As a rule, Donald Trump and his team celebrate when prominent media professionals are ousted. There are, however, some notable exceptions.
It was about a week ago when Fox News Media announced that it had parted ways with Maria Bartiromo, a longtime Fox Business anchor and relentlessly sycophantic presidential ally. Media reporter Oliver Darcy wrote for Status that Bartiromo was taken off air because she shared internal network guidance with the White House in July. (Bartiromo on Thursday published her first statement since her ouster, writing in a social media post, “Thank you to all friends & followers for your amazing words I am so grateful for the outpouring of love. I love you all.”
Trump expressed shock and disappointment soon after Fox News’ announcement last week. “I can’t believe Maria Bartiromo is no longer going to have her great show(s) on FoxNews/Business,” he wrote on his social media platform, adding, “Maria is a total professional, and a true warrior. Her fans, of which there are many, will not be happy.”
The White House’s pushback, however, wasn’t limited to public criticism. The Washington Sun reported:
A top adviser to President Donald Trump said this week that unnamed White House officials called Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott to complain following the network’s ouster of longtime personality Maria Bartiromo.
It’s the latest twist in a long and complicated relationship between the Trump-era White House and Fox News, and comes after reports suggested Bartiromo’s ouster was a result of her decision to share newsroom communications about coverage with the White House.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who routinely strays from his lane, appeared on Newsmax this week and was asked about what had transpired behind the scenes.
While Navarro initially laughed and said he didn’t want to go into detail, he told host Greg Kelly and viewers, “Suffice it to say that Suzanne Scott got a call, and basically the White House let her know that that kind of thing is totally unacceptable.” (Why it would be unacceptable for a media outlet to oust an employee for sharing internal information with the White House is unclear.)
Navarro went on to say of Fox, “That place is out of control,” adding, “The bigger story here is, forget about anybody thinking that Fox is a conservative network that’s friendly to MAGA, that’s friendly to Trump.”
For good measure, he concluded by complaining about Fox having fired Lou Dobbs (five years ago) and Tucker Carlson (three years ago).
Navarro’s comments were provocative, but they didn’t come out of nowhere. It was just a few weeks ago when Trump himself whined online that Shannon Bream’s Fox show “is so biased against MAGA, ‘TRUMP,’ and Republicans, that it is ridiculous!” (I don’t know why the president refers to himself in the third person while putting quotation marks around his name.)
A few months earlier, after Trump saw a Democrat on Fox News, he similarly wrote, “MAGA Republicans, who are actually close to 100% of the Party, hate Fox, despite the wonderful contributions made by so many of their great anchors and commentators. Hard to win Elections like this!”
The broader message isn’t exactly subtle: Trump and his team expect Fox to do even more to toe the party line and help Republicans.
This article has been updated to include Maria Bartiromo’s message on social media.
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