President Trump continued his attacks on Fox News today, saying it has become ‘so hard’ to watch the network and blasting its on-air commentators.
Trump tweeted about the network after a weekend when he golfed Saturday and Sunday, but still found time to retweet clips from Fox Business Network commentators Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs.
‘So hard to watch @FoxNews anymore. They are working so hard against the people (viewers) that got them there,’ Trump wrote.
‘Their contributors are a disaster, and all over the place. The Radical Left has scared Fox into submission, just like they have so many others. Sad, but we will WIN!’ he added.
So hard to watch @FoxNews anymore. They are working so hard against the people (viewers) that got them there. Their contributors are a disaster, and all over the place. The Radical Left has scared Fox into submission, just like they have so many others. Sad, but we will WIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 13, 2020
Ratings, a fixation of Trump’s before he captured the White House, were featured in another media related tweet the president fired off Monday.
He retweeted a clip from White House official Dan Scavino, an assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications.
The clip of a Biden speech is in black and white, with old fashioned piano music in the background and edited to look like it was played on an antiquated film projector.
‘Is this what you want for your President??? With no ratings, media will go down along with our great USA!’ Trump wrote of Biden, 77.
Trump is 74.
Conflicts that arose between Trump and former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly ahead of the 2016 election gave way to a spell of peaceful correspondence after his 2017 inauguration.
Trump went on to post hundreds of tweets referencing Fox News programs throughout 2018, with a focus on those featuring commentators whose opinions seemed to bolster his own.
A Washington Post report published in December 2018 noted that Trump often manipulated comments from Fox News hosts in his reproductions of them on Twitter, suggesting he did so as means to better serve his own purposes.
Discord began to surface during the early months of 2019.
In January, Trump targeted Fox News’ White House correspondent John Roberts and Washington correspondent Gillian Turner in a tweet denouncing their coverage of developments related to the border wall.
“Never thought I’d say this but I think @johnrobertsFox and @GillianHTurner @FoxNews have even less understanding of the Wall negotiations than the folks at FAKE NEWS CNN & NBC!” he wrote.
Trump also took issue with Fox News’ coverage of his impeachment, the events leading up to it and its impact on polling results.
Trump’s Fox-directed criticisms became louder in 2020 amid its coverage of the presidential election race and the novel coronavirus pandemic. He has shared frustration about the network becoming “politically correct” on more than one occasion.
“@FoxNews just doesn’t get what’s happening! They are being fed Democrat talking points, and they play them without hesitation or research,” Trump tweeted in April.
“They forgot that Fake News @CNN & MSDNC wouldn’t let @FoxNews participate, even a little bit, in the poor ratings Democrat Debates…Even the Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats laughed at the Fox suggestion. No respect for the people running @FoxNews,” he continued. “But Fox keeps on plugging to try and become politically correct.”
.@FoxNews just doesn’t get what’s happening! They are being fed Democrat talking points, and they play them without hesitation or research. They forgot that Fake News @CNN & MSDNC wouldn’t let @FoxNews participate, even a little bit, in the poor ratings Democrat Debates…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 26, 2020
Trump has been promoting One America News Network and the conservative Newsmax network, urging people to watch them ‘instead.’