We need to talk about Fox News

The Media Arm of the Republican Party is Kicking into High Gear Now

It’s all in for Trump at Fox

That means all in on the racism, bigotry, lies, and gaslighting that comes with him and the MAGA movement as well. You won’t be surprised at all to find out that after showing a tiny amount of wavering in their loyalty that the Fox players are all back on Team Trump after his inevitable return to the Republican Party nomination.

A few of the personalities have shown some doubt but that is quickly being snuffed out. Even Kayleigh McEnany who sometimes accidentally says the truth about Trump’s weakness as a candidate and age got the message overnight on Wednesday when she returned to form to defend Trump from the outrageous observation that he has also slipped mentally as he ages. Just one social media post from Trump was all it took.

Trump and his spokesman, Sean Hannity

One thing we clearly learned from the Dominion lawsuit is that Fox is terrified of its own viewers. Not just financially as they leave for more delusional “reporting” at OAN or NewsMax, but also literally. The MAGA base is not a forgiving bunch for those who step out of line.

The Hate Turnpike

I used to call it the Performative Politics Pipeline as it flowed from members of Congress, or Republican officials, saying outrageous stuff to immediate appearances on Hannity or Ingraham that night. But my guest this week, Juliet Jeske of Decoding Fox News, reminded me that it’s truly a two-way street. Not only does the stupidity in Congress guarantee a slot on Fox but their talking points quickly make their way to the electeds as their talking points.

It’s not a ‘pipeline’ it’s a two-way highway.

We also touched on how the most extreme ideas make their way to the mainstream thanks to Fox as well. I opened the show with the absolutely disgusting clip of Charlie Kirk and his incel friends questioning the ability of black pilots and blaming “DEI” for their concerns. That argument has flowed right to Fox and into school boards and halls of Congress for months. The hate is a fast moving throughway on the far right and the rest stop is Fox News.

This week’s show is both horrifying and hilarious because Juliet has been watching extremist shows for years and has survived with an admittedly dark sense of humor about it all. She started this odd journey watching the Proud Boys and finds herself now analyzing countless hours of Fox News so we don’t have to.

We laughed a lot because…well…what else can you do at this point?

The Show

Juliet Jeske

Juliet Jetske is a journalist and producer of the Decoding Fox News newsletter and podcast. She graduated from the Craig J. Newmark School of Journalism at the City University of New York and has been studying the right-wing media environment for many years. She and Fred discuss how much in the tank Fox News is for Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, their increasing extremism, open racism, and misogyny. Be sure to follow her online at @DecodingFoxNews and subscribe to her Substack at ‘Decoding Fox News’.

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