Fox News Channel had a great market niche: half of the country, as the late Roger Ailes and Charles Krauthammer both quipped. For reasons that only can be speculated on, the network that once was a safe harbor for conservatives navigating the Trump-hating media seas, discarded its lock on half of the market. First, its “Decision Desk” prematurely called Arizona for Biden, though a recount continues with Biden’s lead shrinking every day, and then on Saturday, 10 minutes after CNN and MSNBC, it went all-in on selling the fake news that Joseph Robinette Biden was “elected.”
Speaking for myself, my sense of affiliation with Fox News has been destroyed. They are selling what I believe to be a stolen election long before the constitutional processes to safeguard a presidential election have been followed.
Yesterday, 8 days late, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum both broadcast brief acknowledgements from the “Decision Desk” that it had blown its call that Democrats would enlarge their House majority. Interestingly, the waited until they felt they could “call” that Democrats would retain their majority before acknowledging their error. And they offered no explanation at all as to how they could have been so wrong.
President Trump is not pleased, and has tweeted about FNC’s subsequent ratings decline:
.@FoxNews daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2020
