'Comically corrupt': Analysis bashes Lara Trump’s Fox News deal
On January 17 — three days before Joe Biden's presidency ended and Donald Trump returned to the White House — Lara Trump's position as co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC) ended.
Lara Trump was reportedly being considered to take over the U.S. Senate seat that Marco Rubio vacated to become secretary of state in Donald Trump's second administration. But that didn't happen. And on February 5, the New York Times reported that Lara Trump will begin hosting a new weekend show on Fox News (where she was a contributor in the past).
"My View With Lara Trump" is scheduled to debut on Saturday, February 22. Lara Trump is married to President Trump's son Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization.
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In an op-ed published by MSNBC on February 6, Media Matters' Matt Gertz is vehemently critical of Lara Trump's new deal with Fox News — an "arrangement" he slams as "almost comically corrupt."
"No one should have any illusions that Fox has hired Lara Trump to produce anything other than crude propaganda for her father-in-law and his administration," Gertz argues. "And the arrangement for Fox to put money into the president's family member’s bank account became public two days after Donald Trump met with network owner Rupert Murdoch in the Oval Office and publicly criticized his Wall Street Journal's editorial board."
Gertz adds, "No credible news outlet would employ the president’s relative as a host. But Fox doesn't function like a normal news outlet, and its executives apparently no longer care to pretend otherwise."
Gertz describes Fox News' coverage of the first Trump Administration as "an endless stream of sycophancy."
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"As pro-Trump employees moved through a revolving door between Fox News and the administration," Gertz explains, "dissidents left the network and publicly warned that it had become a mouthpiece for the White House. Meanwhile, Murdoch received favorable regulatory treatment, even as (President) Trump put the hammer to more critical news outlets…. Now, in Trump’s second term, it's all happening again…. Lara Trump’s hiring eliminates any subtext."
Gertz continues, "No outlet that prioritizes providing the news for its audience would put the sitting president's daughter-in-law on its payroll. Fox operates under different rules and has different goals — and the network no longer cares who knows it."
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Matt Gertz's full op-ed for MSNBC op-ed is available at this link.
