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January 8, 2021 - 4:37pm
‘At some point you’ve got to wonder’, said Fox News’ Tucker Carlson last night, ‘about where our country is putting all of its energy… All politicians whether you agree with them or not come with a shelf life… In Trump’s case, the expiration date arrives in 13 days.’
For Carlson, easily Trump’s most charismatic media booster, and for his employers, the final götterdämmerung weeks of the Trump presidency are a difficult time. It’s hard to tell your audience the opposite of what you’ve been telling them for half a decade — Emperor Trump has no toga. Imagine if Pravda went from lambasting the ‘running dogs of capitalism’ in its editorials, to praising the NASDAQ and Milton Friedman within the space of a few weeks in 1980. The comrades, understandably, might become confused.
It’s not just Trump either. Fox anchors were even unimpressed with Senator Josh Hawley’s claim that the zapping of his book contract was an example of cancel culture.
Fox News abandons @HawleyMO: pic.twitter.com/5wimY38ifP
— Millennial Democrats (@Millennial_Dems) January 8, 2021
The Fox News pivot, and that of other publications owned by Rupert Murdoch, away from Trumpism raises fascinating questions. If Fox won’t give its audience what it wants, competitor networks will step in to throw red meat to Trumpists. Last month, for the very first time, Fox was beaten in the ratings by Newsmax TV — a right-wing rival, which unlike Fox, was prepared to back Trump’s claims that November’s election was stolen. True believers began to flee from Fox to other networks.
Trump has been railing at Fox for weeks, with tweets like: “@FoxNews daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE.” The President’s anger led to speculation that he would buy Newsmax, transforming it into Trump TV — half padded room, half broadcast studio. A safe space to construct his fantasies and soak up the adoration of his fans, without criticism. Murdoch was reportedly so worried by the prospect that he offered Trump a $100 million advance for his presidential memoirs. ‘Let’s buy Trump off so he shuts the fuck up’ a Murdoch source told Vanity Fair.
In the past, Murdoch had three tests for what made a great tabloid newspaper story. First, it should be a spectacle, an entertaining soap opera. Second, it should fuel resentment — and circulation — by being about the famous, the beautiful, or the rich. It should shine a light on how the other half lives: Worthy Bishop’s Secret BDSM Romps! Lastly, it should be powered in one way or another by a visceral attitude of rebelliousness against authority.
Trump, as a man, and as a political force, passed all of these tests. He recognises their value as much as Murdoch does. They’re not merely tests either. They’re weapons. The further the network runs away from Trump, the easier it will be for him to use these weapons against Fox.
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SubscribeFox anchors were even unimpressed with Senator Josh Hawley’s claim that the zapping of his book contract was an example of cancel culture.
then what is it? Hawley, by the way, is the same guy whose house was attacked by leftists earlier this week. When one of these mobs succeeds in breaking in – or if someone inside is prepared and the break in proves deadly – then what?
Fox is welcome to pivot but the people who hated it before are not going to suddenly change their minds. And the media as a whole now faces a reckoning – their oxygen will depleted after Trump leaves office. Some have already said they will not cover the Biden camp with the same enthusiasm. That doesn’t sound like journalism; it sounds like something associated with places that have state-run media.
They can watch newsmax and bannon war room
“their oxygen will depleted after Trump leaves office”
I wonder if Covid, racial warfare and sectarian social movements won’t be sufficient replacements for Trump.
“The media, the media: what’s happened to the media?” to paraphrase Danny Kaye in the “Choreography” scene from the movie classic, “White Christmas”. We have no real journalism in electronic media anymore. It’s just disinformation on steroids. He who would learn to think and learn to figure out what the score really is must read.
Fox is expendable.
You took the words right out of my mouth! I had just finished saying the same thing in an email to a friend when I came across this post and your perfect comment. Read history, National Review, and The American Conservative.
Happy New Year! ( And, great avatar! )
Even Fox cannot go against the stream now it is a tsunami. Every source on the planet virtually is in a rabid frenzy of attacking Trump, it is worse than a mass of piranhas ‘skeletizing’ a cow in a water boiling, scarlet red, madness; you would be crazy to dip tour toe in. Well, a few of us still say, MAGA 2024 Mr Trump, you are our last chance.
LOL. The man is finished and he will leave nothing behind but a mess. For the next 4 years he will be tied down to court cases in NY regarding taxes, real estate valuation fraud, etc. And he can not pardon himself from state prosecutions.
And he has done shady stuff when it comes to Real Estate – that is why he has never released his taxes.
Yes, it’s funny how ordering an armed insurrection because you lost an election makes the media not like you. I know, I know, what a bunch of partisan hacks!
Your big orange hero is finished. He couldn’t win fair, he couldn’t win by legal trickery, and he couldn’t win by sheer rabble-rousing brute force. He’ll be remembered forever as the patron saint of sore losers.