are on the verge of fleeing the country.
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From the May 11, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
After parroting Trump’s statement earlier that day that the U.S.-Iranian ceasefire is “on life support,” Hannity cited unspecified “reports tonight that Iran's very fractured fourth-tier leadership, they may be planning an exit to Russia and Vladimir Putin.”
“Now, if you recall, on this program before Epic Fury, there were reports the supreme leader, other leaders were planning a move, that they had planes with cash and currency on a tarmac ready to go,” he continued. “I said multiple times, my advice to all of them is to get out while they can. The supreme leader, all his top leadership, and then the next tier and pretty much the third tier, they're all dead. They should have listened to me then. My same advice applies here.”
Hannity then brought on Fox correspondent Kevin Corke for a report on the war, telling him, “I think they're just lashing out in utter complete paranoia, but this report that they might be planning an exit is intriguing to me.”
“Yeah, intriguing indeed,” Corke replied. “And I salute you. You are spot-on. You gave him great advice. Of course, they didn't listen and it could cost all of them.”
Hannity was off the air on Tuesday night as he traveled with the president on his state visit to China.
Fox & Friends: “Are we on the 5-yard line? Of course, but the president had to take this action.”
The co-hosts of Fox & Friends, Trump’s favorite morning show, have spent the week alternating between assuring their viewers that victory is at hand and pushing for risky escalations to the war.
Ainsley Earhart on Monday floated a military effort to seize Iran’s nuclear stockpile. “The question is do we go in and get the enriched uranium? … Do the Israelis do it? Do the Americans do it?” she asked.
Lawrence Jones casually responded that such a mission — which experts say would constitute an immensely complex and risky endeavor — could be a “joint operation,” before pivoting back to how successful the war has been.
He criticized retired Adm. William McRaven’s declaration the previous day that the U.S. is “not really that much better off” than it was before starting war with Iran. “There is no doubt in my mind, taking out the ayatollah, a lot of their leadership, has put us in a better position,” said Jones. “Are we on the 5-yard line? Of course, but the president had to take this action.” (If the metaphorical language seems confusing, consider that Jones is operating within a worldview where it’s unfathomable that we’re farther from the war’s endzone than 5 yards.)
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From the May 11, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
On Tuesday, the trio stressed how important launching the war had been and praised Trump for carrying it out.
In one segment, Jones said that “we’ve been dealing with this threat for 47 years,” criticized news coverage in the face of the “phenomenal” military operation, and concluded, “I'm glad that the president has the will to deal with this."
“Don't forget the purpose of this,” Earhardt chimed in. “It is to get the enriched uranium away from them because they are planning a nuclear -- they want to have a nuclear weapon. What would they do with that? Well, they yell in the streets, publicly, death to America and wipe Israel off the face of the map. That's their ideology. That's how they think."
“They are not thinking clearly like Americans do,” she added. “They hate us with a passion, with a vengeance. And they have the capability, possibly, of building this nuclear weapon. So the president — that was why the president decided to begin this conflict.”
Brian Kilmeade added that Iran causes “chaos in the region” before adding, “For those people who think the president is boxed in and frustrated, I’m telling you, he gets coolest under pressure. He does not feel it at all.”
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Fox & Friends runs sponcon segment touting “Medical Emergency Kit” marketed to MAGA
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 05/12/26
Fox News ran a segment sponsored by The Wellness Company on Tuesday in which Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt and Dr. Peter McCullough — the lifestyle brand’s “chief scientific officer” and a one-time Fox regular — gushed over its “Medical Emergency Kit.”
“You are a genius,” Earhardt said after introducing McCullough, whose board certifications were apparently revoked over his false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines. “You’re a cardiologist. And then you said during COVID we need a better way. We need a kit with all of these drugs so that we can have them at the ready.”
McCullough touted the kit’s pre-prescribed medications to treat “dozens” of “common infections” as well as Lyme disease without seeing a doctor and having them diagnose your symptoms.
Under Earhardt’s gentle prodding, McCullough highlighted the kit’s benefits for vacationers; offered it up as a solution for accessing drugs manufactured overseas “when the shipping lanes are uncertain”; directed viewers to the company’s website to purchase it; and touted its affordable price, saying it’s “way cheaper than going to an urgent care.”
“It’s amazing,” Earhardt said at one point, “You have that idea that we all are like, Why didn't I think of that?”
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From the May 12, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
If you weren’t paying close attention, it was easy to miss Fox News’ disclosure that it was running sponsored content. At the beginning of the Fox & Friends segment, small text at the bottom of the screen read, “This segment is made possible by our sponsor: The Wellness Company.”
Fox subsequently posted the segment on its website.
Fox & Friends has run sponcon segments over the years on subjects like The Museum of the Bible, the hats worn at the Kentucky Derby, and GMC’s Hummer EV. But in taking money from a lifestyle brand to help sell its medical products to network viewers, Fox seems to have entered new territory.
Indeed, Fox’s segment serves as a testament to the right-wing con culture in which propagandists use ideological, often paranoid, political coverage to build trust with the movement’s rank-and-file, then get paid by people looking to cash in on their audience.
The Wellness Company tries to cash in on the right’s ivermectin craze
The Wellness Company — like other pill mills that use MAGA-inflected marketing to sell their product — fits perfectly into that ecosystem. Its Earhardt-approved “Medical Emergency Kit” retails for $299.99, including a “Free Doctor Consult” with one of TWC’s prescribing “licensed providers.”
Notably, while the product website touts the kit’s “8 life-saving prescriptions” and remedies for “30+ illnesses,” it highlights one medicine in particular — ivermectin. That’s the antiparasitic drug that Fox hosts and other right-wing media figures recklessly promoted during the COVID-19 pandemic as an alternative to the vaccines they claimed were ineffective and unsafe. They were wrong about ivermectin, as numerous studies found — but their rhetoric helped drive down vaccination rates on the right and create demand for ivermectin as a COVID-19 therapy, with deadly results.
The Wellness Company website
McCullough, like Earhardt, is a familiar face for the Fox audience — and thus a key validator for The Wellness Company’s product. An internist and cardiologist, he became a frequent presence on Fox during the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, making at least 37 appearances on its weekday programs in 2021 and 2022.
McCullough used the network’s platform to undermine the public vaccination effort, tout the purported effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin in treating the virus, and claim that an NFL player who was struck in the chest, collapsed on the field, and was diagnosed with cardiac arrest had suffered “vaccine-induced myocarditis.”
McCullough’s COVID-19 vaccine commentary made him an outcast in the medical community.
His former employer, Baylor Scott & White Health, filed a lawsuit against him in 2021, citing “irreparable reputational and business harm” caused by McCullough being identified with his former Baylor titles in interviews (the parties apparently reached a settlement in 2023).
Then in 2022, the credentialing committee of the American Board of Internal Medicine recommended stripping McCullough of his certifications over his vaccine claims. The Journal of Medicine reported in January 2025 that ABIM’s look-up tool identified McCullough’s certifications in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease as “Not Certified, Revoked,” which remains their current status.
But as The Daily Beast reported in a 2023 profile of The Wellness Company, McCullough became “a hero in anti-vaxx circles” — and thus an attractive business partner for Foster Coulson and Dave Lopez, the “Trumpworld-linked investors” who founded TWC that year. They were joined by other “disreputable medical professionals,” including TWC “Chief Epidemiologist” Dr. Harvey Risch, another veteran of Fox's crusade against the COVID-19 vaccine campaign.
As the Beast detailed, the group was “hawking a Goop-like lifestyle brand—complete with supplements, podcasts, telehealth, and even a dating service—to conservative audiences with the help of far-right influencers.”
The company has tried to tap into the right-wing fearmongering of the day. When conspiracy theorists warned in 2024 about a plan to kill off “excess population” through the hypothetical pathogen “Disease X,” The Wellness Company ran sponsored content at outlets like Breitbart and The Gateway Pundit pointing to its “Medical Emergency Kit” as a remedy.
Over the past few months, ads for TWC have also run on the right-wing podcast shows of Candace Owens and Jack Posobiec.
But now with a sponsored Fox & Friends segment, TWC is taking that act to a much bigger audience — one they are counting on to trust the testimonials from McCullough and Earhardt.
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Fox News' ongoing efforts to stop the lawsuit by electronic voting equipment company Smartmatic failed this week when it lost its appeal for a "stay" and a motion to "vacate" the case.
A stay is a temporary pause of the lawsuit and a motion to vacate is a request for the judge to cancel all previous court orders.
Smartmatic is suing over what it alleges were false allegations about its electronic voting equipment in the wake of the 2020 election. Each part of the case has exposed details about what Fox staff and on-air talent have said under oath that could undermine Fox's defense.
Fox has been working to stop the lawsuit every step of the way, including fighting interviews with its team, the discovery of emails and text messages.
“Smartmatic welcomes the appellate court’s decision denying Fox’s latest attempt to delay this case. For years, courts have repeatedly rejected Fox’s efforts to avoid accountability," the company said in a statement to AlterNet. "The facts have not changed: Fox knowingly spread false claims about Smartmatic, causing severe harm to the company and undermining public trust in elections, and has never apologized. We look forward to continuing toward trial and presenting the truth before a jury.”
In a ruling published Thursday, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, wrote that they "denied the motion of defendants Fox Corporation, Fox News Network, LLC, DebiDobbs, as Administrator of the Estate of Lou Dobbs, deceased, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro to vacate, in part, Judicial Hearing Officer Alan Marin’s October 14, 2025 report, and denied their separate motion to stay the action pending resolution of aseparate criminal proceeding against plaintiff SGO Corporation Limited (Smartmatic) and vacate the Note of Issue ..."
Conservative outlets are painting it as a success because the court also allowed for additional discovery to move forward. The report said that Fox will be allowed to obtain any information from Smartmatic about the impact of a recent case against the company brought by President Donald Trump's Justice Department.
The additional discovery was granted only after Fox lost its case to pause the suit. The court docket shows several dozen requests that Fox has made over the past year. While they have succeeded in drawing out the case and delaying a trial, they haven't been successful in putting an end to the case.
Smartmatic has alleged that attacks on the company by Fox and its on-air talent after the 2020 election significantly harmed its reputation. So, they sued for defamation, alleging $2.7 billion in damages. Court filings have cited numerous examples of Fox News personalities who knew that Trump lost the 2020 election. Still continued to repeat conspiracy theories about it and went further, falsely alleging Smartmatic was in on a huge international conspiracy that included Venezuela.
Smartmatic's lawsuit was filed long before the Justice Department filed charges.
Newsmax and One America Newssettled with Smartmatic, but the two continue to fightover the defamation suit. Smartmatic posted documents in November that revealed the testimony of a finance and damages expert.
Financial expert Christopher James submitted a report on Feb. 15, 2024, that used a formula to calculate the damages he feels Fox Corp. caused in its ongoing attacks against Smartmatic. The document, released at the time, was a June 12, 2025, update to that initial report. The Smartmatic expert testified that the damages from 2021-2025 totaled $526.2 million in lost profits and $165.4 million in expected profits from U.S. markets.
Last November, *TheGuardian*reported that President Donald Trump's Justice Department would begin an investigation into conspiracy theories that allege Venezuela had a role in somehow rigging the election.
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell has complained that after his case with Smartmatic, he's in financial ruin.
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Fox’s ”nuke” justification for the Iran war — and the higher prices it's wrought — has collapsed
Is it a small price to pay if you get nothing in return?
Written by Matt Gertz
:{:{Published 05/05/26}:
Fox pundits have repeatedly argued that the Iran war’s costs are “a small price to pay” for its supposed prevention of the imminent threat posed by Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon.
But a new U.S. intelligence assessment reportedly found that after two months of war, “the time Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon has not changed since last summer, when analysts estimated that a U.S.-Israeli attack had pushed back the timeline to up to a year,” according to exclusive reporting from Reuters.
Trump’s war of choice against Iran is now in its third month and headed for strategic defeat. While U.S. and Israeli strikes have killed Iranian leaders and severely damaged their military, the regime is intact and has established control over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for global trade. Americans are seeing gas, diesel, and fertilizer prices soar as a result, and the direct cost of the war continues to grow.
Some Fox pundits, in the face of plummeting support for the war, have argued that these costs are relatively small compared to the benefit of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon — but according to the new U.S. intelligence assessment, there was and remains no imminent threat of that happening.
Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, a former Trump economic adviser, argued in a Monday Fox appearance that skyrocketing fuel costs are “a small price to pay to stop the nuclear activity” from Iran, which he described as “the most gruesome regime we’ve seen in a hundred years” (note that this period includes Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung’s China).
After Kudlow went on to say that “four and a half dollars gasoline — it's not a great idea, wouldn't want it forever, but it really isn't doing all that much harm,” Fox Business contributor Marcus Lemonis added, “I think you said it right, Larry. We don't want it forever, but this short-term pain has a big, big benefit to it.”
Fox host Sean Hannity, a close ally of the president and major supporter of his war, similarly claimed last week that skyrocking gas prices are merely “short-term pain” justified by preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.
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From the April 30, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
“It certainly is short-term pain,” Hannity told a guest during his April 30 broadcast. “Nobody wants to pay more for gas. Diesel is even more expensive, as you point out.”
“However, in exchange for not giving our children and grandchildren nuclear weapons, again, in the short term, I think I’d take that deal every day of the week,” he added.
And Fox host Todd Piro, during a rare mention of the $25 billion estimate a Pentagon analyst gave last week for the early cost of the war, said of that price tag, “If we are dead because Iran strikes us with a nuke, all these economic discussions are moot.”
But as Reuters reported on May 4, U.S. intelligence agencies did not assess that Iran could quickly obtain a weapon before the 2026 war began — or even before striking nuclear facilities last year — much less that the country could deploy it on U.S. soil:
U.S. intelligence assessments indicate that the time Iran would need to build a nuclear weapon has not changed since last summer, when analysts estimated that a U.S.-Israeli attack had pushed back the timeline to up to a year, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The assessments of Tehran's nuclear program remain broadly unchanged even after two months of a war that U.S. President Donald Trump launched in part to stop the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear bomb.
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U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded prior to June's 12-day war that Iran likely could produce enough bomb-grade uranium for a weapon and build a bomb in around three to six months, said two of the sources, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence.
Following the June strikes by the U.S. that hit the Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan nuclear complexes, U.S. intelligence estimates pushed that timeline back to about nine months to a year, said the two sources and a person familiar with the assessments.
This new assessment further demolishes arguments for the war that Fox propagandists like Hannity offered after U.S. strikes began in late February.
Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, who negotiated on behalf of the U.S. in talks with Iranian counterparts in the lead-up to the war, helped fuel those arguments by claiming on Hannity’s Fox show that Iranian negotiators had admitted possessing a uranium stockpile that could be weaponized “in roughly one week” and used to build 11 nuclear bombs. Witkoff lacks prior experience in nuclear diplomacy — but he does have sizable business interests in the Gulf region, at times partnering with Trump’s family business.
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Larry Kudlow says the Iran war “hasn’t hurt our economy” | Media Matters for America
MMA TRUMP SAYS WE WIN B/C #1 PRODUCER
As gas prices go up from the Iran war, Fox News celebrates the “biggest payday in history” for oil companies
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is straining the American and global economies
Written by Zachary Pleat
Published 04/23/26
Fox News is embracing the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to President Donald Trump’s war against Iran as an economic boon for U.S. petroleum exports — even though the closure will further increase American gasoline prices. Fox has already tried to downplay the increasing fuel prices that have resulted from the closure, which is currently straining both the U.S. and global economies in numerous ways, including threatening famine and global recession.
Fox’s embrace of Trump’s disastrous war echoes how the network previously supported the president’s illegal tariffs scheme — with full-throated backing of the policy and claims that it would help the U.S. economy, even though in reality the tariffs resulted in further job losses for the industries they were intended to support, higher inflation, weaker economic growth, and, ultimately, effectively zero revenue due to court-mandated refunds.
