President Trump lashed out at one of his favorite media punching bags, Fox News’ Shepard Smith, on Wednesday.
“Watching Fake News CNN is better than watching Shepard Smith, the lowest rated show on @FoxNews,” Trump tweeted. “Actually, whenever possible, I turn to [One America News Network]!”
President Trump has taken an increasingly critical view of Fox News in recent months. While Trump enjoys a close relationship with opinion hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, he has singled out Smith and other news anchors who are more critical of Trump.
Trump comes out swinging
It’s not clear what, if anything in particular, motivated Trump’s tweet, but the missive came as media pundits have ramped up attacks on president Trump in the wake of two mass shootings last weekend, one of which was allegedly carried out by an anti-immigrant gunman. Talking heads have blamed President Trump for the violence by stoking racial tensions.
Smith “fact checked” one of Trump’s allies on the network, Tucker Carlson, after the opinion host claimed that white supremacy was “not a threat” Tuesday night. Smith said that white supremacy is “without question” a serious problem in America.
The divergent responses of Smith and Carlson to Trump’s latest controversy summarize the president’s ambivalent relationship with Fox: while the network’s highest rated, primetime shows are staunchly pro-Trump, more moderate news anchors have often broken with the president. Smith stands out for his relentless criticism, which tends to follow the Democrat party line. Last month, Smith blasted Trump for telling four minority Democratic lawmakers to “go back” to their home country, saying that Trump was “misleading and xenophobic eruption of distraction and division.”
Trump’s tweet came the same day that he visited El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio to show solidarity with the grieving cities. The president also lashed out at the New York Times for changing its Tuesday headline about Trump’s response to the mass shootings after liberals complained it didn’t go far enough to blame the president, tweeting, “‘Trump Urges Unity Vs. Racism,’ was the correct description in the first headline by the Failing New York Times, but it was quickly changed to, ‘Assailing Hate But Not Guns,’ after the Radical Left Democrats went absolutely CRAZY!”
Fragile friendship with Fox
However, the New York Times learned its lesson and got back to regular party programming by publishing new headlines bashing Trump’s Wednesday visits to El Paso and Dayton.
Smith is no friend to Fox’s core audience, but liberals love him for echoing MSNBC talking points on a conservative network. The anchor has repeatedly accused Trump of racism and even suggested that he broke the law by obstructing Robert Mueller’s investigation.
While Trump often focuses his criticism on the “Fake News” liberal media, he has rebuked Fox more often in the last few months over a perceived editorial shift, with Smith being a prime target. The president lamented that Fox “ain’t what it used to be” last month after watching Fox’s Martha McCallum give a “softball” interview to former Democrat primary candidate Eric Swalwell (D-CA). Back in March, Trump joked about Smith’s ratings and said he might be a better fit at a different network.
The president was characteristically blunt, tweeting, “Were @FoxNews weekend anchors, @ArthelNeville and @LelandVittert, trained by CNN prior to their ratings collapse? In any event, that’s where they should be working, along with their lowest rated anchor, Shepard Smith!”
Not every journalist on Fox needs to congratulate Trump every five seconds, but Smith is just a liberal bobblehead. What’s he doing on Fox?
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