Fox News Is Dominating TV — And Shaping Trump’s Pivot From Epstein Scandal

(AP Photo/Matt Freed)

Fox News just hit a stunning milestone that says far more about American politics than it does about American viewing habits.

According to Nielsen data shared by Fox, the pro-Trump cable news network has been television’s highest-rated network this summer, topping even broadcast networks in prime time, averaging nearly three million viewers since Memorial Day. For the last month, and for the first time in history, prime time on Fox News bested not just the cable news competition but also NBC, CBS, and ABC.

The network has achieved this success, in no small part, thanks to a unique formula of political coverage that has intensified over the years by focusing on what its viewers want to see: President Donald Trump’s victories, downplaying his scandals, and attacking his critics. It’s an editorial formula that has made the cable network number one in all of television.

Lately, that has involved aiding Trump’s shameless attempt to deflect from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal — or hoax, as Trump’s dubbed it — and draw his supporters’ eyes instead to the totally bunk “Obama scandal,” which he has declared treasonous.

Over the past two weeks, a shocking new chapter of the Epstein saga broke open. The Wall Street Journal, owned, like Fox News, by Rupert Murdoch, reported two bombshells. The first was a birthday letter Trump wrote to Epstein — complete with a bawdy doodle — during a time the two were known to be friendly. “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” Trump wrote to the infamous sex criminal.

Perhaps sensing the gravity of his predicament, Trump sued News Corporation and Murdoch, accusing them of defamation. The report, if it concerned any prominent Democrat, is the kind of conspiracy-tinged scandal that would have provided fodder for years of Fox News segments.

How did the network address this growing scandal? Largely with silence. Not just a lack of scrutiny — an almost total blackout. Prime time heavyweights like Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, and Laura Ingraham haven’t touched it apart from Ingraham’s embarrassing tease that was never fulfilled. The Five hasn’t debated it. No panels, no commentary, no coverage. The biggest political scandal of the summer, potentially unraveling the base of support for the leader of the Republican Party — and Fox won’t go near it.

On Wednesday, the Journal broke what might be an even bigger bombshell, reporting that Attorney General Pam Bondi had informed Trump in May that he was in the Epstein files, months before the administration released the now infamous memo declaring the Epstein case closed. The reporting, if true, would prove Trump lied when he told reporters that he was never informed by Bondi that he was named in the files.

Fox largely looked the other way. That explosive fact, which would have triggered wall-to-wall coverage had it involved Barack Obama or Joe Biden, was barely acknowledged.

Fox’s chief political anchor, Bret Baier, gave did mention it during Wednesday night’s broadcast — but the story was immediately buried, never elevated to the outraged coverage Fox is known for when a Democrat is even tangentially connected to a controversy.

“And there is word tonight that President Trump has been told he is mentioned in the Epstein documents” Baier mentioned before introducing correspondent David Spunt, who included that massive bit of information as an aside.

“Fox confirms during a meeting in the spring the attorney general told President Trump his name was in the Epstein files,” Spunt noted, befor amplifying what could easily pass as White House talking points. “We are told he figured so, as he previously acknowledged publicly, that he did have contacts with Epstein over the years but eventually cut off. Bondi reiterated that because his name was mentioned, it did not mean it was in a nefarious context.” A smilier brush off came up briefly in later panel discussion, from which Katie Pavelich was quick to pivot away.

Imagine if Merrick Garland had told Biden that the former president was in the Epstein files two months before the case was officially closed? There would be days of coverage, chyrons in all caps, and relentless speculation. Instead, Fox shrugged.

Amidst all this silence, Fox still needs something to cover. Fortunately for them, the Trump administration understands it can’t let its media supporters twiddle their thumbs. Which is why this week they served up a competing scandal: the utterly preposterous claim that Obama and committed “treason” by hyping U.S. intelligence regarding Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election to help get Trump elected.

The supposed scandal, which Trump DNI Tulsi Gabbard has breathlessly promoted across Fox News hits and from the White House press room podium, has dominated Fox News opinion programming.

But it has also leaked into more respectable areas of the network’s lineup. Baier — long regarded as Fox’s most even-handed journalist — appeared to give credence to the conspiracy in a confounding segment on Wednesday. Baier declared Gabbard’s claims about Obama orchestrating an “illegal spying operation” and messing with intelligence “really troubling,” utterly failing to challenge her absurd framing. As we reported, it was a departure from Baier’s usual journalistic posture — and another sign of how deeply  this narrative has taken hold inside the network.

Never mind that Gabbard’s claims are (1) old and (2) wholly contradicted by multiple exhaustive and bipartisan investigations — including one carried out by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee (signed off on by then-Acting Chair Marco Rubio) — which confirmed extensive Russian interference in the election.

Fox is pushing this recycled narrative as if it’s breaking news, precisely when their own audience is seeking answers on the fresh Epstein revelations. In the 12 hours following 7 p.m. Wednesday, “Epstein” was mentioned 18 times on Fox News. “Obama” 250 times, according to available transcripts.

This isn’t just selective coverage. It seems more like intentional obfuscation.

When the most-watched network in the country breathes life into a debunked conspiracy while simultaneously burying a legitimate, damaging story about Trump, we’re not talking about bias. We’re talking about narrative engineering.

What makes this moment uniquely troubling is the context: Fox News isn’t just speaking to its base — it’s shaping what a huge segment of Americans believe is real, what they think is at stake, and who they think is to blame. There’s simply never been a media outlet this powerful, this singular in viewpoint, and this aggressive in steering public attention away from the truth.

While Fox’s success is seen most clearly in the ratings, its true power lies in its influence. Fox isn’t just where the most people are going for political news and commentary — it’s where the national conversation is being defined and deployed.

That’s not just cable news dominance. That’s total media supremacy. And it underscores the prophetic comments made by Lachlan Murdoch during a Spring investor call in which he said he considers Fox News a “fifth” major network, which was taken as investor-pleasing hyperbole.  Except that no one predicted his network would soon become number one.

When over three million viewers tune in every night to hear that Democrats are dangerous, elections are rigged, and their leader is a victim of persecution — while inconvenient stories like Trump’s Epstein connection are wiped from the screen — the consequences aren’t just political. They’re existential. That’s how nations become divided beyond repair: when one side lives inside a media ecosystem that decides what counts as reality.

Fox’s ratings dominance is not just a media milestone. It’s a democratic stress test. And right now, we’re failing it.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.