Fox celebrates the Strait of Hormuz closure and blockade of Iranian ports for accelerating U.S. petroleum exports
- Fox host Sean Hannity: “America is now benefitting financially because of the blockade” on Iranian ports. Hannity continued: “The price of natural gas is way up overseas, all while the price of American natural gas has actually gone down, making America's natural gas more competitive, more desirable than ever.” Fox Business reporter Lauren Simonetti joined, bragging, “We are going to export more natural gas than ever before, with 60% of our gas supplying Europe this year.” Simonetti concluded: “In the meantime, as you note, the U.S. is strengthening its hand as an energy superpower. We are the gas station for the world. U.S. oil production now tops a record 13 million barrels per day, and we’re swimming in natural gas.” Four days later on his radio show, Hannity said: “It's in America's, frankly, unique interest if the strait was closed,” stating that it's “actually a net plus for the U.S.” because the world now has to “come to America for all of their energy needs as we are a net exporter.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [4/16/26; Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 4/20/26]
- Fox Business host Larry Kudlow: The Iran war is causing “a re-ordering of the world’s energy story … because the United States is the reliable energy supplier, oil, gas.” Kudlow continued: “No more Hormuz, no more Iran, no more political uncertainty and blackmail. We are doing it.” Fox Business, *Kudlow*, [4/16/26]
- Fox Business anchor David Asman: “What is the energy capital of the world right now? It’s the United States of America.” Asman added: “The IEA, which is a big energy information service, reported that we now export 12.7 million barrels per day. It’s huge. We are the capital of the world for energy.” Fox News, *The Story*, [4/16/26]
- Fox host Jesse Watters: “The U.S. oil market is open for business, and it is booming. Big Oil just had its biggest payday in history.” Watters continued: “The United States just hit an all-time high — all week, exporting 5 million barrels a day. Over 100 tankers are lining up off the Gulf of America to get their frantic little hands on our sweet, sweet crude. And it’s not just crude. We’re shipping everything from gas, jet fuel, diesel at record levels. Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [4/15/26]
- Asman on Trump’s Iran war: “We are now the energy capital of the world. That has been a good thing that's come out of this.” Asman said: “Once we get through this spike in oil — which by the way, the U.S. has now become the energy capital of the world. Today we just got news from the EIA [Energy Information Administration], which is a big energy information source, that exports of U.S. oil and refined goods is now up to 12.7 million barrels per day. That is the highest in record. We have blown past all of those previous records in terms of exporting more oil to the rest of the world.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [4/15/26]
- Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald said, “A growing armada of more than 175 empty or near-empty crude oil tankers, plus 28 supertankers — that's five times the usual — have started pouring into the U.S. Gulf of America to buy and pick up U.S. crude oil for nations in Europe and Asia.” Fox contributor Jason Chaffetz added: “This is really good for American energy production.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [4/14/26]
- Fox & Friendsco-host Ainsley Earhardt on Trump’s Iran blockade: “100 oil supertankers are now redirecting to the Gulf of America to fill up their ships in Texas now.” Co-host Brian Kilmeade added that it “looks like” the blockade “as a tactical move, is a masterstroke.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [4/14/26]
- Hannity: “As we speak, more than 100 oil supertankers, they have been redirected over to the Gulf of America, where they will be filling up in Texas with Texas crude.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [4/13/26]
- Watters: “Now, the Iranian oil blockade is probably the knockout punch. … The world’s turning to us for energy.” Watters continued: “Over 120 empty oil tankers are on their way to the Gulf of America.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [4/13/26]
- MacDonald repeatedly emphasized that more than 100 empty oil tankers were headed to the U.S. with the Strait of Hormuz closed. During the segment, multiple on-screen graphics emphasized the approach of the tankers and stated: “Ongoing Hormuz closure to boost U.S. oil demand” and “Rpts: U.S. LNG exports hit record levels in March.” Fox Business, *The Evening Edit*, [4/13/26]
- ## But these actions have massively damaged the U.S. and global economies
- #### Gas price spikes have cost Americans billions
- GasBuddy head of petroleum analysis Patrick De Haan: “Americans have collectively spent ~$17.6 billion dollars more on gasoline than they did on March 1, roughly $15 billion more, in my estimation, due to the US attacks on Iran.” Bluesky, [4/21/26]
- Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi: “The economic damage from the war with Iran is mounting. Just the surge in gasoline prices has cost Americans an estimated additional $21.3 billion since the start of the war over 6 weeks ago.” In another post, Zandi added: “The financial pain caused by the war and its fallout on consumer spending and the economy is set to intensify.” Bluesky, [4/19/26, 4/19/26]
- 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]
The war could cost the U.S. $1 trillion or more and tip the world into recession
- Harvard Kennedy School professor Linda J. Blimes: “I am certain we will spend one trillion dollars for the Iran war. Perhaps we have already racked up that amount.” In an interview, Blimes cited precedent from previous wars, interest costs on money borrowed for war spending, and veteran’s benefits, plus costs to rebuild damaged and destroyed bases and the cost of restocking spent munitions. Harvard Kennedy School, [4/7/26]
- The Century Foundation: “The Iran war’s forever costs will far exceed the immediate pain for consumers.” Regarding the costs of war in government spending, a Century Foundation column explained: “War imposes specific long-term costs on the government that far surpass the costs of military operations that are (at least in theory) tallied by the Pentagon and shared with Congress.” It continued: “The Brown University Cost of War project has produced the definitive estimates of the costs of the Global War on Terror, with a special focus on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has come up with a total bill of $8 trillion. Just over a quarter of that figure is money directly spent on military operations. But a bigger portion is the cost of long-term care for veterans.” The column added: “Costs like long-term veteran care and debt servicing are almost certainly not factored into the $200 billion that the Department of Defense is reportedly requesting for the Iran war.” The Century Foundation, [4/1/26]
- Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman: “In my view, a full-on global recession is more likely than not if the Strait remains closed for, say, another three months, which seems all too possible.” Substack, [4/20/26]
- CNN: “The IMF [International Monetary Fund] now expects global growth of 3.1% in 2026, a 0.2 percentage point downgrade from its January forecast. … Global inflation is also seen rising to 4.4% this year.” CNN explained that the IMF “also outlined two scenarios for a longer-lasting conflict,” highlighting the risk of global recession if fossil fuel prices remain highly elevated into next year. CNN, [4/15/26]
The Strait of Hormuz closure threatens global fertilizer supplies during planting season, risking increased hunger
- Most American farmers said they can’t afford enough fertilizer. The American Prospect reported that “70 percent of farmers across the country said in an American Farm Bureau Federation survey that they wouldn’t be able to afford all the fertilizer they need for this year’s crops.” The Prospect explained that “up to a third of the global supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been mostly closed since the end of February.” The American Prospect, [4/21/26]
- World Central Kitchen founder José Andrés: “I foresee a very big increase in famine across the world by the fall of 2026 and 2027” because of the collapse of the fertilizer trade due to the Iran war. From the Guardian: “The danger, he explained, was the delay. When fertilizers don’t arrive in time for key planting windows, yields can fall in the following harvest cycle. Disruptions in global trade can ripple into higher prices and lower output, hitting the poorest countries hardest.” The Guardian, [4/16/26]
- Center for American Progress: “Trump’s war of choice with Iran threatens a global hunger and health crisis.” CAP explained that the strait “has long been viewed as the world’s most critical energy corridor, but its role as a lifeline for food production is equally consequential. Beyond oil, the strait carries roughly 20 to 30 percent of global fertilizer exports, including ammonia, urea, and other inputs essential for agricultural production. Because nearly half of global food production depends on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, sustained disruption threatens food supply and could drive up grocery costs for consumers around the world.” CAP’s article added: “Across sub-Saharan Africa and India, farmers entering planting season face the prospect of reduced or unavailable fertilizer, threatening crop yields and increasing the likelihood of prolonged food shortages. David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, called this disruption a ‘food security timebomb.’” Center for American Progress, [4/22/26]
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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}:
05/21/25
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AN --> MSNBC?
Apr. 11, 2026,
By Matt Gertz
Fox News programs that fixated on the international business interests of Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden’s son, are utterly uninterested in the voluminous conflicts of interest between President Donald Trump and his family members and the Persian Gulf states affected by his strategically disastrous war of choice against Iran.
The president, his eldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are enmeshed in a sprawling set of business deals in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar. Those deals often involve members of the royal families of those states or the entities they control.
But since just before the beginning of the year, as Trump’s saber-rattling led to U.S. military deployments and became the war launched by American and Israeli forces on Feb. 28, through April 8, Fox’s evening programs that air from 5 p.m. to midnight ET have referenced such Trump family conflicts of interest only twice — both of which were passing mentions, and neither of which came during a discussion of the Iran conflict — according to a Media Matters review of the Nexis transcript database.
No substantive evidence ever emerged that Joe Biden profited from Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings.
Many of the network’s highest-rated hosts carried out a yearslong obsession with what Fox host Sean Hannity described as the “Biden Crime Family,” mentioning Biden’s son at least 13,440 times over a period of less than 16 months of Biden’s presidency. Their feverish conspiracy theory postulated that Hunter Biden had served as a “bag man” for his father, soaking up money funneled from foreign entities and kicking a share back to Joe Biden, who would then use his elected office to help his son’s business partners.
No substantive evidence ever emerged that Joe Biden profited from Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. The dealings in question largely occurred when Joe Biden was a private citizen, and the primary instance the conspiracy theorists have cited as evidence of him taking state action on behalf of one of his son’s clients — that he, as vice president, pushed for the removal of Ukraine’s top prosecutor in order to benefit one of his son’s clients — was manifestly bogus.
But Trump and his family members appear to have adopted influence-dealing on a dramatically larger scale than the Biden family was ever accused of. And the Trumps’ sprawling set of business deals with Gulf state royals and the sovereign wealth funds they control cannot be disentangled from the president’s decision-making in launching and continuing a war of choice against Iran.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE reportedly urged Trump to launch the war against Iran, and both states reportedly pressed the U.S. to protect them by escalating the conflict “until Iran is decisively defeated.” Qatar, meanwhile, traditionally serves as the regional intermediary between the Iranian regime and Western governments, and has pushed for negotiations.
Play
Former MAGA allies push back on Trump as Iran war fractures the rightMarch 25, 2026 / 10:27
Those states aren’t just U.S. allies whose views must be weighed by American leaders — their leaders have spent the past few years enriching the president’s family.
In perhaps the most noxious of the myriad entanglements, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan — an Abu Dhabi prince known as the “spy sheikh” for his leadership of the UAE’s intelligence service — secretly agreed to buy a huge stake in a crypto company partially owned by the president and his family, paying $500 million in what The Wall Street Journal described as a “hugely profitable” deal for its founders.
The dealing is so egregious that it even raised eyebrows in Trump-friendly circles. “You know what the difference is between the Biden family business and the Trump family business?” Fox News contributor Andrew McCarthy asked in a February piece for National Review. “You’d have to add two digits to the sum of Biden abuses of power, foreign entanglements, and corruption alleged in the report to get near what Trump has raked in just from the UAE.”
But that’s just one of numerous business deals in the Gulf involving the president’s family.
The network’s evening programs have mentioned the Trump family’s myriad Gulf state conflicts just twice since late last year.
The Trump Organization, which the president owns and Eric and Don Jr. oversee, is partnering with a developer who has ties to the Saudi government on a series of Trump-branded real estate projects in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman — including a $7 billion development deal financed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, whose board of directors is headed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Kushner’s private equity fund received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi PIF — reportedly forced through by bin Salman over the board’s objection — as well as $200 million from the UAE.
The Qatari royal family gave Trump a $400 million “super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet” to serve as Air Force One.
The Associated Press reports that Powerus, a Florida-based drone manufacturer partly owned by Don Jr. and Eric, is reportedly “trying to sell” defensive drone interceptors “to Gulf countries while they are under attack by Iran and dependent on the U.S. military led by their father.” (Powerus co-founder Brett Velicovich told the AP that the company “is doing many demos across the Middle East right now” but did not name the specific countries.)
In December 2024, Eric said of potential conflicts of interest, “I have no interaction with Washington, D.C. I want no interaction with Washington, D.C.” Don Jr. denied trading on his father’s name in a May 2025 statement to The New York Times, saying, “It’s laughable that the left-wing media thinks that I should lock myself in a padded room while my father is president and cease doing what I’ve been doing for over 25 years to earn a living and provide for my five children.” In an October 2025 CBS News interview alongside Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff, Kushner brushed off ethical concerns, saying, “What people call conflicts of interests, Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world.” And in November 2025, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the president and his family are compromised by business interests, insisting it is “frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit.”
For Fox News, their word is apparently sufficient. The network’s evening programs have mentioned the Trump family’s myriad Gulf state conflicts just twice since late last year.
In the first instance, Jessica Tarlov, the Democratic co-host of the panel show “The Five,” raised the issue of “Donald Trump and his family, their corruption” while discussing the president’s poor polling performance during a Feb. 10 segment about the midterm elections.
“This story [Fox contributor] Andy McCarthy is doing a series for the National Review on it,” she said. “All the crypto money that they’re taking in from the [United Arab Emirates] and others is a really big deal.”
Play
Fox News pushing Trump’s Iran war agenda, while support for the war plummetsMarch 25, 2026 / 10:27
The only other Fox News mention of the Trump family’s conflicts of interest in the Gulf that our study found came during a segment on Trump’s planned presidential library-hotel that aired on the network’s flagship, ostensibly straight news broadcast, “Special Report.”
“Guests will be welcomed into the lobby by Air Force One, presumably the Boeing 747 gifted by Qatar,” Fox correspondent Aishah Hasnie said during the March 31 news package.
When an interviewer asked “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier last year if the news media should provide the business dealings of Trump’s sons with the same scrutiny they gave those of Hunter Biden, he replied, “100%.”
“If you’re going to play it one way, you’ve got to play it another way and you’ve got to cover all of those things,” he said.
But that’s not how things have played out on Baier’s network, even with the alleged corruption far more direct, the sums vastly larger and the potential consequences far more dire.
Matt Gertz
Matt Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters for America, a progressive research center that monitors the U.S. media. His work focuses on the relationship between Fox News and the Republican Party, media ethics and news coverage of politics and elections.
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AN 4 26
Although Fox News and Fox Business are decidedly right-wing on the whole, Fox News has one liberal panelist who often butts heads with her colleagues: Jessica Tarlov. And President Donald Trump angrily railed against her during a Monday night, April 6 rant on his Truth Social platform.
Trump posted, "For Fox executives only, take Jessica Tarlov off the air. She is, from her voice, to her lies, and everything else about her, one of the worst 'personalities' on television, a real loser! People cannot stand watching her. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT."
But Trump went after one of Fox News' conservative hosts, Shannon Bream, as well.
"Tell Shannon Bream of FoxNews that it's not the Save Act, it’s the Save America Act, a big difference!," Trump posted. "Also, when she insists on having lightweight Democrat Congressmen, such as Jake Auchincloss, on her not very hard hitting show, she should correct them when they spew out Democrat propaganda and lies. She never does! I always close deals, unlike the Dems, and did great with China in every way, also, unlike the Dems!"
The Daily Beast's Cameron Adams notes that it is "unclear what triggered Trump" about Tarlov and inspired him to "offer unsolicited advice to the bosses at his favorite network about his least-favorite presenter."
"Tarlov is the latest in a growing line of female journalists to be targeted by Trump," Adams observes. "On April 1, he lost his cool with NewsNation's Libbey Dean, who had asked him whether Iran would have to make a deal for him to end the U.S. military intervention. 'You're a fresh person, you know?' Trump snapped. 'We've had a lot of problems with you, haven’t we?' In March, on board Air Force One, Trump opened fire on a female reporter from ABC. 'I think it's maybe the most corrupt news organization on the planet,' he said. 'I don’t want any more from ABC.'
The Daily Beast reporter adds, "In February, the president laid into CNN's Kaitlan Collins, 33, when she asked him what he would like to say to the survivors of convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein."
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MMA
Right-wing media’s heinous rhetoric against people experiencing homelessness
From calling for homeless people to be sent to “internment camps” to fantasizing about making them “fight like gladiators,” right-wing media’s crusade against people without housing continues
Written by Sage Hodil
Published 04/03/26
Right-wing media have a long history of attacking homeless people, and so far 2026 has seen a continuation of that trend. Pundits have called for sending homeless people to different countries, “internment camps,” and institutions. Right-wing media figures have also pushed dehumanizing rhetoric by referring to homeless people as “bums,” “blighty,” “junkies,” “mentally deranged,” and even joking about their deaths.
- ## Right-wing media have consistently demonized and mischaracterized homelessness, sometimes advocating for aggressive solutions
- Research shows that homelessness is driven primarily by economic factors, and the belief that it’s a personal choice is largely a myth.From October 2021 to November 2022, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, conducted the “largest representative study of homelessness since the mid-1990s” and found homelessness was mainly determined by “high housing costs and low income.” Margot Kushel, who led the study, has criticized the media for “misdiagnosing the problem” when they “blame homelessness on substance abuse,” arguing, it “simply isn’t true” that homeless people “refuse housing or that their problems make them impossible to house.” University of California San Francisco, The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness, [6/2023; Truthout, 11/6/23]
- Experts from the Legal Defense Fund say that punitive approaches, such as forced displacement and criminalization, “will not end homelessness or address its root causes.” As The Legal Defense Fund stated, “Study after study show that the best way to address homelessness is to provide people with safe, affordable housing and to offer additional supports and services if needed.” Legal Defense Fund, [8/1/25]
- Yet right-wing figures like Fox host Jesse Watters have spent years calling homeless people “a virus,” a “contagion,” and an “invasive species” and proposing carceral solutions.Watters, for example, has fantasized about sending homeless people to a “mega prison,” advocated for “bulldoz[ing]” homeless encampments and “institutionaliz[ing] everybody,” argued “it was more civilized when we banished them to asylums and put them in strait jackets,” and proposed “federally funded opium dens where the homeless can kill each other.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [8/21/23, 9/22/22, 9/22/22; Fox News, The Five, 3/24/25, 6/3/19, 9/15/22]
- ## In 2026 alone, right-wing media figures have called for detaining homeless people in jails and even sending them to other countries
- On Fox News, billionaire CEO John Catsimatidis suggested homeless people should “live in Uganda.”Catsimatidis claimed the homeless should “live in Uganda for $8.13 a day. We'll give them the check for $8.13 a day, let them live somewhere else.” Fox News, *America Reports*, [3/19/26]
- Fox News host Greg Gutfeld said we could “annex Greenland,” “send the homeless there,” and “call it homeless island.”Gutfeld continued, “You send them to a cold place, they've got to build shelter. Pretty soon they start to evolve towards normal living.” Fox News, *Gutfeld!*,[1/15/26]
- Newsmax host Michael Savage proposed “internment camps” for “homeless bums.”Savage said homeless people “shouldn't have the freedom to live in the streets” and we should “take the freedom away from them, put them in internment camps 100 miles away from cities, and give them the care that they need.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie: Frontline*, [3/16/26]
- Podcaster Tim Pool said if Democrats were serious about fixing homelessness they would “forcefully detain them and bring them to a facility” because “the only way to remove the homeless is by force.”Pool went on to say people are not homeless “because they fell on hard times” but “because of substance abuse issues and choice.” YouTube, *The Culture War with Tim Pool*, [2/16/26]
- Daily Wire host Matt Walsh called for homeless people to be “forcefully and permanently” moved into jails or mental institutions.Walsh stated, “They should be jailed or they should be institutionalized. You remove them from the street forcefully and permanently.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [2/4/26]
- On Newsmax, Citizens Alliance CEO Cliff Maloney complained about “mentally deranged” people on the streets and said, “I'm not trying to be harsh when I say this, but some people, you got to just lock them up and throw away the key.”Newsmax host Carl Higbie also endorsed bringing back mental institutions and insane asylums, saying, “Make asylums great again.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [1/21/26]
- Fox host Todd Piro advocated for rounding up “every single homeless person” and putting them “in one location.”Piro stated, “I feel like you can take every single homeless person in a city, put them in one location, and pay security to keep everybody safe.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [3/26/26]
- ## Right-wing media have dehumanized people experiencing homelessness as “bad people” who are “repulsive” and embody “third world criminal blight”
- Jesse Watters said billionaires should “make the homeless people in skid row fight like gladiators.”Watters also proposed for billionaires to “buy maybe everybody in skid row a one-way ticket to Thailand.” Fox News, *The Five*, [2/19/26]
- Fox News contributor Lisa Kennedy Montgomery joked about homeless people freezing to death in New York City, referring to them as “corpsicles.”Her comment came after actor Rob Schneider joked, “As soon as they freeze to death you don't have to call them homeless. You just call them frozen dead people.” Fox News, *Gutfeld!*, [2/6/26]
- Fox News host Sean Hannity cited New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s free bus proposal and said if he really wants to “get rid of their homeless problem” he should “offer free booze, hookers, and drugs and nobody will ever leave the bus.”Prior to Hannity’s comment, guest Jeff Dye made a joke about “bums” urinating and defecating on buses and claimed they will “end up living” there if public transit is made free. Fox News, *Hannity*, [1/19/26]
- Greg Gutfeld claimed, “Homeless people do not have the ability to make decisions for themselves. We all know that.”Gutfeld blamed Mamdani for the deaths of 16 people during New York’s freezing weather and argued, “If they had allowed to take down the encampments and required them in shelters, all of those people would be alive.” Fox News, *The Five*, [2/3/26]
- Matt Walsh characterized homeless people as “junkies” and “for the most part bad people.”Walsh went on to say, “The only solution is to round them up by force and put them in jail. … Treat drug use as a crime. Treat homelessness as a crime.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [1/6/26]
- In January, right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson referred to homeless people as “vagrants” who are “sickening,” “blighty,” and “repulsive and dangerous.”Johnson also said homeless encampments in California represent “third world criminal blight.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [1/16/26, 1/13/26]
//
07/17/23
06/04/19
03/10/16
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MMA INGRAHAM PIVIT BACK IN LINE
Fox News’ knives are out for NATO as Trump’s Iran war deteriorates
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 04/02/26
Fox News’ MAGA stars, unable to acknowledge that the war in Iran that President Donald Trump launched with their support is spiralling into a strategic defeat, have landed on a scapegoat: NATO and its member states, which were not consulted by the United States before it joined Israel in starting the war and have since refused participation.
Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, and Sean Hannity respectively denounced NATO on Wednesday as “kind of a meaningless ally” that “we’ve had it with” for purportedly “abandoning us.” Hannity and Ingraham each suggested that Trump should withdraw the U.S. from the alliance (which he is barred from doing unilaterally under a bill Secretary of State Marco Rubio cosponsored in the Senate that became law in 2023).
Trump has spent the last several weeks raging over the refusal by U.S. allies to send their navies into the active war zone to escort oil tankers and other commercial ships after Iran, in an obvious strategic countermeasure to the U.S. attack, closed the Strait of Hormuz. Over the weekend, Spain, Italy, and France refused to allow their military bases or airspace to be used by U.S. or Israeli aircraft involved in the war, triggering a new wave of vitriol from the president and his top aides.
Trump claimed in a Wednesday interview to be “beyond reconsideration” of the U.S. role in NATO after “they weren’t there for us” in Iran. (NATO is a defensive alliance — in response to the 9/11 attacks, its members deployed forces alongside the U.S. military in Afghanistan but are not bound by the treaty to participate in offensive wars.) In an address from the White House that night, the president urged the “countries of the world” to “build up some delayed courage. … Go to the strait and just take it, protect it, use it for yourselves.”
The looming strategic failure of the U.S. war in Iran — its regime is intact and in control of its uranium stockpile and the strait, and altering those circumstances that would likely require a risky escalation involving American ground troops — has placed Fox’s hosts in a bind. They have assured their viewers that the war is an historic success and appear unable to break with Trump due to his support among their viewers. That makes our NATO allies an appealing target as the war grinds on.
The president regularly tunes in to Fox to guide his communication and policy decisions. If he was watching before or after his speech on Wednesday, he heard vigorous support for pivoting from his inability to defeat America’s foes to punishing its friends.
Hannity: NATO is “a one-sided alliance,” by leaving “we'll probably save a lot of money”
Hannity, of the network’s three major evening hosts, is the one most committed to the U.S. war in Iran (which he had demanded for decades), the closest personally to Trump, and the loudest voice currently denouncing NATO.
Following Trump’s speech, he panned NATO as “a one-sided alliance where we only go and protect Europe” and suggested its member states had become too culturally Muslim. In response, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) uncorked a screed in which he called for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Europe because “when we needed them the most and when the world needed them the most to stop a religious Nazi regime from having a nuclear breakout, they took a pass.”
“I think that there's going to be a reevaluation and I believe America's contribution just went down dramatically, and we'll know more in the weeks ahead as this now begins to wrap up,” Hannity replied.
Video
Citation
From the April 1, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
Later in the broadcast, the host said it was “unimaginable to me that the NATO alliance would shatter” thanks to the purported refusal by its members to agree to what “should not be a controversial assist on their part.”
“I've got to imagine the ramifications of them abandoning us in this effort is going to — this is going to be deep, profound, and long-lasting,” he added.
Fox contributor Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state in Trump’s first administration, characterized NATO as “feckless, not to be able to convince their own people” of the importance of the Iran war, while retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, another former Trump administration figure, said the U.S. should withdraw from the alliance and form a new one.
“Yeah, I think you're right and we'll probably save a lot of money,” Hannity replied to Kellogg. “But the fact that they did not have a moral clarity when you're dealing with the No. 1 state sponsor of terror potentially this close to acquiring nuclear weapons is breathtaking to me. And this will have reverberations, I believe, going on for decades to come.”
Video
Citation
From the April 1, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
Ingraham: NATO is “kind of a meaningless ally” due to “weakness in Europe”
Ingraham had recently warned about potential downsides of the war, but quickly pivoted back in line with her colleagues. While previewing Trump’s speech on Wednesday’s broadcast, she claimed that “NATO turned out, in this case at least, to be what Donald Trump had predicted: kind of a meaningless ally, if allies at all.”
Her guest, the Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano, responded with the evening’s most vigorous defense of the alliance. “I don't think NATO is the problem,” he said, instead pointing to “some very weak leaders inside NATO who have made some very cowardly decisions” and “look like complete yahoos.”
“What we're going to see is not NATO disbanded,” Carafano. “That's nuts. But what we're more likely to see is NATO step back up to the plate under pressure from Donald Trump, and countries throw out their own leaders because they’re weak-kneed yahoos.”
But Ingraham responded by saying that disbanding NATO should be on the table.
“Well, I'm not sure I agree with that,” she replied. “I think there's just a lot of weakness in Europe, period. Period, there's weakness. … We're so lucky we have Donald Trump as president of the United States.”
Video
Citation
From the April 1, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
Watters: “We’ve had it with these people”
Watters joined in the NATO criticism on Wednesday, albeit in a somewhat less aggressive tone than his colleagues.
“The NATO allies, I put allies in quotes,” he said. “I mean, it's been a great alliance over the years. It's really kept the Russians off the continent until the Ukraine invasion. But it's been really one-sided, and now a lot of people are looking around at them saying no, you can't use the airspace. You can't use the base.”
“They've had it,” he added. “We've had it with these people. We love them, but we've had it.”
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// GT REPLACEMENT OPEN BORDER BS
MMA
Right-wing media are calling for ICE to “surround the polls” in midterms
Right-wing media figures claim Democrats are “basically admitting they're cheating” by opposing ICE at polling stations. But noncitizen voting is a fake problem and ICE has racially profiled US citizens.
Written by Gideon Taaffe & Sage Hodil
Published 03/27/26
Right-wing media personalities are pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be deployed to polling stations during the 2026 midterm elections, claiming it will “fix the fraud” of alleged noncitizen voting and suggesting the only reason Democrats oppose the idea is that “they want to cheat” and “protect illegals’ voting rights.” Department of Homeland Security officials, meanwhile, have put out mixed messaging regarding whether or not the department will consider this course of action.
In reality, according to experts, instances of noncitizen voting are negligible and the presence of ICE agents at polling stations would be illegal, as it could intimidate voters into staying away and have a “chilling effect” on elections due to ICE’s history of racial profiling and harassing and detaining U.S. citizens.
- ## DHS officials have given mixed messaging on deploying ICE to polling sites in upcoming midterm elections
- A DHS official previously dismissed concerns that ICE would be present at polling locations. Heather Honey, deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, reportedly told a group of secretaries of state in February that “any suggestion that ICE will be present at any polling location is simply not true.” PBS, [2/26/26]
- But new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not ruled out the possibility.During his confirmation hearing, Mullin said if ICE is sent to polling places, “there will be a reason for us to be there, and it’ll be known why we’re there.” White House border czar Tom Homan also downplayed concerns about ICE at polling stations, saying, “Part of DHS’ job is secure elections, and I’m not going to say, you know, you know, what our plan is going forward, but if only U.S. citizens can vote, I don’t see the issue of what they’re concerned about.” The Hill, [3/25/26]
- At CPAC, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche rhetorically asked,“Why is there an objection to sending ICE to polling stations?” He continued, saying, “Illegals can’t vote. It doesn’t make any sense.” The Hill, [3/27/26]
- ## Experts have consistently stated that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud and that deploying federal agents at polling stations would be illegal and lead to voter intimidation
- The Brennan Center for Justice’s Sean Morales-Doyle asserted that Trump can not send ICE agents to polling sites, writing, “The law is crystal clear: It is illegal to deploy federal troops or armed federal law enforcement to any polling place.” He added, “In fact, it is a federal crime for anyone in the U.S. military to interfere in elections in any way.” Brennan Center for Justice, [10/22/25]
- Voting rights advocates have also warned that deploying ICE to polling sites, or even threatening to do so, could intimidate voters from casting their vote.Potential voters who may be intimidated by ICE's presence at polling sites have legal redress under the Voting Rights Act and “the person bringing the suit only has to prove that they were intimidated, not that the person they’re suing intended to intimidate them.” Brennan Center for Justice, [10/22/25; CNN, 3/25/26]
- ICE has also shown a pattern of racial profiling, which has led to a “chilling effect.” A Brookings Institution survey found “high percentages of Latino citizens avoiding important activities, including being engaged in their children’s schools and reporting crimes to police for fear of being asked for their immigration papers.” Since a 2025 Supreme Court ruling allowed ICE to “profile Americans based on perceptions that they look like an immigrant,” U.S. citizens have reported being racially profiled and detained by ICE. Brookings Institution, [10/16/25; The Guardian, 1/22/26]
- A recent internal review from DHS on noncitizen voter registration indicated “there is no evidence of widespread fraud.” While the review has found some instances of noncitizen voter registration, as The New York Times pointed out, “Even that number could be inflated. The verification tool has mistakenly flagged some people who appear to actually be citizens, according to some local election officials.” The New York Times, [1/14/26]
- According to the American Immigration Council, instances of noncitizen voting are “infinitesimally small.”The right-wing Heritage Foundation’s own study on voter fraud “has documented just 68 total cases of noncitizen voting going back to the earliest cases documented in the 1980s.” American Immigration Council, [8/1/24]
- ## Right-wing media are calling for ICE to “surround the polls” in November because “illegals shouldn't be voting in our elections”
- War Roomhost and former Trump administration chief strategist Steve Bannon: ICE at airports can be “a test case to get, to really perfect ICE's involvement in the 2026 midterm elections.”Bannon added, “They can’t work the machines, you know what they’ll do? Just walk up and down, hey, we're going to speed things through — can we check your IDs? That’s what’s going to happen in the fall of ‘26 because, folks, we’re tired of having elections stolen.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [3/23/26]
- Bannon also said in February, “You’re damn right we’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [2/3/26]
- The Gateway Pundit: “War Room’s Steve Bannon Says ICE Must ‘Surround The Polls’ in November to Stop Election Fraud.”The blog added, “Democrats will inevitably argue that ICE’s presence at the polls constitutes voter intimidation, but that concern only makes sense if illegal aliens are, in fact, showing up to vote.” The Gateway Pundit, [2/4/26]
- The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro: “Making sure illegal immigrants do not show up at polling sites is not a horrible use of ICE.” Shapiro asked, “Why are illegal immigrants at polling sites? I mean, if ICE is there — like, if ICE shows up at a polling site and I show up at a polling site, I’m not worried about ICE because I’m not an illegal immigrant.” The Daily Wire, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [3/24/26]
- Podcaster Benny Johnson: “Can we deploy ICE to every voting booth in America? Would that fix the fraud? Of course, it would.”Johnson continued, “Why are we even talking about the SAVE Act? You don't need the SAVE Act if you don't have a nation overrun with criminal aliens.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [3/24/26]
- Fox’s Jesse Watters argued for ICE agents to be at polling locations.Watters said, “Well, one of the demands, they say no ICE agents can be at a polling station. What's the trouble with that, Jessica? What's the problem? If illegals aren't voting, why can't ICE agents be at a polling station?” Fox News,*The Five*, [3/23/26]
- Newsmax host Carl Higbie said, “ICE at polling places shouldn’t be a problem, because illegals shouldn’t be voting in our elections.” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [2/2/26]
- Radio host Tony Katz: “Why aren’t ICE agents at polling places? Why aren't we ensuring that Americans vote?” Newsmax, *Carl Higbie Frontline*, [3/3/26]
- ## Right-wing media claim Democrats are “basically admitting they're cheating” by opposing ICE at polling stations because they want to “protect illegals’ voting rights.”
- On his prime-time show, Jesse Watters said Democrats are “basically admitting they’re cheating” by opposing ICE at polling locations. Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [3/23/26]
- Former Trump FBI deputy director and podcaster Dan Bongino claimed “Democrats don’t want any immigration enforcement anywhere near polling locations” because “they want to cheat.” Bongino also argued that Democrats are “so concerned about this” because “they like the cheating.” Rumble, *The Dan Bongino Show*, [3/5/26]
- In an op-ed for The Daily Wire, Matt Walsh claimed House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ opposition to ICE at polling stations is about “ensuring that tens of millions of illegal aliens can vote in the next election.”Walsh wrote: “He desperately wants ICE to stay very far away from *polling stations,* in particular. He says it several times. Why might that be? Who exactly would be intimidated by the presence of a federal immigration officer at a polling station? Who would choose to stay at home, in hiding, rather than get anywhere near an ICE agent?” He continued, “Jeffries is simply too dumb to realize how transparent he’s being here. His overriding concern — and the concern of his party — is ensuring that tens of millions of illegal aliens can vote in the next election.” The Daily Wire, [3/23/26]
- On Newsmax, American Principles Project President Terry Schilling said Democrats “can deal with ICE agents at every single polling location across the country” if they continue to oppose the SAVE Act. Schilling also claimed that Democrats are “pushing illegals to the polls.” Newsmax, *The Right Squad*, [2/11/26]
- While previewing an upcoming interview with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Newsmax host Ed Henry suggested that Democrats are “so concerned about ICE potentially being at the polls in November” because “maybe they don’t want election integrity.”Newsmax, *Ed Henry The Big Take*, [3/3/26]
- One America News host Dan Ball claimed Democrats oppose ICE agents at polling sites because they want to “protect illegals’ voting rights.”Ball continued, “Otherwise, why would you give a rat's you-know-what if ICE goes to a polling station to look for illegals? They shouldn't be voting.” One America News, *Real America with Dan Ball*, [3/9/26]
- Newsmax host Rob Finnerty suggested Democrats don’t want ICE at polling sites because then “illegal aliens” won’t be able to vote for them.Finnerty stated, “ICE can't be at polling sites because how are illegal aliens going to vote if ICE is arresting people at polling sites?” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [3/10/26]
- Newsmax host David Harris Jr. said, “I really hope ICE is at every single voting poll around the country come voting time.” Harris Jr. also claimed Democrats “don’t want to have the people that shouldn’t be here in the first place interfered while they go cast their votes.” Newsmax, *David Harris Jr. The Pulse*, [3/11/26]
- Right-wing blog Townhall claimed Democrats are “more than willing to withhold funding from DHS,” despite terror attacks, “all to ensure that illegals are freely able to go to polling sites.”The blog criticized Democrats in a piece titled “Despite Terror Attacks, Dems Vow to Continue DHS Shut Down to Block ICE From Polling Sites.” Townhall, [3/9/26]
- Right-wing blog RedState criticized Democrats who oppose ICE at polling stations, writing, “Why would you not want ICE to be keeping illegal aliens out of polling places? Unless you had some other reason for wanting illegal aliens at polling places, Democrats?” The blog added, “You keep the illegal aliens out of the polling places, and ICE doesn't need to be there. Will the Democrats commit to that? Why are they placing illegal aliens over the American people?” RedState, [3/9/26]
//
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03/27/26 9:33 AM EDT
03/27/26 9:20 AM EDT
03/27/26 9:07 AM EDT
- ### Divisions emerge in right-wing media as Iran war stirs anxiety about food production, fertilizer
03/27/26
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Fox News’ united front in support of Trump’s Iran war may be breaking down
Host Laura Ingraham warns escalation could produce “cascading problems for the region,” political turmoil for the GOP
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 03/26/26
Four weeks after President Donald Trump launched a poorly conceived war of choice against Iran, the lockstep support for the conflict that has characterized coverage from Fox News’ star hosts is beginning to fray. The power struggle is significant — it is not an exaggeration to suggest the course of the war might hinge on which Fox shows the president is watching.
