Fox hosts squirm as Trump calls in to slam election coverage on live TV

Donald Trump talking to Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum during a March 2020 townhall (Creative Commons)

Fox News hosts squirmed and struggled to defend the network on Election Night, as President Donald Trump called in and lashed out at their midterm coverage to their faces as he grappled with seismic losses.

Per a report from Mediaite, Trump called in to Fox News as the Democratic wins rolled in on Election Night. While Trump was more measured with other outlets, congratulating the opposition party and claiming that he would accept the night's results, he was far more cantankerous with the Fox hosts, attacking their polling and coverage.

At one point, Trump claimed that a recent CNN poll showed that he had "99 percent approval in the Republican Party," despite the fact that no such poll results seem to exist. Based on that alleged polling, Trump then proceeded to attack the network's own polling and accuse its coverage of helping sway the midterms away from Republicans.

“And then I read on Fox, I’m not popular,” Trump said. “The Fox polls are terrible. You ought to get yourself a good pollster because your pollster is the worst.”

Host Bret Baier responded: “But tonight, actually, the results are pretty close to what the Fox polls showed.”

“I don’t know about that," Trump continued. "I can just say, speaking for myself. The results with Fox with me were wrong for 12 years. They have gotten me wrong for 12 years, but I don’t care. It doesn’t matter.”

Trump was generally unsparing towards the conservative news network throughout the night, frequently attacking its hosts and coverage on Truth Social, including, at one point, attacking pundit Jessica Tarlov for her voice.

“Watching the Pre-Election Results on FoxNews, but I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice — DUMB AS A ROCK, but it’s the voice that gets me,” Trump posted. “Have to go somewhere else until that LOSER is off the air — I’ll be back later!”

In another post, he again attacked the network's polling, arguing that it was "always the worst." Trump has frequently attacked the network's polling outfit — known to be more neutral and down-the-line than the network's conservative reputation would suggest — whenever it has shown Democrats performing well.

"The FoxNews Poll, always the worst, is so insulting with the questions they ask,” the post read. “Every question is a hit job, and every answer is “BULLSHIT!” This has been going on for years.”

He added in another post: “FoxNews Ratings are way down (27 percent!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats!” Trump wrote. “All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It’s them, not me — my numbers are better than they have ever been.”

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