At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last week, Donald Trump delivered an impromptu riff on one of his favorite topics: Fox News.
“You notice it at some point on Fox: They put me on – I do a great job – and then they follow me with a terrible commercial,” the former president said. “Roger Ailes has never allowed bad commercials. What’s the point of me doing a nice show, and then putting on nine terrible commercials, all of which are lies?’ he added.
Concluding his thoughts, the Republican concluded: “Fox should only attract the good people, the people who want to make America great again.”
This comes up with surprising frequency. Last weekend, for example, Trump complained that the channel aired a speech by Vice President Kamala Harris. De Heuvel reported:
Former President Trump criticized Fox News before a crowd of supporters at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday, ripping the news outlet for airing Vice President Harris’ comments after visiting part of the southern border in Arizona on Friday.
Fox, the Republican candidate, told an audience in Wisconsin that the Democratic candidate’s comments should be “not allowed” to be shown.
Trump on Kamala Harris’ speech: I have to sit there and listen to her bullshit and who puts it on Fox News? And they shouldn’t wear it.
(Jesse Watters broadcast the speech last night) pic.twitter.com/p22V6pZwVE
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 28, 2024
A day later, he used his social media platform to argue that Fox News “should not allow negative advertising.” Although he didn’t elaborate, I suspect he wasn’t referring to attack ads aired by his own campaign. Trump added shortly after that Fox should stop “constantly attacking liberal Democrats,” who ultimately “cancel” conservative guests.
If this all sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because he made similar comments during his tenure in the White House. In May 2019, then-president whined online that Fox went too far “in beating the Democrats,” referring to Democratic presidential candidates. Trump added that Fox News executives should instead prioritize “the people who got them there.”
A Washington Post analysis soon after added that it was a notable sentiment because it was “an explicit expression of his expectation that Fox News will at least downplay, if not completely exclude, coverage of Democratic issues and candidates.”
Absolutely right. As we discussed at the time, Trump made it clear that he did not view Fox News as a news organization, but as a Republican entity, which exists to advance a Republican cause.
That same week, the then-president insisted that if the network “carries more Democrats than Republicans,” then Fox News was necessarily straying from what Trump saw as its proper mission.
The Post’s analysis added that Trump not only saw a “symbiosis” between the network and his political operation, but that the president also “expects Fox News to screen out anti-Trump voices in the name of staying true to a group that he regards as their shared base. .”
That was five years ago – and so is the Republican still in which he claims the network “shouldn’t be allowed” to air Democratic speeches he doesn’t like.
What complicates matters further is that Trump makes no effort to hide these feelings. It would be one thing if he were whining to Sean Hannity during one of their private chats, but the Republican candidate is taking his complaints to the public, apparently hoping to pressure Fox News to comply with his election plans.
I can’t say whether the network and its associates consider Trump’s rhetoric offensive, but they probably should.
This message updates our related previous reporting.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
