Fox Information hosts Harris Faulkner and Jason Chaffetz had been outraged on Tuesday after reporters dared ask Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy to touch upon former President Donald Trump’s dinner with Nick Fuentes, a infamous neo-Nazi, and Kanye West, an antisemitic rapper now referred to as Ye.
“That is why America hates the nationwide media!” Chaffetz exclaimed at one level.
The indignation over the press grilling a Republican chief to handle a rising scandal inside his personal social gathering comes as Fox Information has just about ignored the controversy—whilst some outstanding Republicans have denounced Trump for the meet-up.
Following his assembly with President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders on the White Home on Tuesday, McCarthy was lastly pressured to interrupt his days-long silence on the dinner at Mar-a-Lago. And whereas the GOP chief stated there’s “no place” within the Republican Celebration for Fuentes, McCarthy gave Trump a move.
“I believe President Trump got here out 4 instances and condemned him and didn’t know who he was,” McCarthy asserted, prompting reporters to notice in response that Trump has but to truly condemn Fuentes.
“Properly, I condemn his ideology, and it has no place in society. In any respect,” the Republican lawmaker added. “The president didn’t know who he was. He knew who Kanye West is, he stated he didn’t know who Fuentes is.”
Fox Information noon panel present Outnumbered had been carrying McCarthy’s press convention stay. And so after the congressman wrapped up his remarks, Chaffetz instantly tore into the press corps for focusing any consideration on the Fuentes controversy.
“This spending invoice that's earlier than Congress—solely bought one or two questions from the media about that. We don’t have spending in place. We now have this rail strike,” he grumbled.
“You understand what, I simply bought to say this, because of this America hates the nationwide media. Three questions on Donald Trump assembly with Ye and whoever that white—,” Chaffetz added, dismissively referencing Fuentes.
“They need clicks,” an equally outraged Faulkner interjected.
“That's so irresponsible!” Chaffetz exclaimed. “Earlier than they talked in regards to the rail strike, earlier than they talked in regards to the border, earlier than they did all this, they bought to speak about Donald Trump. That is why we hate the nationwide media!”
Previous to the press forcing McCarthy to handle the truth that the ex-president dined with a white supremacist chief simply days after asserting his 2024 presidential marketing campaign, Fox Information had largely gone radio silent on the story.
In response to each Mediaite and liberal watchdog Media Issues, the community had solely talked about the ordeal thrice on-air since Friday. The community’s high primetime stars—all of whom have served as casual advisers to Trump—have notably not touched the story in any respect.
Whereas remarking how the community’s “quiet acquiescence factors to a quandary” for Fox Information, Media Issues senior fellow Matt Gertz wrote on Tuesday that the channel can’t overtly assist the assembly as it will “threaten its relations with advertisers and cable carriers.” On the identical time, Fox “has a Tucker Carlson drawback” in terms of criticizing Trump for it.
“Fox personalities condemning Trump for assembly with Ye would quantity to a hairpin flip for the community,” Gertz said. “They had been touting Ye’s bravery simply weeks in the past after Ye talked up Trump in Carlson’s fawning interview with him.”
He added: “However as they lavished reward on the rapper, the community was maintaining beneath wraps a few of the anti-Jewish feedback West made in the identical dialogue. When Ye began making equally antisemitic remarks on social media, some at Fox criticized him – although not Carlson, who pretended that outburst hadn’t occurred and continued to laud him.”