A veteran Fox News host is infuriating MAGA Republicans — here's why

18 March 2024

Right-wing Fox News has had plenty of turnover during its 28-year history.

But "Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy, like Sean Hannity, has been with the right-wing cable TV outlet since 1996 — the year it was launched. And Fox News chose Doocy as a "Fox & Friends" co-host in 1998.

Politically, Doocy is clearly on the right; his politics have always been conservative. But the Washington Post's Jeremy Barr, in an article published on March 18, stresses that in recent months, Doocy has been "the resident dissenter" on "Fox & Friends" and "a rare member of the Fox News opinion wing who is challenging conventional Republican wisdom on a regular basis."

"In particular," Barr observes, "Doocy has stood out as a skeptic of congressional investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden, bucking the party line while Fox hosts like Sean Hannity regularly decry what they call 'the Biden crime family.' He has also emphasized the significance — and veracity — of the legal challenges facing (former President Donald) Trump, talked up Trump challengers like Nikki Haley, and dinged the MAGA wing of the Republican Party."

Barr notes that in 2021, Doocy "emerged as a prominent promoter of the coronavirus vaccine" — in contrast to all the anti-vaxxers on Fox News. Doocy, according to Barr, has "clashed with" Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minnesota) on immigration, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) is even boycotting "Fox & Friends" because of Doocy's views on the Biden impeachment effort.

Dan Cassino, author of the 2016 book "Fox News and American Politics: How One Channel Shapes American Politics and Society," told the Washington Post, "(Doocy) gets to express some skepticism about the narratives that are being pushed on his show that you don't get from anyone else. He's not there as part of the ideological project. He's there as an affable morning TV host."

Read The Washington Post's full report at this link (subscription required).

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