Trump’s latest offensive against Fox News said more than he probably intended

President Donald Trump has been publicly scolding Fox News for what he sees as insufficient loyalty, and MS NOW's Steve Benen argues the complaints reveal how the White House views the network. In a long Sunday post on his social media platform, Trump said Fox was not giving enough airtime to his campaign rallies, warned that supporters would tune out, and attacked commentator Jessica Tarlov. He also claimed that a Fox executive had dismissed Maria Bartiromo after she protested not being allowed to cover him.

Benen notes this is a pattern. Days earlier, Trump complained that Fox books Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries and other Democrats who criticize Republicans and him. A month before that, he went after a Shannon Bream program as biased. Last year he pushed Fox to dismiss its pollster after a poll he disliked. In earlier campaigns he said the network should not air his Democratic rival's remarks or Democratic attack ads.

Benen reads all this as evidence that Trump treats Fox as an arm of the Republican Party rather than an independent newsroom, which explains his anger whenever a host or guest strays from the party line.

Summarized by PolitiKool from MS NOW’s reporting. Read the full story at MS NOW →