Trump is clearly approaching a decision point over whether to further escalate the war. U.S. and Israeli forces have done a lot of damage to Iranian military targets, but its regime is intact, still controls its stockpiles of enriched uranium, and has closed the Strait of Hormuz, threatening the global trade in oil, natural gas, and fertilizer. The Pentagon is sending thousands of troops to the region and reportedly prepping options for a “final blow” — some of which would involve deploying U.S. forces on Iranian soil.
When Trump is considering policy options, he often takes guidance from his loyal propagandists at Fox. This Fox-Trump feedback loop has in recent months played a role in the president’s decisions to send White House border czar Tom Homan to oversee immigration enforcement in Minnesota; prioritize the SAVE Act over all other legislation; order the deployment of ICE agents to airports; and start the war against Iran.
Against that backdrop, Fox News host Laura Ingraham warned on Wednesday’s show that further U.S. action could produce devastating unintended consequences and suggested that Trump should refocus his attention on the domestic economy and political situation.
“Iran knows it cannot win militarily, so it's using the leverage it has by prolonging the conflict,” she said during her monologue at the top of the show. “Now, what do they want to do? They want to inflict maximum economic pain on the region, on the U.S., [on] the global economy as much as possible until they think Trump relents. But the White House doesn't seem to be blinking.”
The host then aired a clip of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warning at her press briefing that day that “President Trump does not bluff, and he is prepared to unleash hell” against Iran.
Ingraham did not seem impressed by Leavitt’s rhetoric.
“Well, the problem is obviously unleashing hell means destroying infrastructure, which itself causes a series of cascading problems for the region, including maybe outside the region — political problems for the president in a midterm election year,” she said.
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the March 25, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
Her air of skepticism continued throughout the show.
While interviewing Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), she noted Pentagon reports of thousands of successful missions but commented, “I mean, this is a devastating blow, yet you know, we're still there.”
“It's not even a month old, obviously,” she continued, before asking, “But are you concerned about the public and people? Again, very short attention spans, very impatient for victory, as is President Trump, I might add. But in an election year, it's easy to say politics don't matter, but at some point politics do come into play.”
And in a third segment, she highlighted the disastrous polling on the Iran war, commenting, “It looks like people are pretty impatient. The American people are sending a message to President Trump that it's time to put the focus back on the home front.”
Ingraham is inching toward the type of dissent that has been virtually absent from Fox’s coverage of the war, even as the broader right-wing media has split. Her colleagues have played key roles in convincing Trump to attack in the first place and are pushing for risky escalations. Ingraham herself briefly quibbled with Trump’s handling of an apparent U.S. strike that leveled an Iranian school, killing scores of children, but had supported the war itself, which she declared three weeks ago that Trump had already won.
But if Ingraham is getting cold feet and trying to convince Trump not to escalate a war the public has soured on, she remains an outlier at the network. Indeed, if the president tuned in for the two hours following Ingraham’s program, he saw her prime-time colleagues Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity argue not only that the war is going well and that Trump will inevitably lead the U.S. to victory, but that anyone who disagrees must want America to lose the war because they hate the president.
Watters began his show with a 10-minute monologue whose thesis was that “the Iranian regime is losing leverage fast as we continue to carry out thousands of sorties over enemy airspace.” After detailing various tactical victories, he touted a potential escalation.
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the March 25, 2026, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
“[President] 47 could be eyeing a knockout — Iran's crown jewel, Kharg Island,” he said. “The Republican Guard has been preparing for battle, laying mines, booby trapping, loading up on Stingers, but retired top brass says our military is ready to shock and seize the terrain by air, by sea. We don't know if it's going to happen, but if it does happen, the Iranians won't know it's coming.”
“Iran looks like this is their last gasp, but some people would rather America lose the war because they hate Trump,” Watters concluded. “So far, this is the cleanest, most surgical and one-sided operation in American military history. Now, anything could happen, war is hell, it's unpredictable, but people in the know in Washington think we're about to close it out with a pretty big blow.”
Hannity, in his opening monologue, likewise declared: “Many on the left are now rooting for America to lose. Others seem to be hoping for another Vietnam-style quagmire. Why? Because Democrats care more about their political ambition rather than the future, safety, and security of your children and your grandchildren.”
“But tonight, President Trump is ignoring all the hysteria and pushing for peace one way or the other,” he continued. “If Iran's obliterated regime will not agree to a lasting agreement, this president has pledged he will continue to decimate their resolve through force, but that's really going to be up to them. They might unleash hell, otherwise.”
After airing a clip from Leavitt’s press briefing, Hannity added, “The message from President Trump is clear: Work with the U.S. or you will be killed.”
:{:{Video}:
Citation
From the March 25, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
To which Ingraham might reply — what if killing them creates “cascading problems for the region”? As of yet, Watters and Hannity aren’t expressing any such concerns. And who the president is watching may determine the shape of things to come.
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11/19/24
03/12/26
03/05/26
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Trump’s shambolic policy-making by Fox segment hits the airports
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 03/23/26
President Donald Trump threw his administration into chaos on Saturday by demanding the stationing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at U.S. airports in response to long lines triggered by the expiration of funding for the Transportation Security Administration.
Top administration officials offered disparate explanations for what those ICE agents would be doing — explanations which also seemingly diverted from Trump’s own vision — as they scrambled to turn the president’s social media posts into some sort of coherent policy.
Meanwhile, ICE and Department of Homeland Security sources are grumbling to the press that the deployment will reduce their ability to focus on the president's deportation agenda.
The president-mandated mayhem appears to stem from Trump’s habit of governing based on policy ideas he gets from his television, particularly the MAGA talking heads at Fox News. This Fox-Trump feedback loop has at various times driven everything from administration staffing to legislative and communications strategy to presidential pardons and federal contracts.
Both the problem — long airport lines caused by Trump’s opposition to funding TSA — and his response — stationing ICE agents at the airports — seem to have their origins in Fox segments he had been watching.
A government shutdown is hitting TSA and it’s Trump’s fault (with a Fox assist)
A partial government shutdown which impacts DHS is causing major disruptions at some U.S. airports, including long security lines. And while that shutdown originated with Democratic opposition to the Trump administration’s lawless immigration enforcement, it continues because of the president’s Fox-fueled demand that future appropriations come stapled to his unrelated legislative priorities.
Senate Democrats have refused to support appropriations for ICE or Customs and Border Protection absent reforms to their operations in light of the rampages by those agencies, while Senate Republicans have to date blocked Democratic attempts to separately fund TSA and other DHS agencies. And Trump is reportedly standing in the way of a deal pitched to him by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) in which “Senate Republicans would support funding all of DHS except ICE,” funding for which would be handled separately on a partisan basis via reconciliation.
What explains Trump’s intransigence, which has become the primary cause of the airport lines? He is using the TSA funding as leverage as he tries to ram through the SAVE America Act, legislation otherwise stymied in the Senate that would rewrite the nation’s election laws. And he is doing so in response to something he saw on Fox.
On March 8, the president declared on Truth Social that he had been so moved by MAGA activist Scott Presler’s comments about the SAVE Act on Fox & Friends that morning that he would sign no other legislation until it was passed.
“It must be done immediately,” he posted. “It supersedes everything else. MUST GO TO THE FRONT OF THE LINE. I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed, AND NOT THE WATERED DOWN VERSION - GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY - ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN!”
The implications of this pledge for TSA funding seem to have largely gone unnoticed. But on Sunday night, Trump explicitly tied the two together.
“I don’t think we should make any deal with the Crazy, Country Destroying, Radical Left Democrats unless, and until, they Vote with Republicans to pass ‘THE SAVE AMERICA ACT,’” Trump posted to Truth Social, claiming, “It is far more important than anything else we are doing in the Senate.”
After denouncing what he portrayed as the Democratic position on DHS funding and rattling off a list of the SAVE Act’s provisions, he urged Senate Republicans to combine the two, writing: “Lump everything together as one, and VOTE!!! Kill the Filibuster, and stay in D.C. for Easter, if necessary.”
Right-wing radio caller -> Fox segment -> presidential post -> policy
ICE agents are currently patrolling some U.S. airports after a right-wing radio caller proposed the idea, the show’s host took it to Fox, and the president adopted the policy in a social media post, as Semafor’s Ben Smith first detailed in a Sunday report.
“Linda from Arizona” called into The Clay and Buck Show on Friday afternoon proposing to “bring in ICE agents” as “a solution to the TSA problem.” Clay Travis, the show’s co-host, liked the idea so much that he brought it up that night during a hit on Fox’s Jesse Watters Primetime.
“I had a caller on the show, The Clay and Buck Show, today, Charlie, had an interesting idea,” Travis told guest host Charlie Hurt. “What if President Trump announced that ICE agents were now going to be supplementing TSA agents inside of all of the airports? The ICE agents are still being paid. How quickly would Democrats panic if he said hey, we're going to put some ICE agents in line with the TSA, help to expedite everybody?”
“And oh, by the way, if we think you might be an illegal when you're coming through to try to get on an airplane, we're going to go ahead and arrest you at the airport, too,” he added. “I think that might solve things in a hurry. It was a great caller suggestion. But it also goes to let's let people actually do something normal, go through security and get on airplanes — Democrat, Republican and independent, I think it connects with everybody.”
“Yes, it absolutely does,” Hurt replied.
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Citation
From the March 20, 2026, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
Hurt and Travis weren’t the only ones enamored with “Linda from Arizona’s” idea — the next morning, the president adopted the proposal. In a Saturday morning Truth Social post, Trump stressed — just as Travis had — that the ICE agents would be used both for security and for arresting undocumented immigrants.
“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” he posted, “including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia, who have totally destroyed, with the approval of a corrupt Governor, Attorney General, and Congresswoman, Ilhan Omar, the once Great State of Minnesota.”
Trump made clear that the plan was moving forward in another post two hours later, writing, “I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY.’ NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!”
“The White House hasn’t commented on whether Trump did, in fact, hear the TV segment and act accordingly,” CNN’s Brian Stelter noted Monday. “But Trump has a decade-long track record of watching Fox and posting his reactions on social media.”
In another sign that the policy process driving this policy is the Fox-Trump feedback loop, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump's “first post Saturday came as a surprise to officials inside ICE and at DHS, who have spent the weekend trying to figure out how it could work, according to three people familiar with the matter.”
Indeed, in Sunday interviews, two top Trump officials one would expect to be involved in executing the policy offered starkly different explanations for what ICE agents would be doing at the airports.
White House “border czar” Tom Homan, who Trump posted Sunday morning is “in charge” of the ICE deployment, stressed that the agents would be assigned to tasks like guarding airport exits, which he said would free up the TSA officers doing that work to do screening to reduce lines.
“I don’t see an ICE agent looking at an X-ray machine because they’re not trained in that, but there are certain parts of security that TSA is doing that we can move them off those jobs and put them in the specialized jobs and help move those lines,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash.
But the same morning, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy suggested that the ICE agents would be screening passengers alongside TSA officers.
“TSA agents are law enforcement,” he said on ABC’s This Week. “They know how to pat people down, they know how to run the X-ray machines because they are, again, under Homeland Security with TSA. So if we can bring in other assets and tools to assist TSA to get rid of these lines, yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.”
Notably, both Homan and Duffy are in their administration roles at least in part due to their Fox ties. Homan, who has gone through the revolving door from the first Trump administration to a stint as a Fox contributor and then back to the second Trump administration, has taken on a larger role overseeing ICE operations after a Fox & Friends co-host suggested increasing his responsibilities. Duffy, meanwhile, is a former Fox contributor and host (he is also married to a current Fox & Friends Weekend co-host, who worked in that role alongside the nation’s current defense secretary).
Homan and Duffy both seem to be trying to salvage some sort of workable plan from the president’s Fox-stoked half-idea. Notably, neither pitched what Travis initially floated and Trump actually asked for in his initial post — ICE agents specifically tasked with arresting undocumented immigrants en masse. And that’s what the president still says is going to happen.
A reporter asked Trump at a Monday morning gaggle, “Will we see ICE arresting illegal migrants at airports?”
“Yeah,” he responded. “That's why the Democrats are going crazy.”
The president added that ICE agents “love it because they're able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. That's very fertile territory.”
That’s not what the Journal is hearing. “Officials at ICE and DHS expressed frustration with the plan, saying it will distract from Trump’s core goal of deporting as many people in the country illegally as possible,” the paper reported.
It’s no wonder they are concerned. Either the ICE agents have been moved away from positions supporting the president’s mass deportation effort and are not going to be arresting immigrants at the airports, or they are going to be carrying out their brutal arrest operations in front of airport crowds and end up further damaging the agency’s reputation. The president has put ICE in a no-win situation, all to support a policy of holding TSA funding for ransom to secure unrelated legislation.
That’s what happens when you govern via Fox segment.
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11/19/24 7:30 AM EST
11/13/24 11:34 AM EST
01/26/26
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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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As Iran war drags on, right-wing media lash out at NATO and Iranians who haven’t overthrown their government
When it comes to assigning blame for the Iran war spiraling out of control, MAGA media have found convenient scapegoats who aren’t named Trump
Written by John Knefel
Published 03/20/26
As the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran lurches into its fourth week without any clear endgame, signs of frustration are beginning to show among President Donald Trump’s right-wing media allies. These outside figures, some of whom function as kitchen Cabinet advisers both on- and off-air, still support the war, but as it continues to escalate across the Middle East they have started to find scapegoats for the elusive easy victory many were predicting.
Two primary targets are the United States’ NATO allies, which so far have refused to deploy their militaries to open the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iranian people, who have not overthrown their government. The nexus of these two seemingly distinct critiques is that ordinary Muslims are supposedly at fault in both cases, with some right-wing pundits specifically blaming European Muslims for NATO countries’ reticence to join Trump’s war. Fox News has been leading on both fronts, but former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and conservative pundit Ben Shapiro have weighed in as well.
Since March 15, Trump has criticized NATO countries for declining to join his war of aggression, saying they were “making a very foolish mistake” and claiming that the United States “will protect them, but they will do nothing for us.” (The only time NATO’s collective self-defense clause has been invoked was after the attacks against the U.S. on 9/11.) Trump has also acknowledged that Iranians looking to take to the streets would face serious danger even as he has urged protesters to “take over your government,” a call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made as well. (Israeli intelligence reportedly determined that in the event of a popular revolt, Iranians would be “slaughtered.”)
Whether or not the exasperation voiced by right-wing media about NATO and the lack of a popular Iranian uprising foreshadows broader concerns about Trump’s and Netanyahu’s war remains to be seen. But as civilian casualties mount — especially in Iran and Lebanon — and markets sink, some of Trump’s allies may continue searching for people to blame, just so long as they aren’t named Donald Trump.
Fox News leads anti-NATO charge
Trump’s criticisms of NATO countries’ refusal to open the Strait of Hormuz migrated to Fox almost immediately.
On March 16, speaking over a chyron that read “The ‘alliance’ that isn’t,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham latched onto the talking point.
“If anyone watching tonight is surprised when America stands alone, well, you haven't been paying attention,” Ingraham said. “Now, of course as usual, liberals claim that Trump is the reason that any alliances are frayed. That is a joke.”
Ingraham went on to blame Muslims for Britain’s reluctance to get involved militarily. “As usual, they don't need to take out their wallets or risk any political heat at home, especially with the burgeoning Muslim population in the U.K,” she said, before airing footage of Trump complaining about the longtime U.S. ally. “All this proves is that President Trump was right all along about these friends — well, they’re friends who took advantage of us for about 80 years.”
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From the March 16, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
The following morning, Fox & Friends picked up the baton. “It's pretty amazing that Germany goes no, I'm not going to do anything; U.K. says no, I'm not going to help; France says I've got some in the area, I'll see what I can do; Japan says no,” host Brian Kilmeade said. He then downplayed the scope of the energy crisis before taking another shot at U.S. allies.
“We're going to be fine. It's going to be just a little — a couple more weeks that maybe there's more shooting going on,” Kilmeade said. “In the big picture, this backs up what the president has been saying about our allies in times of crisis.”
Kilmeade’s co-host Lawrence Jones added: “Not a good look.”
The same day, Bannon took a shot at “our great allies in NATO telling Trump yeah, I don’t know, this Iran thing’s not really our deal — keeping the Red Sea open, the Suez Canal, Straits of Hormuz, that's not really NATO's problem.”
He added: “It’s outrageous what the allies have told us.”
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From the March 17, 2026, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room
The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro took aim at NATO countries “exorbitant regulatory and welfare structures,” adding: “We don't need different allies. We need our allies to be better.”
“President Trump was always right to force NATO countries to pay up for their own defense,” he continued. “But if NATO countries want America to help them out in times of common need, they need to step up as well when one of the world's chief shipping lanes is closed by an internationally recognized terrorist regime.”
Back at Fox & Friends, on March 18 Fox political analyst Guy Benson joined Ingraham in laying blame at the feet of Muslims in Europe. “In a lot of these countries, there is a growing Muslim population where there are sectarian politics that are increasingly driving decisions that are being made about not offending that group of people on a whole host of fronts,” Benson said. “I think that is inescapably part of the calculus here.”
Jones said of NATO countries, “I was always raised — no one likes a freeloader.”
Jones agreed and replied that the “radicalization that’s happening in a lot of these countries” is “inspired … by Iran, the No. 1 state sponsor of terror.”
Later that morning, Jones said of NATO countries, “I was always raised — no one likes a freeloader.”
On his Premiere Networks radio program, host Sean Hannity adopted his Fox colleagues’ rhetoric in targeting European Muslim communities. “Great Britain that has sharia courts. France has no-go zones — I am telling you, Europe is collapsing before your eyes,” Hannity said. “Unfettered immigration, they don't demand assimilation. It is now an unmitigated, out of control disaster.”
