Members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle are increasingly fearful about what they say is the primary driver of the president’s life-or-death political decisions: Fox News.
The president’s top aides say that the administration’s efforts to deploy National Guard troops into Democratic cities are “partially and meaningfully” influenced by what Trump sees on the right-wing network and other cable outlets, according to a report from news platform Zeteo.
Trump himself has admitted as much. Last month, after declaring Portland was “war-ravaged” and that its ICE facilities were “under siege from attack by Antifa,” Trump said in an interview that when Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek told him there “is no national security threat” in the city, he replied: “Well, wait a minute. Am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening?”
Apparently, he is, Trump officials told Zeteo. Much of the footage the president has been referencing comes from 2020 demonstrations that Fox News has reportedly spliced into its coverage of present-day protests.
In Chicago, where Trump has clashed with Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker over the possible deployment of federal troops, his next moves have been heavily shaped by the media coverage from Fox and other outlets he’s been obsessively monitoring.
According to Zeteo, the president told members of his inner circle that a Pritzker “win” was not a narrative he could tolerate, and that he was preparing to send in the troops soon.
This isn’t a new dynamic. An official from Trump’s first administration told the outlet that the president yelling at his television was “something you got used to if you worked there [in the administration].”
“It’s scary how much it would affect not just his mood, but his decision-making on really important things,” the official said. “It’s not OK.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump’s fixation on Fox is widely known. While Trump’s first term saw him employ former Fox News contributors like John Bolton into high-ranking roles, his second term has seen him gravitate toward even bigger stars on the network’s programming, nabbing several primetime mainstays including his now-cabinet members Pete Hegseth and Sean Duffy.
It’s also long been seen as a direct channel to influence him. In 2018, Bassam Rifai, a political adviser at the Syrian American Council, appeared on the Fox News program Happening Now to urge President Trump to escalate military action in Syria following a reported deadly chemical weapons attack.
National security analyst Ryan Mauro on Syrian chemical attack: “I see no other option besides military action.” https://t.co/bDEoDZuQbw pic.twitter.com/tXxTgmJzif
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 9, 2018
“President Trump, I am speaking to you directly,” he continued. “Do not take the same mistakes that President Obama had made… What we need to do right now is to take out… Assad’s air force.”
When later asked if he chose Fox News—over CNN or MSNBC—to try to get a message to the president, Rifai told The Daily Beast: “Yes, that’s correct.”
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