Sargent: It sure is. Well, let’s try to bring these two strands together. Like I said at the outset, I think the real game here that you’re seeing on Fox News is that they’re really trying to keep that floor as high as possible. They know Trump is losing independence in droves right now. Cost of living crisis is huge for independence. The rule of law stuff is actually really huge for independence as well; we’re seeing large majorities of independence opposing even some of the lawless stuff on immigration. So it’s all keeping that floor high. It’s what Ari Fleischer said on Fox, The base won’t crack. That’s how they keep the numbers somewhere in the 40s, somewhere manageable for the midterms.
But now with a budget like this, you’re really seeing laid bare how badly Trump’s own voters are going to get absolutely screwed in every way. These types of cuts will absolutely slaughter Trump’s own voters. And it’s basically, OK, Elon Musk has been given his walking papers, but we’re going to try to do his cuts through Congress. So if the game is to keep the base intact, it seems as if Trump is really not acting as if that’s even necessary, which flabbergasts me. Can you talk about how Fox proceeds in this environment with those tensions?
Gertz: Yeah, it’s just a really difficult morass for them. And most of what they’re trying to do is avoid talking about it. So you saw the other day, Donald Trump came out, basically declared himself the Grinch, and said, As a result of the tariffs, instead of getting your kid 20 dolls, they might only have two dolls, and they’ll be more expensive. That’s just not a message that will sell to anyone who is not a total sycophant. Anyone who has any sense of political realities will be able to say, That’s obviously bad. And Fox basically ignored it. They just got away from it as quickly as possible. The only time there was really discussion on any of the opinion shows was when Jessica Tarlov, the Democrat on The Five, brought it up—and the Republican co-host just bolted. They did not want any part of a discussion about that. And that, I think, is what we’re going to see.
There’s going to be an effort by Fox News to avoid talking about economic issues, avoid talking about the impacts of the tariffs, avoid talking about what the impact of Medicaid cuts will be on rural hospitals and everything like that. And what they’re going to do instead is they’re going to turn up the volume on culture-war issues. They’re going to start warning their viewers that if Democrats win, criminal illegal aliens will be coming to your house to murder you. That’s the discourse they’re going to go with because they just don’t have any other options.
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