Fox & Friends gathered on their chairs Tuesday morning and did what they’ve done since 2015: toss up softballs for Donald Trump to swing at while they fawn over his responses. And they had to think the one they tossed this morning was as fat and sweet as they come. They set Trump up with a chance to hit Barack Obama, provided him an opening line, sat back and …
Trump: “He’s not getting anybody to go listen to him. Too much. Actually Fox puts him on more than anybody else, which is sort of shocking to me, because Fox … has changed a lot. And, somebody said ‘What’s the biggest difference between this and four years ago?’ I say Fox, it’s much different … Fox is a much different place in terms of politics.”
Yes. That’s Trump’s problem. Fox didn’t give him enough help.
It’s true that Fox is a different place than it was four years ago. Because in that time it’s shed people like Shepard Smith who, despite being reliably right wing, was found insufficiently willing to follow the Trump line to continue at Fox. And of course there’s another thing that’s happened at Fox. Bill O'Reilly, Eric Bolling, Ed Henry, and Bill Shine all left because they had a problem with not trying to sexually assault their female colleagues. Some of whom also left because they hit their limits on hanging around with jackasses who kept sending them dick pics. Of course, all was not over for Shine—because Trump hired him at the White House, and then put him in charge of communications for his campaign.
The Fox & Friends crew sat quietly as Trump rolled over their network for failing to roll over. Then they continued to stand by as Trump talked on … and on … and on. It would be difficult to calculate just how many minutes of free air time Fox has provided to Trump over the last four+ years. But it seemed for a time this morning that the network has decided to simply make the direct transition to Trump podcast.
Finally, with some gentle encouragement from the hosts, Trump was convinced that he might have something to do today that doesn’t involve complaining to people. But he did have a closing message for America. Once again, predicting Biden’s imminent demise, Trump said that Biden would not be in office very long, leaving Kamala Harris in charge.
Trump: “She would be, I think, a terrible first representative. If she … if she became the first woman president, I think it would be a terrible thing for our country. I think it would be a terrible thing for women.”
Through all of this, Trump sounded slow, depressed, and basically like a guy who knows he’s about to get stomped. Or like a guy who needs a fresh hit of dexamethasone.