(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) After riding the coattails of former President Donald Trump to record viewership, a commensurate bump in advertising dollars and increased audience interaction, Fox News has apparently banned their erstwhile revenue-stream machine.
Trump’s last Fox appearance was on an April 13 episode of Hannity, and even Trump has noticed the lack of any invitations for a repeat performance, lamenting that “his longtime friend” and the network “doesn’t seem to be paying him much attention anymore,” reported the New York Times.
The decision to shun Trump appears to be driven at the “highest levels” of Fox corporate and is backed by its parent company chairman, billionaire Rupert Murdoch, and his son, company CEO Lachlan Murdoch, who are looking to throw their network’s full weight and support behind a potential 2024 White House run by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The latest snub from Fox came last month, when the network covered a high-profile speech by former Vice President Mike Pence but ignored one given the same day by Trump.
And while Fox corporate gave Trump’s speech the high hat, some of its hosts bucked the trend and offered glowing reviews of Trump’s oratory. Laura Ingraham complimented Trump on the substance of his speech, reported Mediaite.
“I mean, he’s like, oh, he’s not substantive?” Ingraham said. “What other politician in America can keep a crowd in rapt attention for 90 minutes straight? It was I think it was great.”
Host Sean Hannity agreed, noting that when Trump is “on issues and he’s standing for the forgotten men and women and running that campaign, I think he’s unbeatable, nobody better.”
That’s in stark a contrast to the scathing treatment that two of the Murdoch media empire’s newspapers — the usually reliable New York Post and Wall Street Journal — with hit pieces that slammed him in the aftermath of J6 Tribunal TV testimony from now disgraced Cassidy Hutchinson and opposed any potential Trump bid for the White House in 2024.
Back at Fox News, a recent segment of man-on-the-street interviews magically produced several alleged Trump “supporters” who claimed they didn’t want to see him run again and “unanimously” backed a DeSantis 2024 run, reported Newsmax.
That type of programming is designed to achieve a specific end that is line with corporate thinking and approval, according to Newsmax host Eric Bolling.
“I spent 11 years at Fox, and I know nothing pre-taped hits a Fox screen that hasn’t been signed off on and sanctioned at the very top levels of management — especially when it has to do with a presidential election,” Bolling said.
