Donald Trump mocked Fox News during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). When reviewing his results in 2020, he said, “I hope Fox doesn’t turn off but we did much better in 2020 than we did in 2016.” He went on to express his surprise at the difficulties a political life can bring. He said he didn’t expect to be “lynched” for doing nothing wrong, or for doing a great job. “I didn’t know they want to put you away because your poll numbers are better than anybody they’ve seen in years,” he told the cheering crowd.
Trump’s relationship with Fox has become increasingly strained in recent weeks, which may prove a disadvantage for him as he races toward 2024. Fox had given him a solid platform in the 2016 elections, but his rivals are now getting far more screen time. Ron DeSantis is a regular guest, as is Nikki Haley. Tensions will no doubt have been exacerbated by the revelation that Tucker Carlson told an unnamed person that he hates Trump “passionately” in WhatsApp messages submitted in evidence at the defamation trial between the network and Dominion Voting Systems. Fox is facing a $1.6 billion lawsuit for allegedly defaming Dominion in its coverage of Trump’s claims to have been defrauded in the 2020 White House contest. Dominion said it has lost business due to Fox’s validation of the former President’s allegations of electoral fraud aided by Dominion’s systems.
Furthermore, Fox owner Rupert Murdoch has reportedly told the network that Trump should be made a “non-person” for his alleged role in the riots on Capitol Hill on January 6th, 2021. The criticism has however traveled in both directions. Trump has lashed out at the network several times in the last couple of years. In 2020, he told a rally in Wisconsin that Fox had “become fake news.” More recently, he said the channel is no longer conservative – a sentiment shared at this year’s MAGA-dominated CPAC event, where several attendees said they no longer tune in to the network.
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