Donald Trump wants to punish news networks who are not doing his bidding, and he isn’t even happy with Fox News.
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When Donald Trump isn’t busy telling lies, selling stuff, or playing golf, he is an avid consumer of the news (since he is a narcissist and likes it when people talk about him).
Obviously, his favorite is Fox News, since the right-wing network is, for the most part, a subsidiary of his presidential campaign.
Occasionally, however, the fine folks at Fox have to interrupt their regular programming, i.e., MAGA propaganda, when actual news happens. And that doesn’t sit well with Trump or his campaign.
On Tuesday, the former president lamented that the network sometimes dares to counter his own cheerleaders with opposing voices.
“The problem with FoxNews is that every time they put on someone who is positive and touting all of the good things I have done for the Country, they always feel it necessary to follow up with a really negative voice, often people who are storytellers and willing to outright lie,” he wrote on Truth Social. “The daytime anchors are no match for these lunatics, and they get away with absolute murder. The net result is NOTHINGNESS, so what’s the purpose in watching?”
Well, since he keeps doing it, there must be a reason.
Others in Trump’s orbit also weren’t happy with Fox News, for example campaign manager Chris LaCivita, who complained that the network had the gall of presenting its viewers with actual news. Apparently, some kind of storm is barreling toward Florida and viewers may be in need of receiving some potentially life-saving information.
Of course, while Trump wants Fox to be biased, when he perceives others to be, he throws a fit.
For example, the former president had some real issues with CBS this week after the network aired a 60 Minutes interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
In another post, he accused CBS of “possibly illegal” edits, and mused that the interview may have constituted a “campaign finance violation.”
In a thinly veiled threat, Trump also suggested that CBS should be investigated.
Of course, if editing interviews were the standard (as well as running near-nonstop propaganda supporting one candidate), then Fox would be under constant investigation constantly.
It should be noted that Trump was also given an opportunity to appear on 60 Minutes but declined on account of the network insisting on fact-checking him (in which case, it probably would have been more like “600 Minutes”).
On Wednesday, the former president returned to the topic and suggested that CBS is “in big trouble.”
Following his disastrous debate performance last month, Trump had also suggested that ABC should be investigated and have its license revoked.
It’s difficult to say how Trump’s desire to censor and sanction news networks will play with his new bestie Elon “Free Press” Musk, but it probably won’t be a problem since the owner of the social media platform X also seems to apply his own views on the topic selectively.
