In several of those cases, the locals Fox has highlighted are also Republican strategists, conservative think-tankers, or right-wing media figures -- ties the network has downplayed or ignored altogether.
Ian Prior is a GOP operative who worked for the NRCC, American Crossroads, and Trump’s DOJ. He runs his own Republican PR shop.
Quisha King is a Republican strategist who was regional engagement coordinator for the Republican National Committee in 2020 and now runs her own political media consulting firm.
Patti Hidalgo Menders is “Virginia State Strategist” for Majority Strategies, a massive GOP direct mail and digital firm that has worked for McConnell and every "official GOP presidential nominee since 2000.”
Lilet Vanetsyan is affiliated with the Trumpist youth organization Turning Point USA, runs a “Teachers for Trump” Instagram account, and was a reporter for the pro-Trump Right Side Broadcasting Network. Her goal is to open the “The Donald J. Trump School of Excellence.”
Barry Bennett was a “senior adviser” to Trump’s 2016 campaign, founded a prominent GOP lobby shop, and runs his own government relations and political consulting firm.
Nicole Neily has spent her entire career working in and for libertarian and conservative political advocacy organizations and think tanks, including stints at FreedomWorks, the Cato Institute, the Independent Women’s Forum, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Policy.
Elizabeth Schultz was notorious on the board for taking anti-LGBT stands, and served in Trump's DoE.
Carrie Lukas is president of the conservative Independent Women's Forum, previously working for House GOP and Cato.
Bridget Ziegler is a GOP activist. She is a precinct committeewoman for the Republican Party of Sarasota County and a member of seven different local GOP organizations, according to her school board candidate bio.
Deborah Flora hosts a right-wing radio program on a Salem station where she also serves as director of public policy. She became a minor right-wing celebrity for starring in an anti-abortion film in 2006.
Joe Mobley hosts a political self-help podcast that purports to teach conservative listeners how to respond to criticisms from liberals.
Republican strategists have every right to advocate for their children and their communities, if not to manipulate nationwide education priorities.
But since Fox has identified opposition to “critical race theory” as central to the party’s political strategy, the network has a responsibility to inform its viewers about exactly who it’s talking to. #end
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1. A Fox host told Trump over lunch two weeks ago that Iran was days from a nuke, which he apparently believed over the denials of the former Fox contributor he made director of national intelligence.
2. Then Trump woke up on Friday and saw wall-to-wall positive coverage of Israeli strikes on Iran, and decided he wanted some credit.
3. Now the former Fox host Trump named Secretary of Defense has the U.S. military marshaling forces in the region while a different former Fox host has been in a scorched-earth fight with the first Fox host to capture Trump's attention and stop it.
1. I'm going to thread out the very odd sequence of events that led Fox News anchor John Robert, theoretically a "straight news" guy, to pretend the early hours of June 7 actually happened a day ago in order to avoid pointing out that Donald Trump was wrong about something.
2. A few hours ago at the White House, Trump was asked when he last spoke to CA Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump replied that they had spoked "a day ago."
Pirro stands out, even among the long list of shills and propagandists Fox employs, as a diehard Trump sycophant. In 2018, my late colleague Simon Maloy wrote that her "advocacy for the president is so aggressive that it often borders on insane -- some of her commentary would be at home in an authoritarian state media apparatus." mediamatters.org/jeanine-pirro/…
Here's a thread of notes on Pete Hegseth, the Fox & Friends weekend co-host that Donald Trump is trying to make Defense Secretary, overseeing the U.S. military, massive Pentagon budget and bureaucracy, and sixth in line to the presidency.
Hegseth is an extreme hawk who has backed attacks on Iranian infrastructure and cultural sites and even floated a “preemptive strike” against North Korea. mediamatters.org/pete-hegseth/t…
Hegseth has complained that military rules of engagement in combat zones are “a huge problem” and were “written for us to lose.” He's backed that up by successfully lobbying Trump to give clemency to alleged and convicted U.S. war criminals. mediamatters.org/pete-hegseth/t…
Takeaway from the truck stunt is Trump won’t say anything bad about the supporter who spoke at his rally and called PR garbage, and indeed doesn’t seem able to even denounce the comment.
He’s just giving those influential Puerto Ricans who have been expressing outrage about the comments all week new material to post about, insane self-own.
Trumpy billionaires are hoping to ride a wave of grievance into power, then use it to cut their own taxes and demolish their competitors.
In exchange for his support, Trump is offering Elon Musk the power to, in Musk's own telling, destroy Tesla's domestic competitors.
The result would reverse the domestic manufacturing renaissance spurred by the Inflation Reduction Act, eliminating good jobs in Republican parts of the country.