Fox gives Trump the silent treatment

It’s by now well established that Fox News is no longer on the Trump Train. Trumpworld’s union with Foxworld was never altogether easy and, ever since that fateful election in November 2020, it has fallen apart. Trumpists despise Fox for, as many see it, “helping Joe Biden steal the election.” And the top brass at Fox News have sought to distance themselves from the Trump movement and what they regard as its increasingly toxic politics. Rupert Murdoch has had enough of the Orange One, by all accounts.

What hasn’t been made entirely clear is the extent of the break-up. One senior Fox figure has let slip, however, that Donald Trump is effectively “banned” from appearing on Fox News at present. He hasn’t been seen on the main channel since he declared his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election in November and other Fox sources have confirmed that there’s a reason Donald is not appearing on their network.

A source familiar with Fox insisted that “the network would never apply a ban on any presidential candidate.” No doubt that is true.

But, as another source with deep contacts inside the company put it: “Fox News Digital will write about Trump and give him little phone interviews. But he has not been on the actual channel since he announced. Rupert doesn’t want him to win.”

Other American media insiders say it’s a not very well-kept secret that Fox won’t have Trump on anymore. “Everybody knows you just can’t say it out loud,” said one.

The wider Murdoch empire is showing favor to the Republican hopefuls hoping to beat Trump in the 2024 primaries. The New York Post has been notably positive in its coverage of Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Along with his other big US paper, the Wall Street Journal, the Post has made its editorial line clear: it’s time for the party to move on.

But DeSantis, the just-declared Nikki Haley and even the gonzo newbie runner, Vivek Ramaswamy, have all appeared on Fox in recent weeks. (Ramaswamy has done three Fox hits in the twenty-four hours since announcing.) But the Donald remains persona non grata.

Trumpworld is seething with their sense of being snubbed. “There is definitely a soft or silent ban on Trump,” says a source close to Trump. “They have clearly gone all in for Ron DeSantis, judging by their fawning coverage of his events week.”

Trump echoed the sentiment this week on his Truth Social Platform, as he said:

So interesting to watch FoxNews cover the small and unenthusiastic 139 person crowd in Staten Island for DeSantis, but stay as far away as possible from coverage of the thousands of people, many unable to get in, at the Club 47 event in West Palm Beach, Florida. I call FoxNews the RINO Network, and their DOWN BIG Ratings accurately reflect the name.

But there is no denying that Trump’s invisibility on Fox represents a significant obstacle to his re-election: it is still easily the nation’s most-watched cable news network.

Media eco-systems are always changing, of course, and right-wing channels, such as Newsmax and OANN, have prospered since 2020. But Fox is the biggest beast in conservative media — a fact that the MAGA movement can’t change.

The Trump ban is not formal policy, of course, more an understanding between senior people at the network that Trump is not somebody they should be booking. But, with the 2024 election starting to take shape, and Trump still easily the frontrunner for the nomination according to most serious polls, how long can Fox afford to freeze him out? “They have to be careful,” says another source close to Trump. “They are the most important network on the conservative side, but it’s not their job to be too obviously picking the Republican nominee. People don’t like that.”

Many of Fox’s biggest stars, including their most-watched hosts Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, have often interviewed Trump in the past and have by no means switched their editorial line to favor DeSantis. As one regular Fox guest who is close to the 45th president put it, “I’m pretty sure that if one of the big guys, like Hannity, say, said ‘fuck you I’m putting Trump on,’ nobody would stop them.” But the fact remains that Trump hasn’t appeared on Fox since November, which suggests the anti-Trump forces are holding sway. “It’s all the mid-level guys who are terrified of losing their jobs who don’t want to upset Murdochs,’ says a Trumpworld source. “But if they obviously bash Trump, they get roasted by his fans, many of whom are Fox viewers, on social media. They went quite anti-Trump after the election and their ratings tanked.”

There’s a long way to go. It’s worth remembering that Murdoch is nothing if not adaptable when it comes to siding with the winning ticket. In 2016, as it became obvious that Trump would win the Republican nomination, Fox quickly became his biggest cheerleader. Trump and Murdoch, two billionaires with quite a bit in common, had some kind of relationship, back then. Today, not so much.

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.