Are Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network showing signs of cracking?
Not from the $1.6 billion Dominion lawsuit but dissent within the ranks.
Prominent voices in the conservative media empire responded with outrage to Trump's recent decisions, including those at a Saturday campaign rally in Waco, Texas.
The weekend event coincided with the 30th anniversary of the deadly Branch Davidian siege.
On โFox & Friendsโ Monday morning, co-host Brian Kilmeade criticized the president for continuing to air his grievances about the criminal investigations he's facing and for playing a pro-Trump song accompanied by images from the U.S. Capitol riot on the jumbotrons.
But Kilmeade wasn't alone in his frustration.
Later in the day, Fox Business host Stuart Varney lambasted Trump's choice to post an image of him holding a baseball bat next to a photograph of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Trump has since deleted the image.
Nevertheless, Varney condemned Trump's actions, arguing they've alienated the independent voters he needs to win.
In a contentious exchange, Varney called out Trump and attempted to push Rachel Campos-Duffy, one of Fox's more pro-Trump voices, into his camp.
Mediaite further reports:
โTrump also postedโฆ an image on social media. This is the one with the baseball bat. Okay. I'm not gonna show it because it's been deleted,โ Varney explained. โDoes the country support Trump wielding a baseball bat threatening mayhem and calling Alvin Bragg an animal? Is that what we want to see in a presidential candidate?โ
โThose are things we expect to see from Donald Trump,โ Campos-Duffy replied. โThis has already been baked in the cake.โ
When pressed by Varney to explain how Trump's actions will help him win over independents, Campos-Duffy said that winning swing voters isn't the 45th president's priority during the Republican presidential primary.
Yet Varney remained insistent, rhetorically asking Campos-Duffy how she thought independents like him were reacting:
โListen, if you wanna line up all the things that Donald Trump has done that aren't, you know, the way other people do it. I agree,โ Campos-Duffy replied.
โI mean, there's a lot of things that people don't like about him. But at the same time, there's a lot of people that like the strength that he shows and think that he is the one person who can take on what I think is a real deterioration in our country,โ she added.
A new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll suggests that Trump has solidified his support in the GOP primary, with 50% of GOP respondents saying they'd support him if the presidential primary were held today.
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8 Comments
Oh my is that all Varney can come up with to complain? He’s sounding more like a Schumer – whine, whine, whine about nothing and having nothing important to brag about. Varney needs to do something more substantial in order to be considered important any longer as do Democrats that are so unworthy of the W.H.
Varney was a big Never Trumper, so this is par.
Lost a lot of respect on Varney. Also definitely souring on some other Fox personal. Definitely hVe a Democratic smell which is a shame.
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Perhaps Mr. Varney has some secret or devious reason to hate Trump, a variant of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
The baseball bat pic was taken with Trump way back in the WH! That was a long time ago and has nada to do with Fat Alvin Bragg and the current story! They will do anything to make Donald Trump the disrupterโ๏ธ
Watch NewsMax
Agree with U on Varney
I can see Fox going down the same rabbit hole if CNN. Just a little slower. DeSantis is not ready for Presidency. Push Trump out and Fox goes down
Fox turned a long time ago. Not worth watching! It ended with them calling the election for Brandon with 1% of the vote in. They are a large pile of BS