The day after the US midterm elections, Fox News hosts are finding various strategies to deal with the Republican debacle. But do they also dare to criticize the president?
Dusseldorf. The easiest way to understand a Fox News broadcast the day after a Republican election loss is to think of it as a therapy session. One in which the therapists lie down on the couch with you.
The three hosts of “Fox & Friends” Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt and Lawrence B. Jones are nothing to envy as they go on the air the morning after the midterm elections, 6 a.m. local time in New York City. “Fox & Friends” is a kind of morning magazine with a clearly conservative edge and its task is not so much to explain the world to viewers as to classify it ideologically. This is particularly difficult this Wednesday. After the midterms, the outlook is bleak. You can see it on their faces.
At this early hour it is already clear that the Democrats have won a comfortable majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives. That states were lost in which Democrats had had nothing to gain for decades to a century. Elsewhere, the first obituaries for Trump are already being written.
And what does Fox News do?
Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the broadcaster for not being loyal enough to him. On the election date, he criticized his polls as “terrible”. Accused him of inviting Democrats to his shows. In a Truth Social post, he even found that they were to blame for the defeat: “FoxNews bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Democratic opposition, and worse.” Dumocrat is a compound word from the terms “dumb” and “democrats”.
Fox News is considered the unofficial PR department of the Republicans. So how would the station report the day after the defeat? Do you already make slight heel movements? That would signal that Trump's time will soon be over, even among Republican voters.
Serious, but not hopeless
It quickly becomes clear this morning: the moderators of Fox & Friends will not be the ones turning away from Trump. They admit that there is a “new balance of power” in Washington and that “Democrats are back in the driver’s seats”. But they don't criticize Trump for the defeat for which every media outlet that doesn't believe in him blames him that day.
The task of “Fox & Friends” is different: to make the seriousness of the situation clear, but to give hope to conservative viewers.
Don't threaten me with a good time.
In the first few minutes, the moderators stir up fear of the Democratic representatives who are “far left”. Quotes from the upcoming democratic and Muslim senator Abdul El-Sayed are repeatedly shown. For Fox News viewers, just showing them how he pronounces his full name is enough. There are also quotes from other supposedly radical Democratic election winners, including Fox News, including the moderate Senator James Talarico from her beloved Texas.
They say the Democrats are wasting no time “to go after President Trump.” So instead of making people's lives easier and cheaper, they want revenge. At the same time, the journalists warn about the “Far Left” wish list: state health care for all, abolishing ICE. For Fox News viewers this is horror news, but for others the nice saying applies: “Don’t threaten me with a good time.” Don't threaten me with a good time.
At least Florida is still Republican
A rather rare approach for therapy: first scaring people and then calming them down a little. Defeats for the ruling party in the midterm elections are normal. They just fail to mention that a defeat in this form is not normal. And they console their audience with the fact that in some states people have voted to ban trans people from participating in women's sports. And Florida is still Republican. It works.
The moderators never criticized Trump. They certainly don't want to even suggest that his or the Republicans' time is up. Instead, they play original tones in which Trump says that he could definitely work with the Democrats, otherwise he would veto it if necessary. They are attempting the daring maneuver of portraying Trump as a statesman bent on balance, while the Democratic Party is being infiltrated by crazy socialists with crazy, i.e. unaffordable, wish lists.
The viewer is only expected to criticize Trump indirectly, if at all. Republican MP Kat Cammack says voters are still not fans of the Democrats and just wanted to send a message to the Republicans. Cammack's criticism is aimed more generally at those up there in Washington, not at Trump specifically. That's a tightrope walk for all Republican lawmakers on this day: recognizing that voters gave them a lesson without incurring Trump's wrath.
One horror after the next
In the following broadcasts it quickly becomes clear how the presenters deal with the crushing defeat. Everything is one therapy session that day. stir up fear. Console. give hope.
