Donald Dumped? Trump Mentioned on Fox News Far Fewer Times Than MSNBC and CNN

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There was a time, not too long ago, that Fox News earned the label of “State-Run TV” from critics for the way it covered, and perhaps even promoted, former President Donald Trump.
But a curious trend has followed his move from the White House to moved to Mar-a-Lago, where he launches email missives instead of posts on social media platforms from which he is banned: Fox News covers Trump considerably less than its cable news competitors.
And given the strong finish of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin — who has thrived despite largely eschewing Trump’s support — this is could be a concerning trend for the former president’s self-perception of the sway he holds over the Republican Party.
A search of on-air mentions of “Trump” on television transcript database TVEyes since October 1 really tells the story. Trump was mentioned on Fox News 1,761 times as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. By comparison, Trump was mentioned on CNN 2,275 times and on MSNBC, 3,088.
To be clear, this doesn’t distinguish between mentions of the 45th president, a Trump family member, or the Trump Organization itself.
In some ways, this observation is rather predictable. Fox News is a largely conservative network, and has trained its sights on the new Democratic administration, as well as political wedge issues like vaccine mandates, Critical Race Theory, and, of course, “parent’s rights” and their role in their children’s public school curriculum.
Fox News also largely ignored the role that Trump and his political allies played in the run-up of January 6th, as well as the ongoing investigation into the riot by the House Select Committee. It’s not a politically expedient story for conservative media shows to attend to, which explains why it’s largely ignored.
Ultimately, critical coverage about wacky liberals and President Joe Biden are juicier ratings targets for Fox News.
On the other side of the cable box, CNN and MSNBC have continued to cover Trump and his role in the Republican Party. Programming executives at these two networks still see Trump as a newsworthy story, and with good reason. He is the leading GOP candidate for the 2024 election, presuming he still runs, and his stranglehold over the Republican Party is still strong.
During an appearance on NewsNation’s On Balance with Leland Vittert, I noted the disparate media coverage of the Virginia governor’s race. Democratic candidate Terry McAullife tried in vain to make Youngkin look like a MAGA disciple, and many in the media amplified that narrative either out of genuine interest, bias, or just plain laziness. Fox News, however, went all-in on what I called “fear of a woke planet,” which judging by both television ratings and the latest polls, appears to be winning the day.
So why is this worth noting? Because the conventional wisdom had long noted that a powerful partnership between Trump, MAGA and Fox News would win the day. And as we can see in the data expressed above, conservatives may no longer need Trump’s involvement to either draw viewers or win elections.
There is one individual who is likely most interested in this development above: House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. I suspect he will use this sort of observation to confirm his instincts that Trump’s influence will fade, in the hopes that this particular battle in the GOP civil war, inasmuch as that’s a real thing, can be won by the establishment side.
As for CNN and MSNBC? Trump is still a ratings draw for them, as evidenced by their relentless coverage of his antics. But their ratings are way down in spite of the Trump coverage, which should prompt some broader self-reflection.
But it’s clear that Trump no longer rates for Fox like he used to. Viewers want to binge stories about CRT and liberals eating it. As for a conservative hero, even among Fox News viewers, Ron DeSantis could be a more exciting proposition than tired old Trump.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.