Steve Sailer writes: “I don’t know much about cable TV news, in part because the kind of stuff that Fox News gets worked up over, like Benghazi, usually doesn’t strike me as all that interesting. So, I’m just speculating wildly here, but my vague impression is that a subtext to all the Fox v. Trump bickering and making up and breaking up against is that, besides the 2016 election, Rupert Murdoch likely sees a “Trump News” as the most threatening potential entrant to attempt to break up Fox’s apparently quite profitable domination of conservative cable news. (My impression is that Murdoch is more serious about business than politics.) So there’s a lot of sparring and shadowboxing between Fox and Trump.”
Comments to Steve Sailer:
* Murdoch is the sugar daddy of neoconservatives, Trump is the repudiation of neoconservatism. No more than that. Alienating viewers will probably stop them openly endorsing Hilary. Trump has already faced them down over the attempted Megyn Kelly hit.
* My impression from multiple sources is that Murdoch doesn’t particularly care about neoconservatism, it was just a smart choice for the protection of his business interests. Murdoch is a great businessman. Murdoch explained to a friend of mine: To do business in America, you don’t need all the Jews in New York on your side, but you do need some of them.
* The Cheney/Kristal/Perle neocon group were the most enthusiastic supporters of the war for sure, but it was hardly a difficult sale for them. We had a string of easy feel-good wins with Iraq I, bombing Serbia into submission, and beating the Taliban with minimal ground forces.
A major war is great for news ratings. It was the entire media that supported the Iraq War. Other than Krugman, I cannot think of any major name in the media who strongly opposed the war. On the right all I can think of was Pat Buchanan. Certainly not the people running even the NY Times or Washington Post.
* Fox tried to use the first debate to eliminate Trump from the Republican race. The ultimate hope was to physically remove him from the stage during the debate.
Here is the beginning of a Los Angeles Times article, written by Stephen Battaglio, titled “How Fox anchor Bret Baier prepared for the GOP debate and got an instant headline out of Donald Trump”
With the Republican presidential primary debate less than 10 hours away, Fox News anchors Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier sat at a long table with their producers and once again went over the game plan for the big night.
Leaning into their laptop computers, they reviewed not just the questions they would ask but the structure of every query, keeping in mind the constraints of time and the need to avoid repeating topics.
As they sorted and re-sorted questions, the unpredictability of real estate tycoon and reality-TV star Donald Trump was never far from their minds.
“I would say the level is about an eight on the concern meter because of the unknown,” Baier said.
Baier even had a “nuclear option” at the ready for Trump if he ignored all protocol.
The script — which Baier didn’t have to use — took a page from Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice” TV show. It went like this: “Mr. Trump, in your business you have rules. You follow rules. We have rules on this stage. We don’t want to have to escort you to the elevator outside this boardroom.”
Bret Baier ‘locked and loaded’ for debate
“We’re hoping we don’t have to use it,” Baier said later. “[But] we’re locked and loaded.”
* Fox News is neocon central, and I don’t think that’s some sort of accident, or because conservatism now means neoconservatism. Immigration is a hot button issue with conservatives, but one Fox was trying to minimize until Trump forced it onto the table. Mickey Kaus lost his slot at Fox-owned Daily Caller because he insisted on commenting on Fox’s reluctance to cover the issue.
The regular pundits it employs are the pantheon of neocons.
On the 6 o’clock “Special Report,” the Fox All-Stars panel makes weekly predictions on the chances of the Republicans seeking the nomination. Throughout the summer, they were all touting Jeb with Marco as backup. Host Bret Baier told the panel that their viewers were leaning heavily toward Trump and Cruz, and asked why the views of the panel were so much at odds with that. Krauthammer said, “I guess because we’re all neocons.” I think it was meant as a joke, but there was a short uncomfortable silence. Neocons aren’t supposed to acknowledge that they don’t represent the conservative base. The visceral anger many of the Fox pundits have displayed toward Trump was due to the fact that he exposes this.
I’ve noticed that the ridicule of Trump has damped down a bit as he continues to do well in the polls.
