"It's no exaggeration to say that the Fox & Friends anchors and commentators have become de facto policy advisers," Mike Allen writes at Axios, even those Trump hasn't formally hired. Jonathan Swan adds that "Trump not only watches these folks religiously but consults them by phone," and he views Fox News personalities and former judges Jeanine Pirro and Andrew Napolitano "as quasi legal advisers." But few Fox hosts hold more sway over Trump than Fox Business star Lou Dobbs, The Daily Beast reports, "one of the main precursors to Trumpism" and "the #MAGA Socrates to Trump's Plato."
Trump calls Dobbs semi-regularly, tweets about him, and asks White House aides and confidantes if they watched specific Dobbs segments, The Daily Beast says. Dobbs is also "involved in some of the administration's more sensitive discussions."
During the first year of the Trump era, the president has patched in Dobbs via speakerphone to multiple meetings in the Oval Office so that he could offer his two cents, according to three sources familiar with these conversations. Trump will ask Dobbs for his opinion before and after his senior aides or Cabinet members have spoken. Occasionally, he will cut off an official so the Fox Business host can jump in. Dobbs, these sources all independently recounted, has been patched in to senior-level meetings on issues such as trade and tax policy. [The Daily Beast]
A Trump aide tells Allen that Trump watches conservative news outlets — Fox and Sinclair channels — because "those seem to be the only options that aren't chronically negative or personally vicious toward him," but it's a symbolic relationship; Swan calls it "the modern version of call and response: his tweets, their chyrons." This feedback loop has convinced Trump "he's winning his war on media," Axios says, but Swan has a caveat: "The nuance is he still craves mainstream approval, especially from his hometown paper, the NYT. It's the girl he can't get."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
'Enforcement of rulings remains spotty at best'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Book reviews: 'King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution' and 'Gwyneth: The Biography'Feature How the Iranian Revolution began and Gwyneth Paltrow's life in the spotlight
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliablespeed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
