With Trump calling into "Fox & Friends" today, here's a thread about the morning show's power, from the sources I interviewed for HoaxTheBook.com (1/7)
The length of Trump's phoners is something of a punchline among rank-and-file Fox staffers. "When Trump was booked for 8:10, and we had an assignment for 8:40, we didn't bother writing it, because we knew he'd talk until the end of the hour," a morning show producer said
Another running joke among the staff: The fact that Trump rates the hosts. Ainsley Earhardt: a 10. Steve Doocy: a 12. Trump graded Brian Kilmeade to his face in a 2019 interview: "I used to say you, you were a solid 6, maybe a 7, but you're getting much better."
"Fox & Friends" embodies everything that Fox fans love and critics lament about the network: The cheap partisanship, "resentment news" bent, the lack of vetting and fact-checking. Trump has been a friend of the show for a decade, dating back to his weekly call-in segment in 2011.
In the weekly calls, Trump got to know Fox’s priorities and the viewers who became his voters. From Page 46 of HOAX: "Through the topics chosen by producers, through the coaching of the hosts, and through the feedback on Twitter, Trump learned how to be the Fox News president."
When Trump was elected, "the hosts realized, 'This is a real opportunity for me too,'" an insider said.
"We started to make decisions for Trump," a former host said, "meaning a lot of the decisions that were made on stories to cover were based on the fact that he was watching."
"We started to make decisions for Trump," a former host said, "meaning a lot of the decisions that were made on stories to cover were based on the fact that he was watching."
This quote from a former A.M. producer has gotten a lot of attention: "People think he's calling up Fox & Friends and telling us what to say. Hell no. It's the opposite. WE tell HIM what to say." There's a LOT more in the book – order your copy at BuyHoax.com (7/7) 
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