“Fox News is dead”: Trump breaks with favorite news channel and already has his own channels

If there was anything that characterized Donald Trump’s presidency, it was that love relationship He had with the conservative news channel Fox. The mogul, TV enthusiast and former reality TV star, would wake up plugged into his lineup and go to bed watching his shows while tweeting about guests, news and statements from his favorite commentators. Rupert Murdoch’s media empire was password for the politically inexperienced New Yorker to win the 2016 election and then keep Trump’s ranks energized, including by amplifying conspiracy theories emanating from the White House.

But the romance with Fox is over, and Trump already appears to have some new favorite networks. On Thursday, the outgoing president launched a furious barrage of tweets and retweets with comments such as: “The @FoxNews daily ratings have completely collapsed. Those of the weekend are even worse. It’s very sad to see that happening, but they forget what made them succeed, what got them there ”.

And he retweeted phrases like: “FoxNews is dead”, “Fox has been completely unfair and a liar. You have to switch to NewsMax “,” Fox has been a disaster since Election Day “,” Hello, old FoxNews friends, go to NewsMax… They try to be honest ”,“ Without a doubt FoxNews has been with us 24/7 for 7 years, but not been in the last 7 days“.

Rupert Murdoch’s news network has started to show signs of distancing from Trump since the night election, Nov. 3, when he won Democrat Joe Biden in Arizona, following the traditional count of AP agencies, when no other network did because they calculated the result was too tight to give a winner. Trump himself came out publicly at dawn, and counting his numbers, he mentioned Fox’s measure with obvious disgust.

When Trump staged the legal offensive to expose electoral fraud, he was not backed by the channel that was previously so loyal to him: he saw with fury, for example, how Biden was described as “President elect” and he also gave voice to Republican officials who said they had not detected any significant irregularities at the polling centers.

The channel still maintained the ultra-deceptive comments of presenters Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and other personalities who defend the tycoon at all costs and denounce that the elections were fraudulent. But it was clear that Fox was preparing to an America without Trump.

Another sign that Murdoch’s world is starting to turn its back on Trump is that the newspaper’s editorial board The Wall Street Journal, also of the media mogul, wrote on Friday night that “he who wins needs the other to give in to rule.”

The newspaper recognized Trump’s right to sue if he had evidence of wrongdoing, but warned: “Trump’s legacy will be dramatically diminished if his final act is a bitter refusal to accept. a legitimate defeat. Republican officials will turn around, and ultimately the American public who want the election resolved. “

After a series of corporate bankruptcies, Trump rebuilt his image as host of the reality show “The Apprentice”. Controversial and addicted to the distortion of reality, no one doubts that the tycoon possesses immense charisma that has kept his followers hypnotized with jokes or conspiracy theories.

Trump TV

Now he may be looking for a new platform for when he leaves the White House. He even hinted that he was going to launch some sort of “Trump TV” to amplify your ideas and perhaps in this idea is the germ of this open fight.

You have already indicated your favorite new media which are cable signals Max y One American News (OAN) who until now did not have much clout, but grew after the election and were directly mentioned by Trump, who can buy them (if he hasn’t already).

In recent months, a correspondent from the unknown OAN among the White House-accredited media, who were once chosen by Trump to close press conferences with a question that still appeared to be completely directed so the president could expand on a topic he liked.

NewsMax, for its part, increased its audience enormously after the election, as Trump fans became disillusioned with Fox. In July, for example, the channel had around 25,000 simultaneous viewers, which is minimal compared to a giant like Fox or any other television standard. But in October, it had 65,000, at the beginning of November, it was 182,000 and Monday, 347,000, Tuesday, 437,000. Some shows reached 800,000 viewers, according to media analyst Brian Stelter (and all this before the promotional rain of tweets Thursday).

In these brand new channels, now promoted by presidential Twitter, Biden has not yet been named the winner and the conspiracy theories that will have mobilized Trump supporters, at least for a time, are amplified. Will they be Trump’s new refuge when he finally leaves the White House? Will their new platforms be from which to draw on the future Biden administration? It is very possible.

Washington, correspondent

ap