Hannity suggested punishing NATO countries for thus far staying out of the military campaign, telling his audience: “I can tell you right now, this is not going to end well for Europe. It just isn't. We'll just ignore their conflicts. We'll just ignore what they go through.”
Fox’s Mark Levin — who, along with Hannity, has been one of the network’s major Iran war boosters — praised Israel and lashed out at European countries.
“Israel is a great ally,” Levin said. “They're fighting alongside us. Look at the British. Look at the French. Look at the Spanish. They're doing nothing. Effectively nothing except undermining us.”
On his March 19 radio show, Hannity used even stronger language. “We were just speaking about how our NATO allies are pathetic, didn't I just say that?” he asked his producer, adding: “I'm frankly disgusted with Great Britain and France and Germany and even Italy. … On the issue of the Strait of Hormuz, we get 1% of our oil from going through that strait — not much — and all the president said is hey, you want to help us here?” Of the European countries which haven’t joined the U.S.-Israeli war, Hannity was blunt: “There will be a price to pay in the end. Just like they have had unfettered immigration without assimilation, they will pay a price for that.”
Fox blames Iranian citizens for the lack of an uprising: “Freedom is costly, right?”
It’s not just Muslims in European countries who have supposedly let down the war effort, according to right-wing media; the Iranians living under a repressive regime and suffering from U.S. and Israeli airstrikes have as well. For these conservative pundits, Trump’s war with Iran cannot fail, it can only be failed.
Responding to her guest’s discussion of a possible popular uprising in spite of the dangers posed, Ingraham said on March 10, “They’re going to have to do it, because freedom is costly, right?”
“Our soldiers are dying in this,” she continued. “We’re paying a big price, so the Iranian people need to stand up.”
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From the March 10, 2026, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle
On March 16, Fox Business anchor David Asman lamented that “we haven’t seen the popular uprising that we were hoping for — that can take years to happen.”
Fox anchor Harris Faulkner responded by invoking a longstanding Orientalist trope, arguing that Iranians are consumed by an ancient, irrational hatred of the West. “Their grievance is that they hate us, and I don’t really think that there’s a date on the calendar,” Faulkner said. “They could literally go thousands of years and still be at the point where they are now — I mean, they have been.”
“So I’m not sure we can generationally change them, but we certainly can take some things out of their hands,” she continued. “Like oil, and other things we’re so dependent upon as a country.”
Faulkner returned to the topic on March 18, prior to Trump attending the dignified transfer of six U.S. service members killed in the Iran war. Faulkner described one of the war’s aims as “to perhaps win a space for the people of Iran to step up into their own freedom.”
“We cannot do it for them,” she continued. “But we can be part of the solution in terms of making it possible.” More than 1,348 Iranian civilians have been killed since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, according to an Iranian official.
The New York Times reported March 19 that “a small team of British military planners has been sent to the United States to help draw up options to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” though the effort stops “short of the sort of major military action President Trump has demanded, such as sending warships to the waterway imminently.” Similarly, Axios reported that seven countries supported a vague coalition to open the strait, but that it was “largely a gesture to placate President Trump.”
Whether there is any appetite for deescalation among the parties to the conflict remains unclear. But what is glaringly obvious is that right-wing media are already seeking scapegoats for the cascading catastrophe set off by Trump's war with Iran.
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MMA // HEGS TRUMP
03/23/26
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MMA
Right-wing media use the SAVE America Act to undermine the upcoming midterm elections
Right-wing pundits have falsely claimed Democrats oppose the SAVE America Act because they are “cheating” and “want the illegals to be able to vote”
Written by Gideon Taaffe & Sage Hodil
Published 03/20/26
- Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, right-wing media are using the controversial SAVE America Act to undermine election integrity by claiming Democrats oppose the bill because they “want to steal elections” and “want the illegals to be able to vote.” This is the latest iteration of a longstanding pattern in which right-wing media cast doubt on elections as Americans prepare to cast their votes.
For example, in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, right-wing media were peddling election conspiracy theories and insisting the 2020 election was rigged. Ahead of the 2024 election cycle, right-wing media deployed that same playbook, spreading false information about undocumented immigrants voting, accusing Democrats of rigging the system, and attempting to undermine the validity of mail-in voting.
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, right-wing media figures are yet again claiming that Democrats are trying to cheat and want undocumented immigrants to vote, even though instances of noncitizen voting are vanishingly rare. Still, right-wing media figures have advocated for Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence at polling locations, President Donald Trump to declare a “national emergency” to enforce his preferred election policies, and Congress to pass the SAVE Act (since modified and rebranded as the SAVE America Act).
Though the SAVE America Act appears to be doomed in the Senate, the controversial bill, which aims to rewrite election laws nationwide, would, if passed, create new barriers for people attempting to register to vote by requiring them to provide documents such as a passport or birth certificate as proof of citizenship. But as the Brennan Center for Justice points out, millions of citizens lack access to these documents, and “roughly half of Americans don’t even have a passport.” As an example of the potential effects, the Bipartisan Policy Center examined a similar law requiring proof of citizenship passed in Kansas and found the law prevented roughly 12% of applicants from registering to vote. The SAVE America Act could also place additional burdens on married women who have changed their last name from the one that appears on their birth certificate.
Nonetheless, right-wing media have been using the bill to sell a false narrative that Democrats have “nefarious intentions” and are “petrified about having safe and secure elections” because “they want the illegals to be able to vote.”
- War Roomhost Steve Bannon said “we have to codify” the SAVE America Act “to stop the Democrats with the illegal aliens stealing the 2026 midterm.”Bannon also threatened, “If Thune cannot deliver this week on these basics about not allowing them to steal elections, why is he not removed as a leader of the Senate?” Real America’s Voice,*War Room*, [2/3/26]
- Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed that when Democrats “fight this hard” against the bill, “you know they’re cheating” in elections.Watters then argued that it’s “logical” to require voter ID after you “poured 20 million foreigners into the United States.” Fox News,*The Five*, [2/4/26]
- On his radio show, Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed the “only reason I can think” Democrats “don't want voter IDs, signature verification” is because they have “nefarious intentions.”Hannity continued, suggesting Democrats must not “want honest elections with integrity so everyone can have confidence in the results.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [2/6/26]
- QAnon conspiracy theorist Scott Presler: “The Democrats are petrified about having safe and secure elections because they know that our Congress and our Senate would look much different today if we had secure voting.”Presler: “Having a trust me, bro, election system in Minnesota is the reason why it's been blue even since Mondale.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [2/6/26; Media Matters,8/23/21]
- Presler later commented on Fox News: “When Sen. Chuck Schumer says that tens of millions of Americans will be removed from the voter rolls, did he say the quiet part out loud? Did he allude to the fact that perhaps tens of millions of noncitizens are on the voter rolls?” He added, “Anyone that is only for Americans being registered to vote cannot be against the SAVE America Act.” Fox News, *The Story with Martha MacCallum*, [3/11/26]
- Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer said “there’s no logic” for Democrats’ opposition to the bill “other than they’re working so hard to let anybody vote without knowing if they’re a citizen or not.” Fleischer then claimed noncitizen voting is “the perfect crime” because “no one will catch you.” Fox News, *Special Report with Bret Baier*, [2/11/26]
- Fox & Friendsco-host Lawrence Jones claimed Democrats oppose the bill because “they want the illegals to be able to vote.”Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/20/26]
- Fox News host Will Cain claimed Democrats “benefit from having insecure voting rolls, they benefit from the potentiality of illegals voting in American elections.”Fox News, *The Will Cain Show*, [3/11/26]
- Newsmax host Rob Finnerty claimed, “Democrats don’t want the SAVE Act to pass because if it does, people who aren't legally allowed to vote in our elections will not be able to vote in our elections anymore.” Finnerty also characterized the Democratic party as “a party built around illegal aliens and dead people voting.” Newsmax, *Finnerty*, [3/12/26]
- On Newsmax, actor Dean Cain said “there's no reason in the world” for Democrats to “oppose the SAVE Act, other than it will stop them from being able to cheat.”Newsmax, *Ed Henry The Big Take*, [3/6/26]
- On Newsmax, The Federalist’s Ben Weingarten suggested that it’s incredibly easy to cheat in elections today and claimed Democrats have been “normalizing the idea that noncitizens should be able to vote.”Weingarten attacked Democrats for “gaslighting” and spreading “propaganda” about the SAVE America Act and stated, “Americans want clean voter rolls and clean elections where it's easy to vote and incredibly hard to cheat. And we have the opposite today.” Newsmax, *The National Report*, [3/11/26]
- Fox contributor Newt Gingrich claimed Democrats oppose the bill “because they want to steal elections.” Gingrich continued, “They want to have the ability to vote people who aren't legal or people who are dead.” Fox Business, *Mornings with Maria*, [3/19/26]
- Trump ally and right-wing podcaster Roger Stone: “SAVE America Act Hits the Achilles Heel of Democrats’ Fraud Scheme.” Wrote Stone, “There is only one reason for Democrats and far-left special interest groups to oppose the SAVE America Act: because they want to enable fraud. They know that loosening the system allows them to essentially stuff the ballot box. The illegals who are still floating around in this country by the millions can exploit these loopholes.” Substack, [3/4/26]
//
03/18/26 10:15 AM EDT
02/18/26 4:25 PM EST
02/12/26
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MMA
Prime-time Fox shows gave less than a minute of airtime to the Pentagon’s $200 billion Iran funding request
Written by Matt Gertz
Research contributions from Rob Savillo, Harrison Ray & Tyler Monroe
Published 03/20/26
Fox News isn’t bothering to sell the staggering cost of the ill-conceived war President Donald Trump launched against Iran.
The Trumpist propaganda network provided roughly 11 minutes of coverage through Thursday to the administration’s request for an eye-popping $200 billion in supplementary spending from Congress — and less than 1 minute of discussion on its prime-time block, according to a Media Matters review.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday night that the Pentagon “has asked the White House to approve a more than $200 billion request to Congress to fund the war in Iran,” a figure subsequently confirmed by other news outlets. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not dispute the number at a Thursday morning press conference, though he indicated it “could move.”
The request “is expected to face a rocky path in Congress,” according to The Wall Street Journal, as lawmakers say “they want to see more details of the proposal amid concerns that the U.S. could become embroiled in another costly long-term war,” and even Republicans are expressing skepticism about its odds of passage.
But so far, Trump’s Fox propaganda wing isn’t engaged in trying to make the case for the funds.
The $200 billion figure has not been mentioned on the programs of Fox stars Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, or Greg Gutfeld, or on the panel show The Five.
On Jesse Watters Primetime, guest host Charlie Hurt spent 44 seconds of Thursday’s show accusing Democrats who refuse to support the spending of siding with Iran and against the troops.
“The Pentagon is asking for more money to eliminate the bad guys, and it's not just for Iran,” Hurt claimed. “Trump says it's for keeping the whole world safe. And guess whose side the Democrats are on?”
He then aired a video of a reporter telling Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), “They're asking for $200 billion now for this war,” and Ocasio-Cortez responding that she won’t support the request because “this administration has plunged the American people into a war that we don't want to be in.”
“Soldiers are risking their lives to do what every president of either party, going back decades, said had to be done,” Hurt responded. “The Democrats don't want to give them the money to finish the job.”
That was the only discussion of the $200 billion war funding figure on Fox’s 8-11 p.m. prime-time block.
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From the March 19, 2026, edition of Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime
The request for war funding drew only 19 seconds of coverage on Thursday’s edition of the popular morning show Fox & Friends, with co-host Brian Kilmeade noting the $200 billion figure and asking, “Are Democrats gonna look to defund a war again?”
The remainder of the network’s coverage of the figure through Thursday consisted of reports from correspondents on America’s Newsroom and Special Report; a handful of passing mentions; and panel discussions on Special Report and Fox News @ Night.
Such lackluster coverage might suffice to help Trump ram a war spending bill through Congress if the war were popular, the consequences at home limited, and Republicans lawmakers united. But under the present circumstances, the network’s propagandists are going to need to develop some talking points if they hope to pull it across the finish line over the weeks to come.
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MMA
03/19/26
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MMA
March 20, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY (FOX HOST): I'm going to say this, Sarah Huckabee Sanders is right, this is not southern hospitality, this is Soviet hospitality. It's very revealing of who they are. And the owners of this restaurant, who are LGBTQ, and angry about these kinds of things, they are culinary tyrants. It's not that they are snowflakes and they can't handle it -- no, no, no -- they're tyrants. So if you don't agree with their political ideas or ideology, they are going to dehumanize you, they're going to kick you out of their restaurant, they're going to humiliate you, and that's just the most tolerable of the punishments they have for you. By the way, every conservative, prominent conservative, who goes into a liberal restaurant wonders if their food is going to be spit on, everyone knows that. But that's not the only thing, if you don't agree with them, BLM, they will burn your business down. If you don't agree that you want to take a vaccine during COVID, they'll take away your job or tell you your kid can't go to school. And it goes all the way up to Charlie Kirk who was basically killed for his political ideas.
And so I think it's really important that Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas expose this. The reason is we have a decision to make as citizens, what kind of country do we want to live in? Do we want to live in a country run by people like this, who have no tolerance for other people's opinions, who don't even think someone should come in and have a meal without being harassed because they don't agree with them, or do you want to live like we lived basically back in the '80s, where we agreed to live peacefully with each other and we didn't have to agree on everything. So, I'm glad she exposed it.
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mma
03/19/26
March 19, 2026, edition of Fox News' America Reports
SANDRA SMITH (ANCHOR): They want more money for this homeless population. They are now saying in the city, you just heard it, more per homeless person than the average person makes in the year.
JOHN CATSIMATIDIS (GUEST): Why should we pay that $81,000 I saw on the screen, for a homeless person where they can leave for— live in Uganda for $8.13 a day. We'll give them the check for $8.13 a day, let them live some place else.
SMITH: It would be one thing if proving that spending all this money would be helping the homeless population get off the streets and get back into work but there's no sign of that. In fact, the homeless population is only growing.
Per Forbes, John Castimatidis is the owner of a New York City supermarket chain and an oil refinery, and has an estimated net worth of $4.8B.
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MMA RETALIATE DEFECTOR IRAN WAR
3 26
Fox News is the bus Trump is driving over Joe Kent | Media Matters for America
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MMA
Fox personalities used to claim that energy independence would shield the US from potential retaliatory action by Iran — such as closing the Strait of Hormuz
As gas prices rise, the network has scarcely invoked the concept of “energy independence,” mentioning it a fraction as often as it did during the start of the Russia-Ukraine war
Special ProgramsClimate & Energy
Written by Allison Fisher
Published 03/18/26
- The current surge in gas prices in response to President Donald Trump’s war against Iran challenges Fox News’ long-touted narrative that so-called “energy independence” would insulate the U.S. from disruptions in the global oil market and potential overseas conflicts, specifically in the Middle East. And while Fox personalities have wielded this narrative against Democratic presidents and used its talking points to advocate for more drilling and fossil fuel extraction, the network has fallen nearly silent on the concept of achieving energy independence as domestic energy costs continue rising despite Trump’s claims of achieving “energy dominance.”
In reality, America has never truly been energy independent, and such a policy is not even truly possible. Energy prices are determined by a global market, meaning the United States will never be free from oil and gas price fluctuations no matter how much oil it produces domestically. Indeed, this moment represents the most definitive rebuke yet of the idea of American “energy independence.”
Even as the U.S. is producing record amounts of oil and the Trump administration pursues a voracious pro-fossil fuel agenda, the national average price of gas reached $3.45 a gallon on March 8, with The New York Times reporting that oil prices rose “above $100 a barrel for the first time in roughly four years, more than 40 percent more expensive than it was before the United States and Israel began attacking Iran on Feb. 28.” As of March 18, gas has climbed to a national average of $3.84 a gallon.
But rather than conceding the point that oil markets have always been and will likely always be volatile, Fox personalities are moving the goal posts on what “energy independence” means compared to the network’s narratives in 2022 and 2020. They’re now suggesting that energy independence can be achieved by releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that it means disruptions to gas prices caused by conflicts overseas are only temporary, or that energy independence enables the U.S. to start new wars that “wouldn't even have been possible if Joe Biden was president.”
- ## In 2022, as gas prices surged in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Fox blamed Biden’s energy policies. Now the network is downplaying the price increases as temporary.
- The rapid increase in fuel prices surrounding Trump’s war with Iran mirrors how the global oil markets responded to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. At the time, one of the dominant narratives across Fox was the suggestion that gas prices in the U.S. were rising due to losing “energy independence” under President Joe Biden — a claim which is categorically false. (Oil production in 2022 was the second highest of any year in U.S. history, yielding approximately 12 million barrels a day.) In some cases, Fox personalities and guests even suggested America’s purported lack of “energy independence” under Biden emboldened Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression in the Ukraine.
In fact, Fox News mentioned “energy independence” at least 329 times in the first two weeks of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and it continued to be a central narrative of Fox’s coverage after that, with mentions increasing to 632 one month into the conflict. Now, as prices skyrocket in response to Trump’s war on Iran, that talking point has been far less prevalent. In the first two weeks of the conflict, from February 28 through March 13, the terms “energy independence” or “energy security ” were mentioned just 12 times on Fox News programs.
Part of the 2022 narrative on Fox was also attacks on the Biden administration for releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an effort to lower gas prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. Fox’s Maria Bartiromo claimed the move “tells you that they were blindsided” because the SPR “is supposed to be a reserve for crises and emergencies.”
Now, on the March 13 edition of *Fox & Friends First*, co-host Carley Shimkus claimed that “President Trump is restoring America’s energy independence [by] ordering 172 million barrels of oil to be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,” calling it an example of how he is “battling back” against “the economic impacts of war.”
