On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace said that Fox News does not like Trump’s attacks on the media and that Trump’s attacks on the press are worse than anything that President Obama did with his media criticism.
Video:
https://youtu.be/2uGDXtytihA
Transcript via Fox News Sunday:
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WALLACE: Here’s the problem, when the president says we’re the enemy of the American people, it makes it sounds like if you are going against him, you are going against the country.
PRIEBUS: Here is the problem, Chris — the problem is you’re right. Some of these things were covered, but you get about 10 percent coverage on the fact that you get a very successful meeting with Bibi Netanyahu, the prime minister of the U.K., the prime minister of Canada —
WALLACE: We covered all of those news conferences live. Everybody did.
PRIEBUS: Right. Sure, yes, for about — yes, right. But then as soon as it was over, the next 20 hours is all about Russian spies —
WALLACE: But you don’t get to tell us what to do, Reince.
(CROSSTALK)
PRIEBUS: — nothing is happening. Give me a break.
WALLACE: You don’t get to tell us what to do any more than Barack Obama did. Barack Obama whined about Fox News all the time, but I got to say, he never said that we were an enemy of the people.
PRIEBUS: Let me tell you something, he said a lot of things about Fox News, Chris. I thought you ought to go check the tape. He blamed you for a lot of things. And I’m surprised, as someone from Fox, that you forget all of the shots that he took —
WALLACE: No, he took the shots. And we didn’t like it. And, frankly, we don’t like this either, because, you know — but he never went as far as President Trump has and that’s what’s concerning because it seems like he crosses a line when he talks about that we’re an enemy of the people. That is concerning.
Chris Wallace was correct. Fox News and every other network have been giving all of the things that Priebus complained about full live coverage. Fox News is very sensitive to the perception that they the in-house media outlet for the Trump administration. The perception itself was created by Trump as he has constantly praised Fox News and the network’s programs.
When a Fox program states that something that Trump is doing is worse than Obama, that’s a powerful statement.
The danger in Trump calling everything fake news with the exceptions of Fox and Friends and Hannity is that the President is attempting to delegitimize all free press that may disagree with him whether they are liberal, conservative, or neutral.
Donald Trump has gone so far towards authoritarianism that even a program that airs on Fox is condemning his attacks on the free press.
Trump declared war on the media, and it has gotten so bad so fast that he has lost Fox News.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
