Fox News

Fox News decided to lean into the skid and scare the bejeezus out of its audience with a combination of the longshoreman strike, increased violence in the Middle East and the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Late in the week Donald J. Trump told multiple lies about the federal response to the hurricane that Fox News hosts were happy to amplify. Sean Hannity mentioned lies about FEMA over 50 times in two days. Greg Gutfeld pretended he was an expert on climate change and a Harris supporter snuck into a Breakfast with Friends segment on Fox & Friends.

When Fox News doesn’t like reality it makes up its own. Fox News hosts pretended Kamala Harris was tanking in the polls when she’s actually gaining more ground on Trump. Fox also ignored the easily verifiable timeline associated with the criminal indictment surrounding New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The FBI started investigating Adams two years before the mayor started feuding with President Biden. Fox also gave up an hour of its airtime for Trump to use as a platform for his campaign. Jesse Watters compared Kamala Harris to an actual infant.

Fox made a dramatic pivot from trashing Kamala Harris to promoting Donald J. Trump. The network also obsessively covered the second assassination attempt on the former president. Fox hosts complained about heated rhetoric while ignoring Trump’s inflammatory words. The network also featured a lot of Trump including him on a n episode of “Gutfeld,” and giving away it’s primetime coverage to show a live feed of a Trump rally in Long Island, NY. Laura Ingraham whipped up fear about Haitian immigrants while Lawrence Jones claims there was no racial aspects to their harassment. Fox & Friends tried to make it seem like the recent interest rate cut by the Fed was a bad thing.

The folks at Fox desperately tried to spin Trump’s disastrous debate performance. Dana Perino and Brit Hume openly admitted that Trump had a bad night. Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity refused to accept reality. It was a night of dashed expectations, delusions and broken dreams for Fox News.

Plastic straws! Fake accents! Non-existent bans on fracking! A local Fox News affiliate debunked its parent company! Nebraska Walzes for Trump haven’t even met Tim Walz! Fox News hosts pretended Kamala Harris has plummeted in the polls even when she hadn’t. Jesse Watters bragged about sounding like Russian propaganda. Vladimir Putin would be so Proud. Steve Doocy repeats a hateful myth about American Muslims and Pete Hegseth was shocked when an Israeli American said that Israelis want a return of every hostage, and end to the conflict and the end of Benjamin Netanyahu’s failed strategy. I threw in a silly impression at the very end.

Fox News was desperate for some kind of scandal to help boost Trump’s presidential campaign. Fox tried to boost RFK Jr.’s endorsement of Trump, Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter to Jim Jordan, Kamala Harris had an interview with her running mate, Joe Biden somehow controlled Trump’s DOJ, and finally Kamala Harris stranded astronauts in space. Absolutely nothing stuck but that wasn’t going to stop anyone at Fox from insisting all of these stories were life and death important.

A crazy old man named Donald J. Trump called into the last night of Fox News’ coverage of the DNC. When the first show hung up on him he called in to the next show - the worst comedy show on television. Jessica Tarlov broke down his meltdown. Jesse Watters made a racist statement about crime. Sean Hannity waited for a riot that never happened. Brit Hume referred to women who suffered sexual assault and serious pregnancy complications as “abortion speakers” Multiple Fox News hosts whined about how the Dems have treated Biden. Nancy Pelosi proved she’s a boss on PBS.

Kamala Harris is a copycat of Trump but also a communist. Will Cain tried to pretend Trump came up with the Child Tax Credit. Greg Gutfeld exaggerated Tim Walz’s DUI arrest from 1996. There was a Casserole Controversy! Trump advisor and Project 2025 author made up a bunch of nonsense about Black and Latino Americans. Tammy Bruce encouraged Joe Biden to turn into Dark Brandon at the DNC and Stuart Varney went rogue - Democrats are good for the stock market.

The folks at Fox News are still freaking out that Kamala Harris is starting to beat Trump in some polls. Last week was “Let’s Swift Boat Tim Walz” week as multiple Fox News hosts accused the Minnesota Governor of stolen valor even though he served in the National Guard for 24 years. Brian Kilmeade invented Chinese conspiracy theories. Jesse Watters tried to force his Black co-host to wear a “White Dudes for Harris” cap. Laura Ingraham attacked Tim Walz for being an assistant coach. Judge Jeanine Pirro made up crime stats and a Fox guest went rogue.

Fox News tried to create a smokescreen of deception to hide the rise of Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee for president. Fox was outraged by an anti-Christian opening ceremony that wasn’t about Christianity, and a trans athlete who wasn’t trans. Fox also claimed a crowd cheered Trump at a convention for Black journalists when in reality they laughed and jeered at him. Judge Jeanine Pirro claimed white dudes are only supporting Kamala Harris out of white guilty and Dana Perino claimed Democrats are trying to “superglue” Trump to Project 2025.