Notably, Fox correspondent David Spunt pointed out on March 9, before Trump decided to tap the reserves, that Biden was criticized by the right for releasing oil from the SPR in 2022 to offset sanctions against Russia by putting more oil in the global market.
In 2022, energy independence meant maintaining low gas prices during a foreign conflict. Now, Fox and others in right-wing media suggest price hikes driven by the fighting are only a temporary “sacrifice” for attacking Iran.
One Fox host, Tomi Lahren, did seem to acknowledge that energy independence has not shielded the U.S. from price shocks, though she still worried that people would grow impatient with gas costs.
It’s “really such a shame too because this president has worked so hard up until now on getting those gas prices down,” Lahren said. “American energy independence, still obviously a priority, but this kind of shakes the boat a little bit.”
In 2022, Fox personalities suggested energy independence was about insulating us from foreign conflicts. Frequent Fox guest and former Trump adviser Steve Moore now suggests it's about enabling us to start new wars abroad, claiming during a March 5 appearance on *Fox & Friends* that “this incursion wouldn't even have been possible if Joe Biden was president, because we didn't have the energy capacity to do it.”
“Thanks to drill, baby, drill, and Trump's America energy independence plan, … we produce more oil and gas than any other country in the world today,” he continued. “Thank you, Donald Trump, for making that possible. It’s really made it much — we're much less reliant on the Middle East than we used to be.”
And Fox anchor Shannon Bream tried to quickly move past the connection between rising global oil prices and Trump’s domestic energy policies during a March 1 interview with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), calling it “a whole ‘nother conversation.”
Kaine rebutted that it “does connect — the president wants energy independence, so he says, while he is terminating offshore wind projects and alternative energy all over the United States. If you want U.S. energy, why are you doing that?”
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From the March 1, 2026, edition of Fox News Sunday
- Kaine raised a key point that often takes a back seat to calls for more drilling during moments of oil volatility: the role of domestic clean energy in reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. As U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres noted last week, “homegrown renewable energy has never been cheaper, more accessible, or more scalable,” offering countries a way to protect themselves from the “shock waves” conflicts can create in a “global energy system largely tied to fossil fuels.”
- ## In 2020, Fox claimed that US energy independence under Trump “makes us far less vulnerable” to retaliation from Iran. The country’s leader just said the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed as oil prices continue to climb.
- In 2020, after the U.S. assassinated Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani under the first Trump administration, right-wing media not only claimed that our supposed energy independence made the action possible, but also that it had made the U.S. “far less vulnerable” to any retaliatory action by Iran, such as cutting off the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the country’s newest supreme leader has promised the strait will remain closed, and while Trump has announced some actions to address oil market disruption, like releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, experts have warned that “higher prices will likely persist until traffic through the Strait of Hormuz returns.”
In a January 4, 2020, op-ed for Fox News, Daniel Turner with the pro-industry think tank Power the Future argued that the “US can withstand Iranian attack on global oil supplies, thanks to Trump energy policies.” He wrote: “Fortunately, President Trump has aggressively pursued deregulation and other needed policies that have led to big increases in U.S. production of oil and natural gas. This makes us far less vulnerable to Iranian threats to block the Straits of Hormuz."
Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis said on the January 3, 2020, edition ofFox News’ *Outnumbered* that Trump’s oil deregulation efforts were a “national security strategy.”
“Yes, the Strait of Hormuz, about 25% of the world's oil comes through there, so we'll be watching that closely,” she said. “But the U.S. just hit 12.6 million barrels a day in production. ... So when I look at the Trump administration rolling back regulation, what they’ve done with the oil strategy, I really look at it as a national security strategy.”
Fox Business host Stuart Varney even claimed on the January 3, 2020, episode of Fox & Friends that because of Trump’s energy independence policies, “if you took out Iranian oil installations, I don't think it would have that big an impact on us in America.”
Now, Trump is threatening to target the centerpiece of Iran’s oil production facilities on Kharg island — a major escalation that analysts warn risks “accelerating a structural shift in how energy supply chains are priced.”
“War-risk insurance premiums will likely remain elevated long after the last missile is fired,” wrote Jeff Currie of Carlyle Analysis. “And the behavioral response — hoarding, contract renegotiations, the scramble for alternative suppliers — permanently reprices the supply chain.”
The reality is that the U.S. cannot drill its way to “energy independence.” Becoming truly energy independent means weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels and adopting clean, renewable energy sources. That was true in 2020 and 2022, and it's even more important now.
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MMA
02/26/26
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MMA
Dire Strait: Trump’s Fox Cabinet ignored Hormuz in the month before the U.S. attacked Iran
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 03/13/26
It’s little wonder that President Donald Trump didn't seem to worry about the Strait of Hormuz in planning his war of choice against Iran: His Fox News advisers utterly ignored the possibility that Iran could respond by closing that critical shipping lane as they urged the president to launch the attack last month.
Roughly 20% of global crude oil and liquified natural gas, along with a “dominant” share of global fertilizers, reach world markets by flowing from the Persian Gulf through the narrow strait between Iran and Oman and into the Indian Ocean. A few days after U.S. and Israeli forces launched their campaign, Iran said it would attack any ship attempting the passage, effectively grinding shipping to a halt and triggering a spike in global energy prices. This week, Iranian forces have struck oil tankers and reportedly began mining the strait.
While closing the strait in response to hostilities is a well-known aspect of Iranian strategic doctrine, the Trump administration apparently did not plan for it in the lead-up to the February 28 attacks.
“The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter,” CNN reported Friday.
The report continued:
President Donald Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration, the sources said.
While key officials from the Departments of Energy and Treasury were present for some of the official planning meetings about the operation before it started, sources said, the agency analysis and forecasts that would be integral elements of the decision-making process in past administrations were secondary considerations.
...
The reality in the strait has left diplomatic counterparts, former US economic and energy officials and industry executives who spoke with CNN in a state of confusion and disbelief.
“Planning around preventing this exact scenario — impossible as it has long seemed — has been a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades,” a former US official who served in Republican and Democratic administrations said. “I’m dumbfounded.”
The president’s official advisers weren’t the only ones who missed this. The Fox pundits Trump regularly watches on his television provide an alternate source of information and counsel which often shapes his worldview, including with regard to the Iran war. But Trump’s Fox News Cabinet, in the weeks leading up to the attack they urged him to launch, largely did not clue the president in to the risks posed by Iran closing the straits in response.
Sean Hannity, the Fox star and Trump confidante whose program the president reportedly cited in conversations about the prospective war, referenced the “all-important Straits of Hormuz” during a discussion of rising tensions in the region on his February 3 show. But Hannity did not detail why the passage is important, and he subsequently threatened Iran’s leaders not to mess with Trump.
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From the February 3, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Tensions are once again rising just off the coast of Iran where American — an American F-35 fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. Meanwhile, in the all-important Straits of Hormuz, six Iranian gunboats tried, but they failed, to intercept a U.S.-flagged oil tanker before a U.S. Navy vessel arrived on the scene.
Mark my words, the ayatollahs, the mullahs, they’re now playing a very dangerous game, one that they’re not going to win. President Trump, he does want peace, but he’s also a man of his word. He did promise he would take out their nuclear program if they didn’t negotiate, and he did. After vowing to do so, it happened. A hostile Iran will not be met with Obama and Biden-like appeasement.
That was nonetheless the most detailed treatment of the strait on Hannity’s program in February, according to a review of the Nexis database. Hannity did not mention the strait again that month, and while a handful of correspondent reports that aired on the show in February did so in passing, none of those detailed the possibility that Iran could close it.
And Hannity’s coverage of the strait, while glaringly insufficient, nonetheless stands out compared to other Fox propagandists favored by the president. The strait was not mentioned on the February editions of Fox’s Life, Liberty & Levin — the weekend show hosted by Mark Levin, an influential (and abrasive) voice in the president’s Middle East decision-making — or the programs of Hannity's evening weekday colleagues, Laura Ingraham and Jesse Watters, according to a review of the Nexis database.
Fox & Friends, the weekday morning show beloved by Trump that is co-hosted by Iran hawk Brian Kilmeade, also produced scant coverage of the strait. The passage was mentioned only a handful of times on the program in February, all glancing mentions — except for a single segment, nearly a month before the attack, in which a retired U.S. admiral pooh-poohed the risks posed by Iran attempting to close the strait.
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From the February 6, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Kilmeade, on that February 6 broadcast, read a comment from an Iranian official stating that “the Strait of Hormuz will be the place of a massacre” and said the official had “warned that if we do attack, they’re going to block that.”
“Well, look, Iran has been very good on rhetoric,” Kilmeade’s guest, retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, replied. “They are always talking. The capabilities are not the same as their rhetoric.”
“Sure, they can challenge the Straits of Hormuz, they can strike that, they can put mines, but we have the capability to counter that and so I think they are pretty weak at this point,” he continued. “I think that’s what everyone needs to keep in mind: Iran is at the weakest position they have ever been. They have been neutered in terms of the ability – ”
“Admiral, I agree with you,” Kilmeade replied, moving on.
Whoops.
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In Iran, the most consequential test of the Fox-Trump feedback loop yet
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 03/02/26
President Donald Trump, across both of his terms, has regularly shaped federal policy in response to the propaganda he hears from his sycophants at Fox News. But his decision over the weekend to launch a war of choice against Iran without a clear goal may prove to be the most consequential example of this feedback loop to date.
Trump is deeply immersed in the Fox universe. He famously consumes the network’s content; highlights particular segments that strike his fancy on social media; hires its employees to run his administration; consults its personalities for advice on domestic and foreign policy; and doles out contracts and pardons alike based on what he sees on its airwaves.
And for decades, the Fox stars Trump trusts most have consistently called for military strikes and regime change in Iran.
That campaign took on new urgency when Trump returned to the White House.
Last June, Fox personalities — particularly Trump loyalists Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Brian Kilmeade — used their programs to urge Trump to follow up on Israeli attacks on Iran by launching strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. They warned that Iran is, as Kilmeade put it, “our enemy,” that it posed an imminent threat to American citizens and that, in Levin’s words, “force” is the “only thing to stop” Iran.
Other MAGA media figures from non-Fox outlets opposed U.S. involvement in the conflict. But the overwhelmingly pro-war Fox coverage — and a White House meeting Levin had with the president — were apparently dispositive.
And after Trump ordered the U.S. military to attack three Iranian nuclear sites, Fox’s war hawks rewarded the president by showering him with praise for what Hannity said would “go down in history as one of the greatest military victories.”
The same pattern appears to be playing out eight months later, albeit on a much larger scale.
A Fox-fueled push for war with Iran
Over the past weeks, as U.S. military forces converged in the Middle East, the same Fox figures again urged Trump to attack. Notably, their argument was noticeably light on defining a goal for U.S. military operations after the bombs began to fall.
Instead, they argued that because Iran could, at some point in the future, pose a threat, Trump should act now while he is empowered to do so — and that the result would be an easy U.S. victory. “I cannot think of any reason not to take this regime out,” Levin argued. The U.S. would “lose credibility forever” without a strike, Kilmeade claimed. For Hannity, “The world is going to be better and safer.”
While some on the network seemed to shy away from the topic, criticism of potential strikes largely took place elsewhere in the MAGA media — outside of the Fox programming the president himself watches.
On Friday, hours before the attack began, the trio made their final pitch.
“I hope the president chooses to go at it,” Kilmeade said Friday morning. “We have been looking at these headlines for 47 years, and we have an opportunity to end it. And this president likes to make history.”
“This president knows right from wrong,” Levin told Hannity that night. “He knows good from evil. He knows that this regime is a death cult. And he knows that there's only really two countries that are prepared and willing to put an end to this.”
“We don't need to put up with their crap,” he concluded, as Hannity nodded along. “It's time to put it to an end.”
They got what they wanted: The U.S. and Israeli militaries began attacking Iranian targets that night. Since then, hundreds of Iranians have reportedly been killed, including Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Pentagon has reported the first U.S. casualties in the conflict. There is no end currently in sight — the Iranian government remains defiant, while the U.S. is sending more troops to the region.
The propaganda war has an aim. The real one doesn’t.
Trump, meanwhile, has had trouble articulating what he’s trying to accomplish.
He first suggested his aim was regime change when he urged the Iranian people to “take over” the government in his first public statement after the attack, but in interviews since then, he just seems to be riffing. He told The Washington Post he is seeking “freedom for the people” of Iran, but he bemoaned to ABC News that regime figures he expected to take over the country had also been killed in the initial strikes. Trump also stressed to The New York Times that his model was the U.S. attack on Venezuela, where the dictatorial regime remained in place after U.S. forces seized its leader. But he also suggested that the Iranian military could turn over its arms to its public. “They would really surrender to the people, if you think about it,” he explained.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox & Friends host, added to the incoherence of the administration’s message when he said at a Monday morning press conference, “This is not a so-called 'regime change war,' but the regime sure did change.” But the Iranian regime currently remains in place, and according to at least some of his statements, Trump may prefer it that way.
Perhaps the reason there doesn’t seem to be a clear goal for the U.S. bombing of Iran is because the goal, as laid out by Trump’s Fox propagandists, was for the U.S. to bomb Iran. That is the aim the likes of Kilmeade, Hannity, and Levin had in mind, and now that they’ve goaded Trump into following through, they are cheering him on.
“Donald Trump did what nobody else could do for half a century,” Levin marveled on Saturday. “How do you like that? And you know why he did it? Because he loves his country.”
So what happens next in Iran? That’s beyond the remit of Trump’s Fox Cabinet. Instead, they are gearing up for a propaganda war in which they declare Trump a world-historic victor and paint his critics as terrorists and traitors. For them, the details of what happens to the Iranians is for someone else to handle.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like anyone within the official Trump administration has answers either.
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March 2, 2026, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom
JENNIFER GRIFFIN (CORRESPONDENT): I was in the Pentagon briefing this morning, but we were not called on for a question. We had assigned seats and Fox News was put in the back row. And there was no outside-cuts camera allowed to show who was asking the questions. The Pentagon wanted to control all of that.
These are the questions I would have asked if called on: Why was this an imminent threat? Oman's foreign minister said there was progress in nuclear talks. Was there any evidence that Iran was planning a preemptive strike? U.S. officials now say that was not the case. Do you know where the highly enriched uranium is? That is the question Sec. Hegseth did not want to answer last summer after claiming Iran's nuclear program had been obliterated in Operation Midnight Hammer. The secretary said this war is not about regime change, even though the president called on the Iranians to rise up and remove the regime.
My follow-up would have been how are unarmed Iranian civilians expected to overthrow Iran's security forces? And is this success if the same regime stays in place after this war ends? One question that was shouted at the end and left unanswered: How do you keep this from becoming an insurgency?
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GRIFFIN: Sec. Hegseth would not rule out having U.S. troops on the ground in Iran but said it would not be 200,000 troops like in Iraq. The secretary said the four U.S. troops killed yesterday took a direct hit to the tactical operations center they were manning and took offense when reporters asked him to articulate why the American people are sending their men and women to war and if he is concerned about it spiraling into a longer war.
The Reliable Sources newsletter had more information about the Pentagon press briefing, with CNN's Brian Stelter writing, “Hegseth only answered questions from his chosen outlets. I'm told he had a pre-selected list of questioners, and all the reporters were in assigned seats, so he knew who to call on”:
The Pentagon has severely restricted access to information in the past year. You'll recall that Pete Hegseth credentialed a MAGA media “press corps” last fall after traditional news outlets rejected new press pass rules that media lawyers said criminalized routine reporting. The MAGA crew does relatively little reporting, so most coverage of the US military is now happening from outside the Pentagon's five walls.
Journalists from traditional outlets were allowed to attend this morning's press conference with Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine. But Hegseth only answered questions from his chosen outlets. I'm told he had a pre-selected list of questioners, and all the reporters were in assigned seats, so he knew who to call on.
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Right-wing media figures are getting briefed on the Iran war before Congress
Benny Johnson and Brian Kilmeade appear to have more information than just about any elected representative
Written by John Knefel
Research contributions from Sophie Lawton
Published 03/02/26
A defining feature of President Donald Trump’s second term is its symbiotic relationship with media allies, both at traditional right-wing outlets like Fox News and among the newer cohort of MAGA podcasters and online influencers — in some cases, these figures know more about Trump’s upcoming policy decisions than members of Congress. That dynamic was fully on display in the lead-up to the unprovoked bombing campaign the United States and Israel launched against Iran on February 28.
Prior to Trump’s initiation of the war, MAGA streamer Benny Johnson and Newsmax host Greg Kelly appeared to have insider information about when the first round of strikes would occur. Beyond them, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade and contributor Jack Keane claimed to have been involved in high-level briefings on the campaign.
Johnson, who was fired by Buzzfeed for plagiarism in 2014 and later disciplined by the Independent Journal Review for publishing false information, appears to have had unusually close access to officials in the Trump administration responsible for the decision to go to war.
On February 21, Johnson told his audience, “We are going to war with Iran. … I've been asking — I think that the cake's been baked.” It was unclear at the time whether he had inside information or was speculating, as he later added, referring to the publicly reported military build up, “the maps don't lie, OK? It’s happening.”
Johnson returned to the subject on February 27, just hours before the U.S.-Israeli campaign began. He began his show saying he’d just been “on the phone with top-level — let’s just say very high-level administration officials — moments ago to discuss what the plan is” for attacking Iran. Later in the same episode, Johnson claimed that he’d been talking with someone who is at the “top, top level of the administration, and we were yelling at each other — not yelling, but having polite conversation — about, like, what’s about to pop off in the Mid East.”
Ultimately, Johnson told his audience, “This is not a drill. It is actually happening,” adding: “I think in the next 24 hours we are going to see the world change. It may be the next 24 minutes, we're not exactly certain."
