Macdonald Eliz Evening Edit
mma
Fox falsely linked Harris and Walz to socialism or communism over 460 times in just 50 days
Fox News and Fox Business figures have repeatedly and falsely linked VP Harris and Minnesota Gov. Walz to socialism and outright communism
Written by Harrison Ray
Research contributions from Tyler Monroe
Published 09/12/24 mma
- Fox News and Fox Business have falsely linked Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Tim Walz, their campaign, or their policies to socialism, communism, or Marxism at least 466 times since July 23, the day after Harris became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee.
The obvious smears have been repeatedly debunked.
The attacks extended to Walz when Harris selected him as her running mate, with Fox connecting him to China to claim he’s a communist candidate. And the attacks ramped up significantly following an economic policy speech from Harris, with Fox repeatedly mischaracterizing her proposals.
- Fox News accounted for 263 of the claims while Fox Business accounted for 203.
Fox networks' hosts and anchors most often pushed the claims of socialism, led by Maria Bartiromo (32 claims), Sean Hannity (31), Elizabeth MacDonald (20), Larry Kudlow (19), Jesse Watters (17), and Stuart Varney (15).
Mornings with Maria Bartiromo (63) had the most claims of any individual program over the period, with Hannity (49), Kudlow (44), and The Evening Edit (40) close behind. Many of Fox News' so-called “news” programs also repeated the ginned up attack, with at least 52 claims over the period.
Fox News and Fox Business parroted the narrative on 49 of the 50 days reviewed by Media Matters.
- Fox's smears of Harris and her campaign ran the gamut, from comparing her to Fidel Castro and the Sandinistas to calling her a “dangerous Marxist,” and even absurdly proclaiming that “these two economically frankly illiterate radicals with a penchant for literal communism are promising to drive our economy right off the cliff.”
Former President Donald Trump repeated Fox's fabricated narrative during the September 10 presidential debate, falsely insisting, “She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist.”
- ## Methodology....
===