Donald Trump has been in a war of words with the mainstream media ever since he launched his campaign for president back in June 2015. While most news outlets have been critical of Trump, he's found a mostly safe space in Fox News.
Trump and Fox News
With names like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly holding down the primetime line-up, Fox News has been the number one source of news and information for Republicans and conservative Americans for over 20 years. Due to their conservative slant, it wasn't a surprise when network became Donald Trump's favorite cable news channel during the election, often praising the station and its hosts while smearing the competition as "fake news" and the "opposition party." Though some at the network have been more vocal against the president in recent weeks, it's still considered Trump's number one source for cable news information.
As seen on CNN on March 18, one network contributor decided to lash out.
Joining CNN host Fredericka Whitfield was network contributor and analyst Brian Stelter, who didn't hold back his thoughts on Donald Trump and his relationship with Fox News. Stelter went off on Trump, pointing to his Friday press conference where he appeared to deflect blame over his baseless wiretapping conspiracy onto Fox News.
Fox News anchor Shep Smith: ‘No evidence of any kind’ that Obama wiretapped Trump https://t.co/jP5mDqMwOH pic.twitter.com/vl4Mlk3tjm
— POLITICO (@politico) March 17, 2017
"It's the president's favorite network," Brian Stelter said, while adding, "It's not often you hear any president say, 'Go talk to that cable channel.
This is their issue, not mine.'" Not stopping there, Stelter continued to dig into the former host of "The Apprentice" over his close relationship with the cable news channel in question.
CNN’s Brian Stelter rips Trump’s ‘Fox News presidency’: ‘He’s in a feedback loop with one outlet’ https://t.co/7Rhlinb1eR pic.twitter.com/eOJ0HEHwg0
— Raw Story (@RawStory) March 18, 2017
Fox friendly
Brian Stelter went on to label Donald Trump's short time in office as a "Fox News presidency." "He watches Fox a lot, he tweets about Fox, he gives most of his interviews to Fox," the CNN contributor said, before pointing out that Trump has hired former Fox News staff members to serve in his administration, while saying the president "peddles information" from the conservative network.
Trump has not issued any further comment about the network since the aforementioned press conference, but it's unlikely he will speak down to the cable channel that gives him the most positive coverage.