Newsmax host Kelly was even more precise. “A very well-informed person told me” the attack on Iran will happen Friday “after Wall Street closes,” Kelly said February 26.
By contrast, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who sits on both the Senate committees on intelligence and on foreign relations, told reporters on February 28 that he was “learning like you are as the news unfolds exactly what's happening." The Trump administration reportedly briefed some congressional staff the following day, with a full briefing to Congress scheduled for March 3.
Johnson and Kelly weren’t the only right-wing media figures enjoying extraordinary access to high-level information. Over at Fox, Kilmeade — a weekday Fox & Friends host who came in to cover a weekend shift — said on March 1 that he “was fortunate enough to be in a briefing with high-ranking Trump officials” a day earlier.
The same morning, Keane offered more granular detail, implying a high degree of insider information. “The [Persian] Gulf states are adequately defending themselves,” said Keane, a retired general and former Army vice chief of staff. “Three of them are preparing for combat, offensive operations. One has already started and two others are about to get going. I'm not going to talk about who they are, but that is being coordinated with Adm. Cooper and Central Command. These will be coordinated, selected targets, and they will contribute to the offensive nature of what’s taken place."
Keane’s comments on Fox the next day suggested he’d been provided with high-level briefings that everything is going smoothly. “The military has got a plan here that I have been privy to understand and it is very comprehensive,” Keane said. “And we're going to stick with that plan until the conditions of these military objectives are met. So far, the plan is exceeding all expectations."
The access to White House war plans that Johnson, Kelly, Kilmeade, and Keane appear to have is even more noteworthy given that the Pentagon tightly controlled its first press briefing of the war on March 2 — having already largely replaced the traditional Pentagon press corps with a series of lackeys, grifters, conspiracists, and cranks. According to CNN’s Brian Stelter, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth — formerly of Fox News — “only answered questions from his chosen outlets” and had a “pre-selected list of questioners.” Those approved outlets didn’t include Hegseth’s former employer, whose correspondent was relegated to the back row and not called on for a question.
All administrations leak and try to manage public opinion through press operations. But the alignment of messaging and interests between the Trump White House and its media allies is unlike anything the United States has seen in recent memory. Sometimes that looks like providing right-wing influencers with embeds alongside Trump’s deportation agents; other times it looks like inviting MAGA media trolls to the White House to discuss antifa. Now, it looks like some of the most slavish voices in right-wing media are getting better information more quickly than members of Congress as the United States and Israel unleash yet more destruction in the Middle East.
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Fox & Friends really does not want viewers to understand that Trump’s tariffs are taxes paid by Americans
Donald Trump illegally raised your taxes. Fox would rather not talk about it.
Written by Craig Harrington
Published 02/25/26
For the second time in a week, a Fox News personality went to bat to protect President Donald Trump from the fallout of the Supreme Court overturning his unpopular tariff policies, falsely reassuring viewers that they are not paying for Trump’s import tax scheme.
During two February 25 segments of Fox & Friends, co-host Lawrence Jones responded to criticism of Trump’s tariff policies by repeatedly (and falsely) telling viewers that the president’s critics were lying when saying his tariffs had cost American families money over the past year. His comments followed a segment last week wherein Fox host Harris Faulkner had wondered aloud whether foreign countries would seek refunds for tariffs they paid to the U.S. — before she was informed that tariffs are taxes paid by American consumers, not foreign exporters.
During today’s Fox & Friends segment, the hosts aired a portion of newly inaugurated Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s
to Trump’s State of the Union speech where she said that “everyday Americans are paying the price” of Trump’s tariffs and described his latest tariff proposal “another massive tax hike on you and your family.” Jones scolded Spanberger: “Just to be clear, what she said is 100% false,” claiming that “there has been zero inflation based on the tariffs” and that “you cannot say that it caused inflation on the American people.”
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From the February 25, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Later, Jones returned to the topic during a segment with pollsters Kellyanne Conway and Mark Penn, discussing a portion of Spanberger’s rebuttal when the governor noted that Trump’s “reckless trade policies have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs.” Jones responded that Spanberger's statement was “not true” and again added that tariffs had not been inflationary. Conway was even more direct, simply claiming, “Those are lies.”
Jones wrapped up his performative outrage by acting aghast that Spanberger would claim tariffs cost American families money. “To say it was inflationary, that it's costing you more money, the data doesn't support that, yet she told the people that,” he said.
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From the February 25, 2026, edition of Fox NewsFox & Friends
Americans are absolutely paying the cost of Trump’s tariffs.
As economists and experts have repeatedly explained, foreign countries do not pay tariffs. Tariffs are import taxes paid by American consumers.
Trump massively increased tariff receipts compared to 2024, raising a record-breaking amount of tariff revenue in his first year in office. The money had to come from somewhere.
And last November, The Budget Lab at Yale estimated that Trump's tariff policies had at that point cost the average American family roughly $1,700. An analysis by the Joint Economic Committee's minority staff released just last week estimated that “American consumers overall paid more than $231 billion in tariff costs between February 2025 and January 2026, an average of roughly $1,745 per family.”
Far from misleading viewers with her speech, Spanberger actually did Trump a favor by rounding the cost of his tariffs down.
And this isn’t just a question about whether or not tariffs are generally inflationary (they are) or whether Trump’s tariffs have shown up in consumer prices (they have). This is about real costs that have been passed along to actual Americans as a result of Donald Trump illegally raising their taxes.
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02/20/26 4:46 PM EST
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The North Koreans do a more nuanced show than Sean Hannity’s take on Trump’s State of the Union
The Fox host raved about Trump’s “iconic,” “uplifting,” “patriotic,” “glowing,” “powerful,” “very unique” speech
Written by Matt Gertz
Published 02/25/26
The Wall Street Journal published a report from Korea Bureau Chief Timothy W. Martin early Wednesday morning detailing how the “unbridled flattery” North Korean state media provides Kim Jong Un “underscores the dictator’s need to establish cult-of-personality supremacy as a smokescreen for his nation’s woes.”
That also happens to serve as a handy description of the role performed by the Journal’s corporate cousins at Fox News, the propaganda outlet whose servile treatment of President Donald Trump helps the deeply and increasingly unpopular American leader rally his core supporters.
Martin wrote that Kim had received “lavish praise in the regime’s largest newspaper” for a meaningless accomplishment, citing an editorial which called the dictator “the greatest person in the world,” praised his “unimaginable achievements,” and stated, “Our future is infinitely bright and promising!”
Such language, while overwrought, frankly pales in comparison to the unabashed sycophancy Fox star and Trumpist operative Sean Hannity provided in response to Trump’s State of the Union on Tuesday. His coverage was with that of his fellow Fox propagandists, but serves as an instructive window into how the network works to “establish cult-of-personality supremacy,” as Martin put it in the North Korean context.
Hannity launched his post-speech show by declaring that “moments ago, President Trump wrapped up yet another iconic, uplifting, patriotic State of the Union,” and devoted the rest of his broadcast to lavishing the president with praise and hosting others to do the same.
In a monologue interspersed with lengthy clips from the president’s speech, the Fox host said Trump had “championed our country and the achievements of you, the American people.”
“Now clearly tonight was not about the Democratic Party, in fact it wasn’t about either party,” Hannity claimed of a speech in which Trump called Democrats “sick” and “crazy” and accused them of “destroying our country.”
“Instead,” the host continued, “President Trump delivered a glowing speech highlighting the triumphs, the struggles, the bravery of so many American people.”
Hannity concluded his monologue by declaring, “Now, under President Trump’s leadership, America's full potential is on lock, and the state of our union, thankfully, is strong.”
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From the Feburary 24, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity
The Fox host kept laying it on thick during a series of interviews with Republican leaders, who likewise showered the president with accolades.
“Let's go to some observations,” he told House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). “The president said the nation is back, bigger, stronger than ever before, golden age of America, that he inherited a nation in crisis, a turnaround for the ages, talked about the border, talked about inflation, talked about interest rates, talked about gas prices, talk about mortgage rates, talked about safety and security around the globe.”
“This was not your typical laundry list that you often get at a State of the Union. This was deep, impactful, profound success stories and he took the time to tell all of them in a very different manner,” he continued. “I thought it was very unique tonight.”
Johnson replied, “I thought it was unique. I think it was the best State of the Union speech I’ve seen.”
“What made tonight so powerful is he did everything he said he was going to do and then some,” Hannity later marveled to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). “A lot of politicians use words, he’s actions.”
Like Johnson, Jordan told Hannity that Trump’s “amazing” State of the Union had been “by far the best one” he’d seen.
Hannity closed out his coverage with more fawning over the president’s address from a panel of former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway (“one of Trump's best speeches”), Fox host Trey Gowdy (“it was almost like our 250th birthday party started tonight”), and former Trump White House chief of staff Reince Priebus (“one of the greatest, most triumphant speeches ever given by a president").
Hannity has taken over the role played in Trump’s first term by then-Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who told viewers that Trump’s White House featured “sunlight beaming throughout the place, and on almost every face” and at one point signed off, “Have a great weekend. The president makes such a thing possible for us all.”
As Fox News President Jay Wallace said of Dobbs at the time, “The North Koreans do a more nuanced show.”
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an 2 26 Fox News just distorted CNN's documentary on Christian nationalism - Alternet.org
Fox News just distorted CNN's documentary on Christian nationalism
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not incl tariff scotus bs so far
mma
Watch how Fox covered today’s weak GDP report
02/20/26
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Right-wing influencers pushed the Trump admin to ignore judges. New reporting shows that's what's happening — especially in immigration cases.
Since the beginning of Trump’s second administration, right-wing media have encouraged an “all-out war” on judges and dismissed the “so-called rights of illegals”
Written by Gideon Taaffe & Jack Winstanley
Published 02/18/26
Recent reporting shows how the Trump administration — particularly the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — “has slow-walked or outright defied” numerous court orders as it continues its nationwide crackdown against immigrants.
Politico highlighted several instances of judges speaking against the Trump administration over its defiance of judges and efforts to undermine due process for immigrants. The New York Times reported in January that ICE has violated nearly 100 court orders, and last summer, The Washington Post examined over a hundred cases on various matters and found “the administration is accused of defying or frustrating court oversight in 57.”
Meanwhile, since the beginning of Trump’s second administration, right-wing media figures have repeatedly encouraged a hostile approach to the courts, attacking judges who challenge Trump’s actions, calling for judges to be impeached, and encouraging the administration to deny noncitizens their due process rights.
- ## Recent reporting shows the Trump administration’s continued defiance of judges and efforts to undermine due process
- Politico reported that ICE officials have “slow-walked or outright defied judges’ orders,” including some demanding the release of people detained by the agency, and The New York Times reported that one judge says ICE has violated nearly 100 court orders.One Minnesota judge said that ICE’s delay in releasing people from custody is a “constitutional injury,” adding, “The individuals affected are people. The overwhelming majority of the hundreds seen by this Court have been found to be lawfully present as of now in the country. They live in their communities. Some are separated from their families.” Politico had previously reported the allegation that ICE officials “simply don’t respond” to Department of Justice requests to cooperate with investigations and ongoing legal proceedings. Politico, [2/10/26, 2/4/26; The New York Times, 1/28/26]
- ICE also undermines due process for detainees by shuffling them around the country to make it difficult for them to sue the government for their release, according to Politico. Detainees generally need to sue from the district where they are held in order to be released, but as Politico notes, “that gets complicated when ICE rushes detainees out of state and bounces them around the country while they’re attempting to hire lawyers or decide where to file lawsuits.” The Vera Institute has reported that the Trump administration also undermined due process by detaining people as they appear for their legal obligations while attending court hearings and check-ins with ICE. Politico, [2/10/26; The Vera Institute, 1/20/26]
- Politico reported that judges have called the administration’s actions a “pattern of obfuscation” and an effort “to frustrate judicial review” and identified at least 347 judges “who have rejected the administration’s detention policy.”One judge rebuked the administration’s movement of a detainee, saying, “There is something particularly craven about transferring a nursing refugee mother out-of-state.” Politico, [2/10/26, 1/26/26]
- The Washington Post reported on the Trump administration defying judges on topics outside of immigration too, examining 165 lawsuits and finding “the administration is accused of defying or frustrating court oversight in 57 of those cases — almost 35 percent.” The Post identified cases where the Trump administration defied judges by continuing to lay off federal employees, refusing to unfreeze appropriated funds, and targeting transgender people in the military. The Washington Post, [7/21/25]
- ## Right-wing media figures have continually called for the Trump administration to defy “activist judges” and ignore “lawless and dangerous” court orders
- The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh declared that there “needs to be an all-out war at this point against activist judges” opposing Trump’s actions. Walsh additionally argued that “unelected judges” were “trying to override, not just the president, but the will of the people.” The Daily Wire, *The Matt Walsh Show*, [3/19/25]
- SiriusXM radio host Megyn Kelly claimed that “the Trump administration is not going to have a choice” but to ignore the courts. She added: “They're trying to create a constitutional crisis is, I guess, the point I'm making.” SiriusXM, *The Megyn Kelly Show*, [2/13/25]
- Right-wing commentator Dan Bongino, who served as co-deputy director of the FBI under Trump, argued that the Trump administration “should ignore” federal district Judge John McConnell’s court order to restore frozen federal funds.Bongino, who mistakenly said McConnell is from New York rather than Rhode Island, said, “This judge is clearly making up powers he does not have,” adding, “He does not have power to demand the president spend money.” McConnell had issued a permanent injunction barring Trump from dismantling several federal agencies and gutting staff from others and had blocked a separate move by the administration to peg funds for road and highway maintenance to state compliance with immigration demands. Rumble, *The Dan Bongino Show*, [2/11/25; Rhode Island Current, 11/24/25; Politico, 11/4/25]
- On CNN, conservative contributor Scott Jennings suggested the president may need to “defy” judges who order his administration to comply with the law. He asked: “Should the president, the singular president, should he have to share the presidency with 300 district court judges? No. Absolutely not.” CNN, *NewsNight with Abby Phillip*, [2/10/25]
- Right-wing influencer account “Amuse” wrote of McConnell’s ruling, “The Trump Administration should treat this for what it is—an unconstitutional usurpation—and consider defying it outright.” Media Matters, [2/13/25]
- Fox News host Mark Levin cited controversial federal court rulings from the past — includingPlessy v. Fergusonand the Dred Scott decision — to argue for the administration to defy court orders. Levin justified rejecting court decisions, saying, “Some of the worst human rights violations and crises occurred in this country as a result of our courts.” Fox News, *Life, Liberty, & Levin*, [2/15/25]
- Article III Project President Mike Davis argued onThe Charlie Kirk Showthat if “activist judges” keep pushing back on Trump’s actions then “the president is just going to ignore these lawless and dangerous orders.”He continued, “When they overstep, the commander-in-chief has a constitutional duty to ignore clearly lawless orders.” Real America’s Voice, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [4/15/25]
- OnThe Benny Show, Davis said he hoped “President Trump said ‘F you’ to Judge Boasberg” and said Boasberg was trying to order “the most dangerous thing imaginable.” YouTube, *The Benny Show*, [3/17/25; NPR, 3/25/25]
- ## Some right-wing media figures have criticized the judiciary’s oversight and called for judges to be impeached
- Fox News legal editor Kerri Kupec Urbahn argued that “the conversation really should start shifting to the constitutionality of the judiciary.” She added that the judiciary is “blocking a co-equal branch’s function.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [2/11/25]
- Newsmax host Rob Schmitt called for federal judges to be impeached: “You can’t have people like this on the bench.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [2/12/25]
- Right-wing commentator Steve Bannon called on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to impeach a federal judge, saying, “You put one through the process, they’re all going to be sheep.” He advised Johnson, “Just don't back off. All gas, no brake.” Real America’s Voice,*War Room*, [3/24/25]
- Then-Fox News host and current U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro called Boasberg “stupid” and questioned his authority to rule on deportation flights because he is “a local judge.”Pirro stated, “A local judge — make no mistake, this is a local judge, folks, who is a trial judge, he’s not even an appellate judge — thinks he can stop international diplomacy for national security issues that involve the American people because he’s a local federal judge. He’s stupid.” Fox News, *The Five*, [3/17/25]
- Urbahn said Boasberg has no oversight “over matters pertaining to immigration” because he’s not president.Urbahn stated, “Really, what’s his oversight at all? Because last time I checked, this judge was not elected president of the United States and therefore doesn’t have authority over matters pertaining to immigration, national security, and foreign policy.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [3/18/25]
- The Gateway Pundit posted instructions on how to advocate for impeachment of “crazed leftists” like Boasberg. It described the judge as “a very, very dangerous and lawless lunatic” and “America-hating.” Media Matters, [3/18/25]
- ## Right-wing media figures have also suggested that due process shouldn’t apply to noncitizens, with some calling for a suspension of habeas corpus
- Newsmax host Rob Schmitt claimed undocumented immigrants and Democrats “have exploited the good nature of this country” and that “due process … allows illegals to break into the country, rape and kill an American, and then be given a free attorney to defend themselves.”Schmitt continued, “Those are vulnerabilities that are now being exploited every day in this country.” Newsmax, *Rob Schmitt Tonight*, [3/17/25]
- On the right-wing social media platform GETTR, Steve Bannon posted: “Alien Criminal Invaders DON’T Get ‘Due Process’—They Get the Boot.” GETTR, [3/17/25]
- OnFox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade questioned whether migrants have the right to due process, saying, “Really? They deserve due process? We have to give all these guys due process?” Later, co-host Lawrence Jones mocked questions about the process, saying, “So we’re going to do vetting when we deport, but we’re not going to do any vetting when they come across the border?” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [3/21/25, 3/21/25]
- Kilmeade also claimed, “It’s not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people.”Shortly after, he continued: “We cannot give every illegal immigrant due process, because we’ve got 22 million minimum, 8 million that came over the last four years.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [3/24/25, 3/24/25]
- Jones said we should “revisit” due process for alleged undocumented migrants. Jones: “The president is saying under the act that you don’t have to show, you don’t have to do this due process. So you have a constitutional right that is actually — they are afforded to illegals in this country. We should revisit that. But then you have a competing act that is saying, hey, if someone is a part of a foreign terrorist organization that you don’t have to give them due process and they can be deported.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [3/24/25]
- Right-wing podcaster and Trump ally Laura Loomer asked, “Who on earth thought that illegal aliens should be entitled to legal representation and rights? These people are not entitled to due process in our country.”Loomer continued, “I don’t even give a shit about all these illegal alien kids.” Rumble, *Loomer Unleashed*, [4/30/25]
- YouTuber Zack Hoyt said, “I don’t really think that illegals deserve due process, by the way. I don’t think the Constitution applies to illegals.” Hoyt, who goes by Asmongold, acknowledged that the government could “get it wrong” when detaining immigrants but said: “There’s people in jail for murder that didn’t commit murder. … Does that mean we shouldn’t put people in jail for murder? … It just doesn’t make any sense.” Asmongold, Asmongold TV, [6/9/25]
- Fox host Sean Hannity asked, “Why do people have this belief system that you enter the country illegally and then you, quote, ‘automatically have constitutional rights’? You do not, in my view.”Hannity also said, “Why do so many federal judges believe that the safety and security of all of you comes second to the so-called due process rights of illegal immigrants that broke into this country illegally, broke the law, committed serious crimes?” Hannity has repeatedly referred to the “so-called rights of illegals.” Fox News, *Hannity*, [5/21/25, 7/14/25, 7/15/25, 7/22/25; Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 7/1/25, 7/24/25]
- :{:{Jeanine Pirro said, “The only due process I believe in is a legal way to enter this country.”}:Pirro said of Trump’s deportation of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to a megaprison in El Salvador: “They are illegal. They are committing crimes, OK? We do not have to have them convicted of a crime to remove them.” Pirro later said the Fifth Amendment, which confers the right to due process, “says nothing about illegals” and “the Supreme Court never said in Abrego Garcia case that due process is required for illegals.” Fox News, *The Five*,[3/17/25,3/17/25,5/5/25]
- Newsmax host Greg Kelly said, “Habeas corpus is great, but I don’t think it applies to an illegal alien.”Newsmax, *Greg Kelly Reports*, [7/8/25]
- Bannon argued that Trump is “going to have to” suspend habeas corpus, “because these courts are going to continue to try to jam him up.” And later Bannon hailed himself and right-wing commentator Rogan O’Handley as “the biggest advocates of just do what Lincoln did: Start suspending the writ of habeas corpus, put them on an aircraft, and get them the hell out of here.” Real America’s Voice, *War Room*, [5/16/25, 5/30/25]
- Rogan O’Handley argued that “we should consider suspending the writ of habeas” so that “we can start to take more drastic actions to deport illegals, especially the cartels, without judicial overview, without the courts getting involved.”Handley, who goes by DC Draino, explained to Bannon, “I would say 10 to 20 million illegal aliens coming into this country counts as an invasion, especially when many of the illegal aliens are coming from hostile adversaries like China, like Ukraine, like … Venezuela, the Tren de Aragua. They’re being sent by these governments.” Real America’s Voice,*War Room*, [4/22/25]
- Fox host Emily Compagno criticized those who have called for due process for the deportees, saying, “I think it’s rich that all of a sudden we have some kind of, you know, voiced protection of due process and questioning of making sure all of the work is shown.”Compagno then questioned, “Where was that when, for example, President Trump was being prosecuted, ridiculously, right here in this very city? Where was that commitment to due process for those peaceful abortion activists and the elderly being put in jail?” Fox News, *Outnumbered*, [3/19/25]
- Right-wing radio host Buck Sexton mocked those questioning whether alleged criminals should be sent to a Salvadoran prison and said, “Democrats are going to the mat to make sure they have maximum due process rights,” but “had no problem with nonviolent J6 Americans rotting away.”According to Sexton, “The same Democrats — and I mean the same individuals in some cases in the media and the Democrat party — who had no problem with nonviolent J6 Americans rotting away in a DC gulag for a year without trial are now really concerned about Tren de Aragua members.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show*, [3/21/25]
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MMA
02/18/26
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MMA
02/18/26
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SHOT FIRED THRU DOOR?
