Donald Trump has launched a sharp attack on Fox News, accusing the network of devoting more airtime to defending Democrats than presenting Republican viewpoints.
The former president issued the broadside Monday morning as he prepared to travel to Wichita for a campaign rally supporting vulnerable Republican Senator Roger Marshall ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
“Fox spends more time defending Dumocrats, and putting on their views versus their Republican opponent, than at any time in the history of Fox News. It’s ridiculous!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He also accused Fox of trying “too hard to be politically correct” and urged supporters to watch his Kansas rally on the Right Side Broadcast Network, or RSBN, which he praised for its early coverage.
The criticism is the latest in a series of attacks Trump has directed at Fox News in less than three weeks, despite the network’s long-standing role as a central media platform for his MAGA movement.
The latest wave began on September 30, when Trump questioned why Fox was featuring Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Jessica Tarlov “and every Democrat” while allowing them to make what he described as attacks on the Republican Party and himself.
Several days later, he complained that Fox & Friends had failed to cover his “packed house” rally in Vandalia, Ohio. Trump said the program was spending too much time speaking with “Communists, Socialists, and Dumocrats,” often without offering a rebuttal.
On October 6, Trump renewed his criticism, calling independent Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborn a “sleazebag” and accusing Fox anchor Martha MacCallum of taking a softer approach with Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. “She never interviews me like that,” he wrote.
Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Marine One on the White House South Lawn in Washington, DC, on October 16.
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity interviews Republican vice-presidential candidate and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance at the Fiserv Forum during the opening day of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Laura Ingraham attends Fox News’ Super Tuesday 2024 primary election coverage at the network’s studios on March 5, 2024, in New York City.
Trump’s Fox feud erupts as approval rating hits new low
“Fox is promoting the Dumocrats, not the Republicans and MAGA,” Trump wrote. “They have totally lost their way!”
The Daily Mail has contacted Fox News for comment.
Trump’s latest complaints followed Fox’s polling report last week, which showed his approval rating falling to a second-term low of 36 percent. Sixty-four percent of voters disapproved of his performance, while Democrats held a nine-point advantage over Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
Republicans are widely expected to lose control of the House, and their Senate majority is also facing a significant challenge.
The latest model from election forecaster Nate Silver gives Democrats a 75 percent chance of taking the Senate. They would need a net gain of four seats to secure control of the chamber.
Marshall’s Kansas seat is among those considered vulnerable. The Republican is locked in a close contest with Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor from Overland Park.
Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, but the Cook Political Report shifted the race to toss-up status earlier this month.
Trump has publicly backed Marshall, describing him as “great” and “a wonderful person.” In a Truth Social post last week, he said the senator had received a “bum rap” because he was required by law to seek money owed by patients.
Martha MacCallum hosts The Story With Martha MacCallum at Fox News Channel Studios on October 5.
US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed visits ‘The Story With Martha MacCallum’ at Fox News Channel Studios on October 5.
Republicans turn on Trump as election fears mount
Marshall, an OB-GYN who practiced in Great Bend for two decades before entering Congress, sued more than 700 of his patients over unpaid medical bills, the New York Times revealed last month.
The senator has dismissed the report as a Democrat-planted hit job, insisting only ‘a very small, small, small fraction of the unpaid bills even went to collections.’
Trump’s Fox tirade comes as Republicans brace for potentially catastrophic losses next month, with GOP strategists and leaders already pointing fingers at each other, and even at the president.
House Republicans are blaming the Senate. Senators are privately pointing at Trump. And vulnerable candidates are lashing out at their own party committees.
‘If it happens, there will be plenty of blame to go around,’ New Jersey Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew warned of the impending losses, per Politico.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos survey released Sunday put Trump’s approval even lower than Fox’s, at 33 percent of US adults, with 66 percent disapproving and 52 percent strongly disapproving.
The finger-pointing follows a string of alarming internal polls that reportedly show Republicans in danger not only in traditional battlegrounds, but in once-safe red districts.
Particularly infuriating for House members is the Senate map, where Republicans have been forced to dump eye-watering sums into races they never expected to defend.
US Senator Roger Marshall, Republican from Kansas waves as and US Senator Eric Schmitt, Republican from Missouri looks on during an event with US Vice President JD Vance at Webco Manufacturing in Olathe, Kansas, on September 14.
GOP infighting erupts as Senate races drain millions
The leading Senate GOP super PAC and Trump’s MAGA Inc. have spent nearly $200 million trying to rescue Ken Paxton in Texas, where he is locked in an unexpectedly tight battle against Democrat James Talarico.
Trump has already decided who will take the blame if Paxton falls.
‘If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of weak and ineffective Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove,’ he wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.
‘All of this money that was expected to go to the House, for the most part, is now being wasted on the Senate because they [expletive] up so bad,’ one national GOP operative fumed, per Politico.
But some Republicans believe the real problem sits in the White House.
Retiring Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon told Politico that Trump’s weak polling and high unfavorable ratings are dragging down GOP candidates, while others privately blame his tariffs and the Iran war for anger over rising costs.
Florida Representative Anna Paulina Luna has turned her fire on the National Republican Congressional Committee, accusing party leaders of getting distracted by internal leadership jockeying.
‘I am also getting calls from members wondering what is going on at the @NRCC,’ Luna wrote on social media.
‘Sounds to me like some in leadership need to focus on winning races instead of gaming their next steak donor dinner,’ she added.
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy has mocked National Republican Senatorial Committee consultants, telling reporters last month he trusts his own reading of the polls over strategists because all they care about is ‘buying Porsches.’
Kennedy also said he plans to spend $5 million to $8 million from his own campaign war chest in states he sees as crucial to holding the Senate.
Trump allies are now warning candidates that attacking Democrats may no longer be enough, urging them to hammer a positive economic message on how they will lower living costs.
NRSC chairman Tim Scott remains defiant, telling reporters on a press call earlier this month that he expects his party to hold its Senate majority and possibly expand it.