Transcript: Fox’s Dumb Spin on RFK Fiasco in Senate Backfires on Trump
Sargent: Well, what I find really striking about this, as you mentioned earlier, is that Fox News does seem to recognize how politically lethal it is for Trump if what RFK is actually doing as health secretary is revealed to American voters. Look, even Republican and conservative voters don’t like this stuff. The problem is that Americans value our public health system. It just is a pillar of American greatness, just as the scientific infrastructure Trump is destroying also is a pillar of national greatness. Fox is aware of that problem, right? Isn’t that what they’re trying to navigate? Can you talk about that?
Gertz: It’s an interesting predicament for them because I think they recognize that to be an outlet in good standing with the MAGA movement, they need to find a way to support Kennedy. If they don’t, they’re going to come under fire from the right. They experienced some of that actually the morning of the hearing when they weren’t carrying it right away. They didn’t carry Kennedy’s opening statement. They jumped in later. And when that happened—when they failed to immediately start airing it live—you had Steve Bannon on his podcast immediately pointing this out and saying, It’s because they’re in bed with the pharmaceutical companies, and, Fox News just isn’t on board with the MAGA agenda. And when you see that, it’s an indication that the network is caught between reality and its viewer base. And that’s always a precarious position for Fox News. So they’re trying to find ways to be supportive of Kennedy. As of yet, they are avoiding being blatantly anti-vax in its entirety.
Actually, a related story that I’ve been tracking is we had Florida’s top medical official come out and repeal all vaccine mandates in that state, including for children who go to public schools. And Fox’s coverage of that has been, I would say, similarly tense. I think in an ideal world for Fox News, Kennedy would not be trying to take vaccines away from people. But that, I think, is going to come to a head later this month, because what we’ve been hearing for weeks now is that Kennedy claims he has found the cause of autism and is going to announce it later in September. That is almost certainly going to be his way of attacking the vaccine schedule, of pushing the lie that vaccines are the cause of increases in autism. That’s a well-known conspiracy theory and falsehood. But it does seem like that’s the direction where all this is heading. And when that happens, Fox News is going to have a choice to make. They are going to have to reckon with that reality in some way. I think it’s going to be pretty significant where they come down.
