Before Democrats started bagging win after win on election night, President Donald Trump was already laying into Fox News, taking to task a perceived ally and a constant fixation in the news media.
He first launched a personal attack on Jessica Tarlov, known as the liberal co-host on the Fox News panel show “The Five.”
“Watching the Pre-Election Results on FoxNews, but I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice — DUMB AS A ROCK, but it’s the voice that gets me,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Have to go somewhere else until that LOSER is off the air — I’ll be back later!”
Shortly after, co-host Greg Gutfeld read aloud a text message he said he received from Trump, detailing additional critiques of Tarlov’s comments on high gas prices.
Tarlov later wrote on X: “I realize my comments highlighting the highest gas prices on any Election Day aggravated the president, but reality is a tricky thing and he should get better at dealing with it.”
Soon after, Trump posted another Truth Social post about Fox. “The FoxNews Poll, always the worst, is so insulting with the questions they ask,” Trump wrote, who has criticized Fox polling over the years when it has showed Democratic strength. “Every question is a hit job, and every answer is “BULLSHIT!” This has been going on for years.”
And then, he took aim at the network’s flagging year-over-year ratings.
“FoxNews Ratings are way down (27%!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats!” Trump wrote. “All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been.”
He also criticized political donations made by Fox Corporation, Fox News’s parent company, to Democrats and affiliated groups.
“No wonder FoxNews Ratings are collapsing, and they’re going to go down a lot further. They’re way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me! This happened once before, and Fox almost collapsed. It’s happening again!”
Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch acknowledged the ratings declines during an earnings call, but he cited “viewer fatigue” as the culprit. Fox News consistently boasts much higher viewership than rivals CNN and MS NOW, but those networks posted big gains during the same period.
Representatives for the White House and Fox News did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Trump has been for years a loyal Fox News viewer, regularly posting his commentary of what he sees on screen in real time. He’s also reached for Fox News personalities for top postings, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy.
Karoline Leavitt, his former White House press secretary, is also a new paid contributor to Fox News and defended the president during the network’s election night coverage. As results rolled in, Leavitt commented that voters may have been listening to the “lying media on the other side.”
The president aside from posting about Fox News and giving a couple of interviews to CBS News and the Financial Times was otherwise quiet during the first hours of election night.
The post Trump turns against Fox News as Democrats see big wins appeared first on Washington Post.
