Tipsheet

Again: Trump vs. Fox News

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  September 24, 2015 10:30 AM

Barack Obama and Donald Trump agree on many things. They agree that socialized medicine "works incredibly well" in other countries. The agree that the 2009 "stimulus" program was "very good" and helped save the economy. They agree that the pro-free speech Citizens United Supreme Court case was wrongly decided. They agree that Kelo, which enshrined unprecedented government seizures of private property to boost tax revenues, was rightly decided.  They agree that the Koch Brothers wield undue influence in our political system. And they agree that demagoguing hedge fund managers is an expedient way to justify populist tax hike gimmicks. This list is hardly exhaustive; it merely highlights recent concurrences between the two men.  It magnanimously excludes Trump's much more liberal stances on immigration, abortion, gun rights, taxes and healthcare policy from years past, which he now claims to have renounced.  Trump has also adopted Obama's strategy of marginalizing and delegitimizing Fox News as a means of retaliation for insufficiently sycophantic coverage.  In the latest round of Fox-bashing, Trump and his supporters have publicly grumbled that the cable news leader has devoted too much coverage to presidential candidates not named Donald Trump.  The frontrunner seems especially annoyed by Carly Fiorina, who won the most recent GOP debate, drawing blood with a memorable, cutting line in response to one of Trump's childish taunts.  He's also stepped up his attacks on Marco Rubio, another strong performer at the Reagan Library forum.  Unlike Trump, Fiorina, Rubio and others came to Simi Valley equipped with knowledge, facts, and a coherent, conservative governing vision.  But now, for the crimes of interviewing guests critical of Trump, declining to sustain near-round-the-clock Trump coverage, and citing polls showing diminished Trump support, Fox News will be punished for allegedly treating the billionaire "unfairly."  Boycott time:


For what it's worth, Trump pronounced CNN's debate coverage fair...until he changed his mind days later.  But not so fast, Fox retorts -- we disinvited Trump from a scheduled primetime appearance due to his incessant sniping at our hosts and network, then he went public with his so-called boycott:

“At 11:45am today, we canceled Donald Trump’s scheduled appearance on The O’Reilly Factor on Thursday, which resulted in Mr. Trump’s subsequent tweet about his ‘boycott’ of Fox News. The press predictably jumped to cover his tweet, creating yet another distraction from any real issues that Mr. Trump might be questioned about. When coverage doesn’t go his way, he engages in personal attacks on our anchors and hosts, which has grown stale and tiresome. He doesn’t seem to grasp that candidates telling journalists what to ask is not how the media works in this country.”

The Donald's sniveling comes in spite of the fact that Fox is home to more Trump cheerleaders and defenders than any other major network.  But the hosannas aren't unanimous, so the thin-skinned grievance-monger feels compelled to do his thing. This episode is redolent of Trump telling people he'd fired his campaign manager, who, in fact, had already quit.  Team Trump fired back with a characteristically boastful and mostly unresponsive statement:


Perhaps his next stunt will be to file a high-dollar lawsuit, which is another method through which he attempts to bully detractors and challengers.  Parting thought: How concerned should Fox execs be about Trump fans tuning out en masse?  Not very, if their last attempt offers any indication of their collective discipline and effectiveness:


Megyn Kelly was the bete noir of Trumpland for many weeks, fueled crassly by the man himself, yet her show excelled in the face of his endless grousing.  Not that he'll ever admit it; he'd rather flagrantly lie than concede he lost a fight.  And lest you accuse me of nonstop Trump-bashin', I was actually quite complimentary of his Tuesday night appearance with Stephen Colbert, during which he sidestepped and ignored the wily comedian's various trap questions:



Editor's note: Guy Benson is a Fox News contributor, and proud of it.