The Atlantic published an interesting story this morning about the increasingly complicated relationship between President Trump and Fox News.
Trump has been increasingly agitated by the FNC news division’s coverage of his presidency. For instance, on Aug. 28, he went after his go-to news outlet (at least in prime time) for “heavily promoting Democrats,” presumably after he saw the DNC comms director speaking with Sandra Smith during America’s Newsroom.
He referred to the network as “hopeless” and “clueless.”
Just watched @FoxNews heavily promoting the Democrats through their DNC Communications Director, spewing out whatever she wanted with zero pushback by anchor, @SandraSmithFox. Terrible considering that Fox couldn’t even land a debate, the Dems give them NOTHING! @CNN & @MSNBC….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2019
….are all in for the Open Border Socialists (or beyond). Fox hires “give Hillary the questions” @donnabrazile, Juan Williams and low ratings Shep Smith. HOPELESS & CLUELESS! They should go all the way LEFT and I will still find a way to Win – That’s what I do, Win. Too Bad!….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 28, 2019
However, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott doesn’t seem to be particularly concerned about the president’s outbursts, write The Atlantic’s Elaina Plott and Peter Nicholas. The network knows he needs them more than they need him.
Much of this stems from the network’s peerlessness in the world of right-wing programming. Fox speaks directly to Trump’s base, a core constituency that the president must keep intact if he is to win reelection. And while other outlets may be somewhat more reliably pro-Trump, such as the cable channels One America News Network and Newsmax, none comes close to matching Fox’s massive reach.
Plott and Nicholas also report when President Trump is unhappy with the network’s coverage from the news side, he’ll sometimes call Scott to complain. This is according to Trump-administration aide and a second Fox News employee.
According to Plott’s and Nicholas’ Fox News source says, those conversations don’t tend to go well.
“I’m not sure she tells him what he wants to hear,” this person said. “If you think about Suzanne, it’s like, I’m running the network. The president is not running the network. And if you’re Donald Trump, it’s like, Damn if you are—I’m running the network. And, to be candid, there have been times when the network probably gave Trump too much of the idea that he was running the network.”