Fox has a new strategy to save the GOP — and Trump is furious

The famously conservative media outlet Fox News has a new strategy it hopes will help the GOP’s ailing midterm chances: “tuning out” President Donald Trump. According to Fox and Republican insiders who spoke with CNN, the network has decided that a less-is-more approach to covering the president could help reduce the electoral impact of his historical unpopularity.

“Trump keeps holding midterm election rallies, and Fox News keeps choosing not to air the rallies live,” explains CNN. “This programming decision has huge political and cultural significance. Fox News, America’s most-watched cable channel, has been one of Trump’s top ways to reach voters for more than a decade. Trump is perturbed about it. But Fox evidently doesn’t think his speeches are worth showing in full right now, which speaks volumes about this political moment. The implication: Fox agrees with the Republican candidates and strategists who are privately fretting about Trump hurting their chances in the midterms. Fox’s response is to basically turn him off.”

As veteran Republican strategist Doug Heye explains, “We talk so much about how Trump is the ‘executive producer in chief’ but often forget that even the most popular shows tend to run out of steam after one season too many.” In his assessment, “That’s exactly where we are and why — whether you’re in Lake of the Ozarks or Emmetsburg, Iowa, fewer Trump flags are being flown every day.”

While Fox hasn’t commented on the matter publicly, according to network insiders who spoke with CNN, the reduction in Trump coverage is intentional. “This is coming from the top down,” a current Fox host told CNN on the condition of anonymity. The host explained that while the reasoning hasn’t been made explicit, the conventional wisdom at the network right now is that “Trump doesn’t rate anymore.” As CNN notes, Fox executives are keenly attuned to day-to-day ratings, and it was its audience’s interest in Trump in 2016 that aligned candidate with network in the first place. But while Trump was a major ratings draw as recently as 2024, now, Trump’s speeches barely move the needle.

This shift has come as the relationship between Fox and Trump has grown increasingly strained. As CNN explains, “Last month Fox faced controversy for removing longtime anchor and Trump ally Maria Bartiromo, who had shared internal network guidance with Trump aide Peter Navarro, who then passed it along to the White House. The directive told Fox Business shows to avoid covering a prime-time Trump speech full of unverified claims about election vulnerabilities. According to Navarro, the note said, ‘Hi – we don’t want to promote it or push to the speech at all. We don’t want to do 2020 election segments at all Thurs or Friday.’ The flagship Fox News channel did air the prime-time speech in July, but barely followed up on it afterward.”

Since then, Trump has noticed Fox’s dwindling coverage of his rallies. “Sad to see that Fox & Friends (Sunday) is not covering our packed house and incredibly enthusiastic (beyond!) Rally that took place in Ohio last night, or the ones in Alabama, Texas, or Oklahoma over the past two days,” Trump posted over the weekend. Amid news reports of empty seats at some events, Trump insisted “they were all sold out,” and blamed an “old undercurrent” at Fox for ignoring him, writing, “Our people want to see our Rallies, and reports on our Rallies, on Fox News, or they will very quickly stop watching (like I am doing right now!).” But despite his assertions, according to Mediaite co-managing editor Tom Durante, who formerly worked at Fox News and its sister property, the New York Post, Trump “needs Fox way more than Fox needs him.”