A new report indicates President Trump’s intentions – should he officially be declared the loser of the election – is to start a digital media company to compete with and “wreck” Fox News.
Axios has indicated the President made these intentions clear to several friends.
The channel would stream online, according to the sources, a move necessary to curb costs and minimize the time necessary to get the media company off the ground.
“He plans to wreck Fox. No doubt about it,” one source told Axios.
? ? NEW … Source tells me Trump plans to use vote-count rallies to “wreck Fox” so he can start his own paid MAGA channel, built from his campaign text-message database: “He’s going to spend a lot of time slamming Fox” https://t.co/KkPx4EWFBQ
— Mike Allen (@mikeallen) November 12, 2020
President Trump Has Been Trying to Wreck Fox on Social Media
Though he has launched attacks against Fox News in the past, President Trump has been on a particular tear of late, heavily criticizing the network that once stood as the only major news outlet to cover him fairly.
Trump has even urged viewers to switch to other outlets – such as One America News and NewsMax – though he still promotes personalities such as Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Greg Gutfeld.
Could he be considering bringing them into his network?
On Thursday, the President posted a tweet blaming Fox News for the 2020 election results.
“[Fox News] daytime ratings have completely collapsed,” he jabbed. “Weekend daytime even worse.”
“Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there,” he continued. “They forgot the Golden Goose.”
“The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was [Fox].”
.@FoxNews daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2020
RELATED: Kayleigh McEnany Predicts Election Lawsuits Will Hit Supreme Court As She Fires Back At Fox News
A Trump Digital Media Company
The breakup between Fox News and the President has been simmering for some time.
The final straw may have been election night when Trump voters themselves have seemingly finally declared the network had gone too far astray.
The network called Arizona for Democrat Joe Biden on election night, a move that the campaign felt was woefully premature and which the New York Times would later admit was “a bold call that instantly changed the tenor of the night.”
The campaign responded by slamming the network’s Decision Desk director Arnon Mishkin as “a Clinton-voting, Biden-donating Democrat.”
The Trump campaign hits Fox News in new press release, saying a “Clinton-voting, Biden-donating Democrat runs the Fox News Decision Desk.” pic.twitter.com/536IPufGeO
— Herb Scribner (@HerbScribner) November 5, 2020
Days later, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel held a press conference to discuss Pennsylvania litigation and an overview of the post-Election Day landscape.
McEnany was cut off by host Neil Cavuto.
She claimed that the Trump campaign “want(s) every legal vote to be counted, and we want every illegal vote …” before Cavuto interjected.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa – I just think we have to be very clear,” he said.
“She’s charging the other side as welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting,” Cavuto continued.
“Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue to show you this.”
Neil Cavuto cuts away from White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany because he deems her words too dangerous to hear.
Instead of letting us decide, he interprets her meaning for us, even using words she never said.
Fox News: We Report & We Decide (shut up and obey). pic.twitter.com/fDPfoNhVvM
— Tim Xeriland (@Xeriland) November 10, 2020
Cavuto’s colleague Tucker Carlson took a jab at the network for that move saying, “You can’t just cut away from coverage you don’t like.”
TUCKER: “You can’t just cut away from coverage you don’t like” pic.twitter.com/7wsDLc0evK
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 10, 2020
McEnany later responded that the idea of combatting voter fraud “is a basic principle and it’s one that I don’t believe should be censored by the media but allowed to be said.”
Subsequently, Fox News host Sandra Smith was caught on a hot mic mocking a guest for commenting on claims of voter fraud and saying the media doesn’t call the winner.
We are all Sandra ?
pic.twitter.com/8eBPyHIIyd— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 9, 2020
“We love competition. We have always thrived with competition,” Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch said during an earnings call earlier this month.
He may get a chance to prove it.