A fun frolic of Fox News meltdowns! What a glorious week to cover Fox. Fox started the week by playing the music the network normally uses for natural disasters under a news story that Biden was dropping out of the presidential race. Multiple Fox News hosts lost their ever-loving minds over Democrats reaction to Kamala Harris’ decision to run for president. Everyone on Fox seemed to forget the role of a vice president. Jessica Tarlov shared her excitement of millions of Democrats about Kamala Harris. Kellyanne Conway said that Trump never called Hillary Clinton names. Greg Gutfeld made a number of assumption’s about the young man who tried to kill Trump. Brian Kilmeade didn’t even pay attention to his own show.

Jessica Tarlov breaks down Trump’s rambling mess of a speech from the RNC, Laura Ingraham praises Hulk Hogan the compares Donald J. Trump to Ronald Reagan. Rep. Cory Mills and Eric Trump claimed THEY tried to kill Donald J. Trump. Who is they? Greg Gutfeld is outraged that anyone would call Trump Hitler than he called Joe Biden Hitler. Fox News featured a woman who has appeared on the network for the past four years as an undecided voter. I RANT A LOT IN THIS ONE. PBS NewsHour does not hold back when they called Republicans out for their lies.

Fox News spent a lot of time trashing Biden even including segments during the July 4th celebrations. The network also is starting to pivot to trashing Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s the mastermind of a vast conspiracy to cover up Biden’s declining mental state. Hunter Biden has the nuclear codes. Bernie Sanders and The Squad are going to rip the country in half. The Democrats will stack the Supreme Court! Trump definitely won’t abuse his power and a preview of what life might look like under Project 2025.

This is the audio version of a comprehensive fact check of 53 lies Donald J. Trump told during the first presidential debate. Because there were so many I had to break it into two parts. This is Part One. Part Two will drop shortly. The written version, complete with hyperlinks to all sources, can be found at the Substack channel for Decoding Fox News. It is free for anyone to read.

Fox New promoted a lot of stories about crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants. While the network pretended to care about the safety of American women it ignored a Supreme Court ruling that supported a law that bars domestic abusers from owning guns. Jesse Watters attempted to mock Joe Biden for walking like an 81-year-old man. Newt Gingrich compared Trump to Reagan and predicted that Trump would be calm and controlled while sparring with Biden. A data expert didn’t seem to know that wages have outpaced inflation for 12 straight months and there was some drama about a Fox News poll that showed Biden inching ahead of Trump. I also compare how Fox and PBS handled the new law in Louisiana that mandates the Ten Commandments in all school classrooms.

Joe and Alex discuss the latest from the Sunshine State... why Florida might be closer than people realize. And what does that mean nationally? We zoom out and look at that new Fox News poll that has some VERY encouraging numbers under the hood. Turns out 34 felony convictions isn't actually a good thing... And what does Joe think President Biden has to do to win the debate next week? It all comes down to one word...

The steady decline of traditional media seems a near certainty. In this podcast episode, Rick speaks with Margaret Talev, a journalist and head of the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship at Syracuse University. They discuss the evolving challenges in the news industry, including the decline of local news, the rise of misinformation on social media, and the growing distrust in media, particularly among conservatives. Talev emphasizes the importance of reliable news sources for a healthy democracy and describes efforts to rebuild local news and civic engagement. She also shares insights from focus groups and polling on voter behavior and media consumption, highlighting the impact of media sources on public perceptions and polarization.

Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony gun charges and everyone on Fox News lost their ever loving minds over it. Judge Jeanine and several other hosts decided that First Lady Jill Biden was intimidating the jurors when she showed up at her stepson’s trial. Juan Williams pointed out the obvious that Americans are rarely charged for lying on gun forms. Jesse Watters and Charlie Hurt made things up about undocumented immigrants voting. Greg Gutfeld laid track for the next Big Lie where Trump will claim he won the 2024 election no matter what the outcome. Judge Jeanine also seemed to think Biden was president in 2018 and Ainsley Earhardt predicted Michelle Obama would run for president.

Fox tried to forget that Trump was just found guilty of 34 criminal felony charges. The network focused on his fundraising while openly shilling for his campaign. Fox also trotted out two old villains - Hunter Biden, the drug-addicted son of the president and Dr. Anthony Fauci, a man the right-wing has turned into a sadistic mad scientist. Judge Jeanine blamed Jill Biden for the actions of her husband. Donald J. Trump seems to think he’s God. Steve Doocy openly called Trump a convicted felon and Laura Ingraham rehashed old conspiracy theories about COVID-19.

Fox & Friends featured an interview with Trump that was supposed to be 90 minutes long yet they just recycled and cut up the same 15 minutes over four hours. Trump made a slightly racist remark to Rachel Campos-Duffy. Will Cain fawned all over him. Gov. Doug Burgum called for people to rise up against the Trump verdict. Jesse Watters predicted a revolution while Greg Gutfeld implied they’ll be riots if Trump doesn’t win in 2024. I also do a bit about Judge Jeanine Pirro at the end.