Donald Trump has spent nearly every day for two weeks making hysterical claims about CBS News and “60 Minutes” — and the former president’s efforts are ongoing. At the same time, however, he has also levied a variety of public criticisms at Fox News.
The details, however, make all the difference. Trump is furious with CBS over imagined bias; he’s simultaneously upset with Fox for not being biased enough.
To briefly summarize, the GOP nominee has accused CBS and the producers of “60 Minutes” of airing an unduly edited interview with Vice President Kamala Harris two weeks ago. Trump has come up with all kinds of bizarre elements to his conspiracy theory — at times, he has gone so far as to argue that the show “created” answers intended to make the Democrat look better — and he has made all kinds of similarly preposterous demands, insisting that “60 Minutes” be pulled from the airwaves and that CBS should lose its broadcast license.
The network has patiently explained that Trump’s claims are baseless, but as recently as Friday, the Republican presidential nominee not only reiterated his proposed punishments, he also added a new threat, saying he’s considering a lawsuit against CBS.
What would the litigation be about? On what grounds would he sue? No one knows, including Trump, because the idea of suing a broadcaster for editing an interview for length — a standard and uncontroversial move at every outlet — is bonkers.
But that’s not all Trump said on Friday. NBC News reported:
Trump said in a lengthy appearance on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” this morning that he doesn’t like how the conservative network is running negative ads about him and his campaign. “I’m going to see Rupert Murdoch. I’m going to tell him something very simple, because I can’t talk to anybody else: Don’t put on negative commercials for 21 days,” Trump said in a seemingly half-joking way. “I’m gonna say, ‘Rupert, please do it this way,’ and then we have a victory,” Trump said.
To be sure, this wasn’t altogether new. As regular readers know, in recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly complained — online and at rallies — that Fox News is a source of personal disappointment. He has admonished the network for airing commercials he disapproves of and booking guests that don’t toe the party line. But on Friday morning, the former president nevertheless appeared on the set of “Fox & Friends” and made the case to the co-hosts in person that the network should only air ads that align with his political wishes. He added that in the “old days,” Fox News was better about blocking commercials that might undermine Republican candidates. In theory, the “Fox & Friends” co-hosts could’ve pushed back and claimed to work for an independent news organization with high journalistic standards. In practice, they didn’t bother. I’ll leave it to others to speculate as to why they didn’t protest. But stepping back, let’s not miss the forest for the trees. For all of Trump’s bluster about media “bias,” these public comments gave away the game: He loves biased media outlets, just so long as they’re biased in his favor.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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