Trump complains Fox News 'is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected'

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

last updated 22 May 2020

President Trump has been attacking Fox News on Twitter in recent weeks, and on Thursday evening he gave one surprisingly candid clue as to the source of his frustrations. "Many will disagree, but Fox News is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd," he tweeted. "Net Result = BAD!" He called some personalities "garbage," including hydroxychloroquine skeptic Niel [sic] Cavuto, two black commentators, "and many others."

Liberals may view Fox News as "Trump TV," Gabriel Sherman reported at Vanity Fair earlier this month. "But that is not the way Donald Trump himself sees it. Trump loves that many Fox hosts are his loudest cheerleaders — but any deviation from Trumpian orthodoxy he views as betrayal," and his "frustration with Fox has only intensified during the coronavirus pandemic" as network executives "sidelined the network's most flagrant coronavirus deniers."

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But The Wall Street Journal reported in January that an investment firm owned by a Trump ally, Republican National Committee co-chairman Thomas Hicks Jr., was in talks to buy One America News Network (OANN), the even friendlier alternative network Trump has been elevating for months. Hicks is close with Donald Trump Jr., and the negotiations are ongoing. "Tommy Hicks and Don Jr. have been looking to buy a station for Trump TV," one source briefed on the talks told Sherman. "This is all about building a Fox competitor. Trump is really aiming to take down Fox." OANN owner Robert Herring Sr. told Times of San Diego that "so far we know nothing about Trump Jr. buying our company," and "we are not anxious to sell."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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