Dem
51
GOP
49
It is not much of a secret that the Rupert Murdoch propaganda empire would prefer to move on from Donald Trump, having gone so far as to semi-shift its allegiances to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) early in this presidential cycle. However, Trump is what the audience wants, and Trump is going to be the nominee, and Fox, etc. know what side their bread is buttered on. So, they are back on board with the former president.
Meanwhile, Trump is angry with Fox right now, for roughly the 100,000th time. What crime has been committed? There are two of them, actually. The first is that former speaker Paul Ryan, who is also on Fox's board of directors, was a guest of not-so-Trumpy host Neil Cavuto last week. During that appearance, Ryan shared his view, at great length, that Trump is unfit for office and revealed that he won't be getting any votes from the Ryan household. Once Trump was made aware of the remarks, he responded:
Nobody can ever trust Fox News, and I am one of them, with the weak and ineffective RINO, Paul Ryan, on its Board of Directors. He's a total lightweight, a failed and pathetic Speaker of the House, and a very disloyal person. Romney was bad, but Paul Ryan made him look worse. As a team, they never had a chance. Rupert and Lachlan, get that dog off your Board—You don't need him. ALL YOU NEED IS TRUMP. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Nobody ever said that correct syntax is Trump's strong suit.
Fox's second offense, meanwhile, was its latest national preference poll. It has 50% of Americans voting for Joe Biden and 48% voting for Trump. That's the first time Biden has cracked 50% in a Fox poll this cycle, and the first time he's led Trump in a Fox poll since October of last year. The changes are driven by an overall 3-point swing from Trump to Biden since May, which includes an 11-point swing among independent voters. These are not numbers that please Trump, since they suggest that he's being hurt by his felony convictions.
In any event, Trump may be unhappy, but he's stuck with Fox just as much as Fox is stuck with him. They are the right-wing outlet of record, and 95% of the time, the entertainers on the channel tote his water. The latest numbers from The Righting, which does a monthly tally of Trump-posted links, bears this out. In May, between donaldjtrump.com and his @RealDonaldTrump account on his suspiciously valuable social media platform, here's how many times he linked to various outlets:
| Outlet | Links |
| Fox | 56 |
| Right Side Broadcasting Network | 26 |
| FoxNews.com | 11 |
| Newsmax TV | 11 |
| Breitbart | 9 |
| Real America's Voice | 8 |
| The New York Post | 7 |
| Real America's Voice TV | 5 |
In case you are wondering, the Right Side Broadcasting Network is a YouTube-only concern that might as well be called the Trump Side Broadcasting Network. And Real America's Voice is a fourth-tier cable/satellite channel that also streams. They too are swimming in the Trump Kool-Aid.
Anyhow, as you can see, Trump links to Fox/FoxNews.com more than two times per day, on average. He also links to Fox/FoxNews.com more than all the other sites combined. He even linked to them yesterday, just hours before he began ranting and raving about the outlet.
What it amounts to is that the alliance between Fox and Trump may be uncomfortable, but it's also rock solid on both sides, out of necessity. The next time the former president lashes out like this, which will probably be sometime in the next 72 hours, don't read anything into it, because it doesn't mean anything. (Z)