After the news of the Comey memo had broken, Fox News could not find a single Republican member of Congress who was willing to go on the conservative news network to defend Trump.
Sarah Westwood of The Washington Examiner tweeted:
.@FoxNews reporting on the air now that they can't get a Republican member on the air right now to defend Trump
— Sarah Westwood (@sarahcwestwood) May 16, 2017
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With no Republican member of Congress willing to go on air to defend Trump, Fox quickly moved to Plan B, which was to talk about anything other than the Comey memo.
Here is Tucker Carlson talking about Penn Station bathrooms to avoid discussing Trump:
Tucker Carlson screaming about Penn Station bathrooms to avoid talking about Trump's Russia ties. I know this sounds fake. It's not. Enjoy. pic.twitter.com/Nlj1SPHen7
— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 17, 2017
When Fox News did talk about the scandal, they declared it “fake news,” speculated that Comey made up the memo, and Sean Hannity attacked the Washington Post.
In three hours of primetime coverage, those were the only mentions of a scandal that is growing to Watergate level proportions by the day.
The reason why Fox News is getting creamed by MSNBC in the demo is that they are ignoring big news stories that the other networks are covering. Last week, three MSNBC shows were #1 with age 25-54 viewers in their respective time periods: “The Rachel Maddow Show†at 9 pm, “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell†at 10 pm, and “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams†at 11 pm.
It really is so bad for Republicans that they are refusing to show their faces on friendly Fox News to defend Trump.
When Republicans won’t defend Trump on Fox, it is a sign that his presidency is sinking fast, and members of the GOP majority are heading for the lifeboats.
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