MMA
Right-wing media hyped a supposed “shovel” attack against ICE. Prosecutors just dropped the charges.
After a federal agent shot and killed Renee Good, MAGA pundits seized on the supposed shovel attack to change the narrative
Written by John Knefel
Published 02/13/26
In mid-January, right-wing media figures seized on a story that could serve as a narrative reset after a Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. Amid rising backlash to the Trump administration’s mass deportation operation across Minnesota, MAGA pundits hyped claims from the Department of Homeland Security that Venezuelan immigrants had attacked federal agents with a shovel and broomstick. Federal agents shot in response, the story went, wounding one of the men accused in the attack.
Since then, those claims have totally fallen apart, and on February 12 prosecutors asked the presiding judge to dismiss the case with prejudice. The prosecutor wrote that “newly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations” put forward by the government in official filings and testimony.
Right-wing media coverage of the story was unhinged, and it followed a clear, established pattern of hyping dubious initial government claims that would later turn out to be false.
As news of the incident broke on January 14, Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin called in to Sean Hannity’s show to read a DHS statement he’d been given “literally 45 seconds ago” and to lay the foundation for the coverage to come, a role he often plays in the conservative media ecosystem. ESCALATOR?
“While the subject and law enforcement were in a struggle on the ground, two subjects came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle,” Melugin read. “As the officer was being ambushed and attacked by the two individuals, the original subject got loose and began striking the officer with a shovel or broomstick.”
“Fearing for his life and safety as he was being ambushed by three individuals, the officer fired defensive shots to defend his life,” Melugin continued.
The narrative was set, and the next morning Fox News’ Fox & Friends weighed in on the story.
“You come at these guys and these women with a shovel and if you are being apprehended and try to run away or drive over them, you will be featured in retaliation videos,” said host Brian Kilmeade. “That's what this is about."
Video
Citation
From the January 15, 2026, edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends
Kilmeade’s co-host, Steve Doocy, also bought the government’s line. “You cannot hit a cop with a shovel or a broom. You just can't do that. It is against the law,” Doocy said. “It is terrible when anybody gets shot. But, unfortunately, a lot of people don't realize, if you break the law -- when you're breaking the law, there's going to be repercussions.”
Co-host Ainsley Earhart suggested capital punishment should be on the table. “When we were growing up, if you harmed a police officer, if you killed a police officer, in South Carolina you got the electric chair,” Earhart said. “When we were growing up, you didn't go after police with your car. You listened to what they said.”
Guest Trey Gowdy, who hosts another Fox show, said the supposed attack and the broader resistance to ICE’s presence gave President Donald Trump “all the justification” he needed to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, thereby deploying active military units against civilians.
The tenor of the coverage was similar elsewhere, and sometimes even more irresponsible.
On the podcast of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Kevin Posobiec — brother of MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec — said an immigrant was “shot in the leg because he was trying to kill an ICE agent with a shovel.”
At The Daily Wire, host Matt Walsh claimed that after a foot chase, “the illegal alien began attacking the officers and then two individuals, apparently family members of this person, came out of a nearby apartment and began ambushing the officers with a shovel and a broom handle.”
Walsh called it “another clear-cut, totally justified shooting by law enforcement.”
Walsh’s colleague, Michael Knowles, said, “The poor ICE agents now getting ambushed — they take out shovels, they start beating this guy with a shovel, and, so, luckily, happily, the ICE agent was able to get his gun out and shoot the Venezuelan.”
Although the exact details of what happened in the incident remain unclear, the prosecutor’s own words make it plain that the government's account was false. Less than two weeks after the shooting, two Border Patrol agents would shoot and kill Alex Pretti. Right-wing media tried to justify that shooting as well.
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These Fox News figures claimed to be deeply concerned with presidential corruption. Now they work for Trump.
Written by Matt Gertz
Research contributions from Pete Tsipis, Isabella Corrao, Jane Lee & Helena Hind
Published 02/11/26
“We have a president of the United States who was potentially involved in all of those entanglements with foreign entities,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “which could lead to complications or compromise as the president now.”
Hegeth’s comment serves as a searing indictment of his current boss, President Donald Trump, whose “entanglements with foreign entities" deepen with each new investigative report on his family’s sprawling business interests and attempts to cash in on the presidency.
But of course, Hegseth wasn’t talking about the recent Wall Street Journal investigation revealing an apparent quid pro quo in which a Trump family company received a half-billion dollar investment from an Emirati prince days before the president took office, then the Trump administration funneled AI chips to the prince’s firm. The quote is actually from July 2023, and it shows Hegseth using his prior role as Fox News host to denounce then-President Joe Biden.
It is not an overstatement to say that arguing against foreign money influence on the White House was a defining principle for right-wing media during the Biden years. But their arguments were based in fantasy, and the Trump family’s corruption is both much more straightforward and involves sums of money that are larger by orders of magnitude.
Thanks to Trump’s propensity to hire the people he saw on his television, many of those who loudly complained about the purported corruption of the Biden family — and even called for the criminal prosecution of President Biden — are now working within the Trump administration. Meanwhile, the Fox smear machine that once went into overdrive promoting conspiracy theories about presidential corruption has gone quiet.
The Trump family’s corruption is orders of magnitude worse than the Biden allegations
Fox’s effort to turn Hunter Biden’s foreign business interests into a political liability for his father dates to Trump’s first administration, but became an obsession once Joe Biden took office in 2021. While the network’s narratives were never credible — and some even appeared to be the result of a Russian disinformation campaign — the pressure of its all-consuming coverage and its media power within the GOP eventually goaded congressional Republicans into an ill-fated impeachment effort, at which point the whole edifice collapsed.
But the Fox conspiracy-mongering takes on a new light given that some of the people who pushed it now work for a president who embarked on self-enrichment schemes of staggering scale and eye-popping corruption in his first year back in office.
While feverish claims of a “Biden Crime Family” involved a total of less than $7.5 million paid to Biden family members over the years — and nothing to Joe Biden — Trump had already “used the office of the presidency to make at least $1.4 billion,” the editorial board of The New York Times reported on the anniversary of his second inauguration.
Trump and his adult children oversee a sprawling business empire that has grown dramatically since he launched his reelection campaign and includes international real estate deals through the Trump Organization; his social media company and its parent, “which trades like a meme stock”; immense holdings in cryptocurrency; and an array of consulting and venture capital positions held by his sons that have the aroma of influence peddling. These businesses benefit from Trump’s presidency even as they frequently conflict with U.S. policy (by contrast, the right’s core allegation of Joe Biden aiding his son’s foreign business interests involved him carrying out U.S. policy as vice president).
Reporters and researchers who examine the various Trump tentacles are constantly uncovering new scandals and conflicts of interest. But perhaps the most nakedly corrupt involve the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, which was founded shortly before his 2024 election and has since driven a huge increase in his personal wealth. The Wall Street Journal reported last month:
- Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, an Abu Dhabi prince known as the “spy sheikh” for his leadership of the United Arab Emirates’ intelligence service, secretly agreed to purchase 49% of WLF just days before Trump’s January 2025 inauguration for $500 million, in a “hugely profitable” deal for its founders.
- In May, WLF’s CEO “announced that the sheikh’s investment firm, MGX, would use World Liberty’s stablecoin, USD1, to complete its $2 billion investment in [the crypto exchange] Binance,” a move that “rocketed USD1 up the rankings of largest stablecoins, enhancing its financial credibility.”
- Weeks later, the Trump administration approved sales of “around 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips a year” to the UAE, one-fifth of which would go to Tahnoon’s company. Such sales had been sought by Tahnoon but blocked by the Biden administration out of concern that China might acquire the chips, with Tahnoon’s company “of particular concern” due to its “close ties to the sanctioned tech giant Huawei and other Chinese firms.”
- Trump also pardoned Changpeng Zhao, the convicted founder of Binance, following “months of efforts by Zhao to boost” WLF. (Trump has denied even knowing who Zhao is.)
- Tying it all together, Zhao is an Emirati citizen who is “close” to Tahnoon, Binance is based in the UAE and counts Tahnoon as a major investor, and “people close to the royal family urged the Trump administration to pardon Zhao.”
Fox contributor Andrew McCarthy, while accusing the Bidens of “corruptly profiteering off Joe Biden’s political power and influence,” nonetheless noted that the Trumps’ actions were worse by orders of magnitude.
“You know what the difference is between the Biden family business and the Trump family business?” he asked in a Saturday piece for National Review. “You’d have to add two digits to the sum of Biden abuses of power, foreign entanglements, and corruption alleged in the report to get near what Trump has raked in just from the UAE.”
Fox News’ rants about the “Biden crime family” perfectly describe Trumpian corruption
Hegseth is just one of several top Trump administration officials who participated in Fox’s yearslong campaign to turn conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings into a political corruption scandal for his father.
“The real story here though is all of the nasty work that he [Hunter Biden] has done across the world, how much money he has made, and the fact that he was able to make, what, $80,000 a month from Burisma in Ukraine because his dad was the vice president — it calls into question Joe Biden's motives,” Treasury Secretary Sean Duffy said back in 2022, when he was a Fox Business host. “Is Joe Biden looking out for the American people or is Joe Biden looking out for Hunter Biden's interests?”
As a Fox host, Trump-appointed U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro railed against “the corruption that was going on in the Biden crime family” and Joe Biden’s purported efforts to “enrich his family.” And when she was asked about whether there was any “comparison” between what the Bidens did and Donald Trump’s businesses receiving millions of dollars from China while he was serving as president, Pirro stressed that there was not.
“Donald Trump wasn't involved in the business once he became president,” she explained. “The bottom line is he had properties. He was entitled to have someone else monitor those properties and make money from those properties.”
For then-Fox contributor Leo Terrell, now a top Justice Department official, Joe Biden was “the meal ticket for the family” who “makes the money for the Biden family,” and the lack of DOJ attention to Hunter Biden’s purported crimes indicated “favorable treatment because his father is in the White House.”
And when Pam Bondi was merely a lawyer and lobbyist who frequently appeared on Fox instead of an attorney general who frequently appeared on Fox, she argued that the foreign business dealings of the president’s son were “a matter of national security” that was “so important” that it required the appointment of a special prosecutor to ensure the Justice Department acted properly in the case.
They called for Biden’s prosecution; now they run the DOJ under Trump
Several Fox pundits who joined the Trump administration — including some who now serve in senior Justice Department posts — even argued at the time that Joe Biden’s actions warranted a criminal probe.
Fox host Sean Hannity asked Bondi — then a frequent Fox guest and now Trump’s attorney general — during an August 2023 segment whether anything would “ultimately happen to Joe and Hunter Biden.” Bondi replied that “when we have a new administration, absolutely Sean, it has to,” adding that a criminal investigation “must be opened” and that the Bidens would be “prosecuted” under a future Trump presidency.
Bondi also stressed in 2022 that if Trump had been president under the same circumstances, he would have “right away, recused himself” and had “a special prosecutor take over.”
Duffy argued that the FBI and Justice Department should be investigating the “shady” dealings to determine whether Joe Biden is “corrupt” and has “made money off of this.” But he claimed that “they won't do a forensic audit because they know that the money goes from foreign countries to Hunter Biden into Joe Biden's pocket.”
“There was a major scandal with this administration and it starts of course with Joe Biden and his involvement with Hunter,” Pirro said in 2023. Citing what she claimed was a ream of evidence that “just goes on and on,” she concluded, “You don't need any more than what we have now to convict them.”
And Terrell claimed in 2023 that an aspect of the pseudoscandal was “sinister and criminal,” adding that the “totality of all the evidence” showed that “the walls have fallen on Joe Biden.” He added that prosecutors were ignoring Hunter Biden’s crimes because if “you prosecute Hunter Biden, you prosecute Joe Biden,” and “everyone knows that the Department of Justice, the FBI is in bed with the Democratic Party and they have weaponized the departments.”
When media ignoring presidential corruption was a sign of “propaganda”
In his piece for National Review, McCarthy wrote, “Now that self-dealing has achieved heights so astronomical that $27 million would barely be a rounding error, Republicans have lost interest.” The same is true of his colleagues at Fox, who barely discussed Trump pardoning Zhao and still have yet to provide substantive coverage of the UAE’s “spy sheikh” purchasing a huge stake in the president’s company.
Why might that be? Hannity asked Pirro a similar question about coverage of the Bidens back in 2023. After she claimed that the Bidens were running an “organized criminal enterprise” in which “Joe Biden is the front man, Hunter Biden is the bag man,” he asked her why “the media” wouldn’t follow up on the story.
“Because they are Democrats,” she replied at the time. “We are now living in a country that is changed. These are crimes not just by the Bidens, these are crimes against America. This is what is going on in this country — and the truth is that they don't care anymore.”
Pirro is now the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
Some of her colleagues in the Trump administration offered similar critiques of coverage of the Biden family back when they worked at Fox.
“When will the media ramp up their scrutiny of Joe, of Hunter, of these payments, of these associations, of the whistleblowers, of the 1023s, of the WhatsApp messages, of the bank exchanges?” Hegseth asked in 2023. “We only know of this because of the House Republicans for a year and a half. What if the media actually examined it, too?”
The Bidens, Hegseth told Hannity, “are counting on a complicit press, which we’ve almost seen universal besides your show and this channel and a few others willing to dig into all the smoke that’s there.”
That purported lack of coverage, Duffy claimed, ensures that “people don’t look to mainstream media as a news source — they’re a propaganda source.”
MMA //
02/03/26 11:00 AM EST
09/16/25 12:15 PM EDT
01/04/24
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