"It's Management Bedlam": Madness At Fox News As Trump Faces Impeachment

[octoberlib]

In public, Donald Trump’s allies are putting on a brave face, repeating talking points, mostly staying on message. But in private, there are few who believe that the allegations leveled by an intelligence agency whistle-blower that Trump abused American foreign policy to leverage Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden won’t result in considerable damage—if not the complete unraveling of his presidency. “I don’t see how they don’t impeach,” a former West Wing official told me today. “This could unwind very fast, and I mean in days,” a prominent Republican said.

Trump’s final bulwark is liable to be his first one: Fox News. Fox controls the flow of information—what facts are, whether allegations are to be believed—to huge swaths of his base. And Republican senators, who will ultimately decide whether the president remains in office, are in turn exquisitely sensitive to the opinions of Trump’s base. But even before the whistle-blower’s revelations, Fox was having something of a Trump identity crisis, and that bulwark has been wavering. In recent weeks, Trump has bashed Fox News on Twitter, taking particular issue lately with its polling, which, like other reputable polls, has shown the president under significant water. Meanwhile, Trump’s biggest booster seems to be having doubts of his own. This morning, Sean Hannity told friends the whistle-blower’s allegations are “really bad,” a person briefed on Hannity’s conversations told me. (Hannity did not respond to a request for comment). And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future. A person close to Lachlan told me that Fox News has been the highest rated cable network for seventeen years, and “the success has never depended on any one administration.” (A Fox Corp spokesperson declined to comment.)

Inside Fox News, tensions over Trump are becoming harder to contain as a long-running cold war between the network’s news and opinion sides turns hot. Fox has often taken a nothing-to-see-here approach to Trump scandals, but impeachment is a different animal. “It’s management bedlam,” a Fox staffer told me. “This massive thing happened, and no one knows how to cover it.” The schism was evident this week as a feud erupted between afternoon anchor Shepard Smith and prime-time host Tucker Carlson. It started Tuesday when Fox legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told Smith on-air that Trump committed a “crime” by pressuring Ukraine’s president to get dirt on Biden. That night, Carlson brought on former Trump lawyer Joe diGenova, who called Napolitano a “fool” for claiming Trump broke the law. Yesterday, Smith lashed back, calling Carlson “repugnant” for not defending Napolitano on air. (Trump himself is said to turn off Fox at 3 p.m., when Shep Smith airs.) Seeking to quell the internecine strife before it carried into a third day, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace communicated to Smith this morning to stop attacking Carlson, a person briefed on the conversation said. “They said if he does it again, he’s off the air,” the source said. (Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti denied that management had any direct conversation with Smith)


https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/09/madness-at-fox-news-as-trump-faces-impeachment-lachlan-murdoch

[empedocles]

1. Chris Wallace has also REPORTED off the trump line. Cavuto picks a few cautious spots.

[FakeNoose]

2. It's no secret that Rupert Murdoch's sons hate Chump

Once the sponsors and advertisers start bailing from Fox News, they're going to drop all pretense - that's my prediction. Hannity will quit or be fired and the other Chump-lovers will leave or change their tune very quickly. It won't be long now.

[regnaD kciN]

6. Not if it co$t$ them rating$ and $ponsor$...

Faux will be finished once Trump leaves, and the kids will have to struggle to get by on the billions they already have.

[eleny]

3. fight! fight! fight!

[lastlib]

4. Let the bodies fall where they may.....!

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(pass the butter, please!)

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[eleny]

5. Here ya go

[NCLefty]

7. How big is the skid mark from their reverse direction going to be? LOLOL!

[Liberal In Texas]

8. It's amazing Shep is still there.

They would have a lot of 'spaining to do if they fired him for doing his job. Probably lead to a lawsuit...and he's got to have a strong stomach to put up with Fox management.

[J_William_Ryan]

9. lol

&quot Trump himself is said to turn off Fox at 3 p.m., when Shep Smith airs.)"

[Algernon Moncrieff]

10. Trump is an ally and a threat to them.

Let's just say what if Trump resigns or is impeached & removed. Lets further say that happens sooner than later to set up a race in which Pence is probably set up to win the nomination. So Pence pardons Trump, citing the wisdom of Gerald Ford and Trump escapes prosecution. Trump TV is likely the first order of business, and it would present enormous competition.

My guess is that Fox strands with him to the end and beyond just to avoid that scenario. To this day, there are arguments that Nixon should have brazened it out, and that the odds of his removal weren't really that high. Bonus: Trump excels at playing the victim, and the spectacle should glue GOPers to their flat screens - allowing them to work themselves into a daily dither about how stupid the libs are and wondering about whether they want to take their money and patriotic zeal to Honduras, Panama, or Costa Rica when Elizabeth Warren becomes President.

[eggplant]

19. *Trump escapes FEDERAL prosecution.

He's toast in NY. I doubt he'll be able to run Trump TV from prison.

[gratuitous]

11. On a (slightly) serious note

There are going to be some people jarred and disconsolate when their carefully insulated world falls to pieces. Some of them will be quite evil, and I will gladly laugh at them. Others, however, are going to be people of good will who believed that Needy Amin was their savior, and they wanted only the best for all citizens. It may be possible to reach them and bring them back around to decent society.

If someone shits all over your proffered olive branch, you know you're dealing with the former. But the latter will greatly appreciate a kind word in their hour of grief and sorrow. As the poet said, people may not remember your deeds, but they will remember how you made them feel.

[Takket]

12. live view of the smith/tucker brawl

[Cartoonist]

13. Trump TV

There is no reason to believe that it would be any different from Trump steaks or Trump university. A bankrupt failure.

[bucolic_frolic]

14. One doesn't turn

to them for intellectual content. They pitch to the dumbest masses because that's where the numbers are, but skewed ideology eventually reaches delusion, and becomes offensive to even the smartest people who agree with them. I don't think there is a path forward where credibility has been destroyed and the empty-headed public loses interest. There is a life cycle to hysteria and the madness of crowds, especially where buffoonery is concerned.

[Pepsidog]

15. Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace need to be outed and shamed. Dox the traitors.

Make their life hell. These are the real traitors who spread disinformation and divide our country. Until we deal with Fox, we will never be the same.

[woundedkarma]

16. Evil

With any luck this is the part where evil devours itself DDDDDD

[brettdale]

17. Trump goes down Faux Goes down

Faux News has always, well been faux news, but never have their top guys put
all their eggs in one Basket.

Their reputations will be ruined, and their fanbase will leave in droves.

They're in serious trouble.

On the flip side, if Trump survives this, they will be boosted.

[brettdale]

18. So how quick might all this happen?

Are we talking by the end of the year????