Fox News rules Donald Trump’s world, the Washington Post reports in a stunning bombshell that will surprise everyone. While that basic fact may be one of the least surprising things to be said about Trump (also, did you know he lies?), the scope of Fox’s grip on Trump’s official actions is worth some attention, coming the day after a Trump adviser said the administration would look at regulating Google searches because a Lou Dobbs report had convinced Trump the searches are skewed against him.
After watching Sean Hannity on Fox News, President Trump tweeted at Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate former rival Hillary Clinton. After listening to Tucker Carlson, he directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to launch a study on bogus reports of murdered white farmers in South Africa. [...]
Among his other cable-fueled directives in recent weeks, Trump tweeted disapproval of Federal Reserve interest rate increases that echoed criticism leveled by Dobbs, a vocal Trump supporter. He has repeatedly attacked Sessions and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, citing cable figures such as Fox News Channel’sGregg Jarrett.
Administration officials even use Fox News as a way to get Trump’s attention and win internal battles, as when pro-trade war aides wanted to counter Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s announcement that trade war with China was “on hold.”
… others in the delegation, including China hawk Peter Navarro, found an alternative audience with Dobbs to criticize Mnuchin’s message.
Then Dobbs’s criticisms were picked up on “Fox & Friends” the following day by host Brian Kilmeade. Before long, and on the basis of those media messages, the president made an abrupt change in policy, said an adviser who was not authorized to speak to the news media.
It’s like Trump and Fox are in an infinite feedback loop. Either that or a human centipede.