Fox News’ new message to viewers: Brace for 'economic suffering'

13 March

During the 2024 presidential race, far-right pundits at Fox News and Fox Business — not unlike Donald Trump — repeatedly blamed then-President Joe Biden and then-Vice President Kamala Harris for inflation.

Democratic nominee Harris warned that if Trump won the election and imposed the steep tariffs he was promising, it would amount to a "sales tax on the American people." But pro-Trump pundits at Fox News and Fox Business argued that Trump was the candidate to vote for if one wanted low inflation, low taxes and high wages. And Trump's messaging on the economy worked when he narrowly defeated Harris by roughly 1.5 percent in the popular vote.

With President Trump following through on the tariffs he promised and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling, fears of a recession are growing. And MSNBC's Ja'han Jones, in an op-ed published on March 12, observes that Fox News and Fox Business have a new message "pain is on the horizon."

Jones notes, "Last week on Fox Business, for example, conservative economist Brian Wesbury characterized the nation's economic outlook as 'not a heart attack; it’s heartburn.' As such, pain is coming for Americans, he said, thanks to Trump’s tariff policies…. During a conversation with Fox News host Harris Faulkner, Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis had a similar message for viewers: 'This is going to be hard'…. So, years of chronic pain, I guess. That's apparently what's required of all of us to make America great again."

This message, Jones stresses, is a radical departure from what Fox News and Fox Business were saying in 2024.

"Other Fox shows, including 'The Big Weekend Show' and 'The Big Money Show,' have also featured hosts and guests predicting that some economic suffering is in store for Americans — but with assurances that it'll all be worth it in the end," Jones writes. "In a way, they're doing a version of what Tucker Carlson did when he visited Moscow last year and said it was 'so much nicer' than any American city. They're essentially encouraging their viewers to embrace a lower standard of living — and to view it as an act of service toward MAGA's grand vision for the country."

The MSNBC columnist continues, "This certainly wasn't the message coming from Fox News in the lead-up to the election. But faced with the reality of Trump's policies, it appears to be the best spin that some conservatives can muster."

Ja'han Jones' full MSNBC column is available at this link.

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