Stirring up fear of supposedly extreme Democratic representatives. With the horror idea: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the particularly hated DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America, could run as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2028.
The Democrats don't care about making people's lives better, and even if they wanted to, they wouldn't have the opportunity to do so anyway because of the Trump veto. They want to take revenge and initiate investigations against politicians, against the president, against business bosses who supported Trump financially.
At the same time, the moderators also offer comfort by saying that the Democrats' lead is so large that they don't have to rely on their radicals. And they express the hope that everything could be different again in 2028.
For them, the zeitgeist is definitely still republican. The economy is actually doing well. It just hasn't reached people yet. Iran war, tariffs and so on. Corruption or misconduct by the immigration agency ICE is hardly an issue.
Democrats on the shows too
After all, Trump's criticism of the guest selection does not stop the station from bringing experts and Democratic politicians into the program that day. Election winner Talarico is connected. He says he can work with Trump on some issues. So he's not quite as radical as Fox News wants its viewers to believe.
Democratic experts have one main task in the shows: to warn their own party not to go too far. They are very moderate Democrats, and most of them are doing their job solidly on this day. Only once does things go completely wrong.
The Fox News presenters actually want to drive a wedge into the Democratic Party. Force the moderates to take a position against the supposed extremes. In the morning, Rahm Emanuel sits down on the couch to watch breakfast television. He was chief of staff under President Barack Obama, is considered a presidential candidate for 2028 and is considered a moderate. But the Jewish politician refuses to stand against parts of his party on the issue of left-wing anti-Semitism.
“My faith is not your problem,” he says. His faith is not her problem. The moderators still try again and again. Until Emanuel says anti-Semitism is a problem across America, not a party's problem. As a German, you are reminded of the discussions about the next government in Berlin. One of the moderators is visibly upset, saves himself from the situation by saying “Thank you for your time”, then we go to commercial.
While Trump is almost absent from the daily program, unless he has to use an original sound as proof of his alleged willingness to cooperate, that changes in the evening. This time of day is dedicated to sending people to sleep with the right messages on Fox News. The time for the channel's most important people, whose names the shows also bear.
The focus is on the minute-long opening monologues.
It's not over yet
First up is Laura Ingraham, who once again joins in with supposedly radical original sounds from El-Sayed and Co. She then delivers an original sound from the murdered Charlie Kirk: “We’ll keep fighting.” Someone here wants to rouse their dejected viewers. “True champions learn from failure,” she says, “Conservatives are down, but they are not out.” Conservatives are down, but it's not over for them.
She too is siding with Trump. The economic figures are good. The tariffs have led to investments that would otherwise not have occurred, but food and energy are still too expensive. For them, this is also due to the Iran war, which Trump had to wage because of his principles. For them, the election doesn't mean that people suddenly find the Democrats attractive, they just want to send a message to the Republicans that life is still too expensive for them. “They actually voted for America first.”
And if you still don’t understand, she assures you at the end of her monologue: “Donald Trump’s career is not over.” On the contrary: his greatest moments could still lie ahead of him.
Jesse Watters, the next ardent Trump admirer, at least admits on his show: “Can’t sugarcoat it, Republicans got spanked.” This shouldn't be glossed over; the Republicans have been dealt a blow. He also blames the increased cost of living for the election results, not corruption, not ICE. The reason for this: the necessary Iran war, customs tariffs. He's sure it will pay off, as the president promised, but things aren't happening fast enough for the people. “Voters wanted a piece of the pie.”
What he is actually saying is that the party doesn't have to change much, just wait for Trump to end the Iran war and for the improvements he supposedly initiated to occur.
Sean Hannity, Fox News' most loyal Trump fanboy, then predicts: People will soon regret their vote because the radicals among the Democrats, the socialists and communists, will overdo it. For him, all Trump has to do is end the Iran war. Then things go up. But Republicans need to give people a realistic expectation of when things will get better for them. So here too: everything is on the right track, just wait and see.
