How Fox News’ Trump trial coverage became an exercise in 'unintended hilarity': columnist

25 April 2024

Fox News has been defending former President Donald Trump aggressively during his hush money/falsifying business records trial, often attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. as a Democratic partisan whose case has no merit.

Vanity Fair's Bess Levin examined Fox News' coverage of the case in a scathing April 23 column. And she argued that comments from Fox News hosts have been so overwrought and melodramatic that the result has been "unintended hilarity."

Levin was especially critical of Fox News' Jesse Watters, who compared Trump's treatment during the trial to the treatment of terrorists held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

On April 22, Watters told viewers, "I call it pure evil. So, they've taken away his freedom of speech. And now, they’ve taken away his freedom of movement. So, he has to sit there all week, for six weeks — and if he says anything, they'll throw him in jail. If he leaves, they throw him in jail. That's crazy."

Watters added, "I think they bought a million-dollar soccer field for the people in Gitmo. I don’t know if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was able to visit his son for his high school graduation, but it's similar. They're freezing him to death, they're putting him in a meat locker. He said it’s, like, 45 degrees in there, and they're putting his life in danger.

Levin points out, however, that Trump is hardly being held without bail during his trial.

"It feels pretty silly to fact-check anything that anyone on Fox News ever says," the Vanity Fair columnist writes, "but just a few things of note: Trump's freedom of speech hasn't been taken away — he's just not allowed to attack any potential witnesses, among other key figures, in the trial. Requiring a defendant to be present for his criminal trial is not taking away his 'freedom of movement.' Trump's treatment is actually not 'similar' to the treatment of people at Gitmo — that is, unless Gitmo prisoners are allowed to fly home to their Palm Beach resorts on the weekends."

Levin adds that Watters "is not the only one at the network claiming the court treatment of Trump is hugely unfair."

"How long till the network likens the ex-president to Jesus Christ — and the trial to a crucifixion?" the columnist comments. "Probably not that long!"

Read Bess Levin's full Vanity Fair column at this link.

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