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Trump Starts War With Fox News as He Collapses Over Iran

15 min
Apr 7, 202611 days ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

The episode critiques Trump's media control tactics, particularly his attacks on Fox News personality Jessica Tarlov for fact-checking, while analyzing how Fox News functions as a propaganda apparatus during the Iran conflict. The hosts discuss how right-wing media frames narratives to avoid critical thinking among viewers and examine the hypocrisy of former Fox figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly who acknowledge the network's bias while remaining politically aligned with Trump.

Insights
  • Autocratic leaders deliberately surround themselves with loyalists and purge independent voices, creating echo chambers that prevent accountability and critical oversight
  • Fox News employs narrative framing techniques that guide viewers toward predetermined conclusions while suppressing contradictory information and critical analysis
  • Right-wing media figures acknowledge propaganda and dangerous policies but maintain tribal loyalty, suggesting partisan identity supersedes policy concerns for many viewers
  • Jessica Tarlov's fact-checking represents a rare dissenting voice within Fox's ecosystem, making her a target for suppression despite her data-driven approach
  • Media outlets that face billion-dollar settlements for misinformation continue operating without meaningful consequences, unlike other industries facing similar liability
Trends
Autocratic media control strategies becoming normalized in mainstream political discourseFact-checkers and dissenting voices being targeted for removal from platforms by political figuresRight-wing media consolidation around single narratives with coordinated messaging across outletsTribal political identity overriding policy evaluation among partisan media consumersFormer media insiders publicly acknowledging propaganda while remaining ideologically committed to the same movementsCorporate media entities avoiding accountability despite massive legal settlements for misinformationSelective coverage of military conflicts to frame political narratives rather than report factsLoyalty-based personnel decisions replacing merit-based hiring in government positions
Companies
Fox News
Central focus of episode analyzing its propaganda techniques, coordinated narratives on Iran conflict, and suppressio...
Flamingo
Sponsor offering women's razors with no pink tax markup; advertised with promo code and starter set offer
People
Jessica Tarlov
Praised as rare fact-checking voice on Fox News; targeted by Trump for removal due to her data-driven criticism
Donald Trump
Central figure discussed for media control tactics, attacks on journalists, and Iran military conflict decisions
Tucker Carlson
Criticized for publicly acknowledging Fox propaganda while maintaining partisan loyalty and inconsistent positions
Megyn Kelly
Criticized for calling Fox's Iran coverage insufferable while stating she'd vote Republican even if Trump used nuclea...
Pete Hegseth
Mentioned as firing generals and contributing to bloodthirsty military decisions regarding Iran conflict
Stephen Miller
Discussed as vile figure blamed by Fox viewers while they fail to acknowledge Trump as his boss
Jared Kushner
Mentioned as bloodthirsty figure involved in Iran military conflict decisions
Lara Ingraham
Criticized for framing Iran pilot rescue as left-wing opposition rather than addressing war initiation
Jesse Watters
Mentioned as co-host alongside Jessica Tarlov on Fox News programming
Colby Hall
Wrote analysis piece on Fox News viewer narratives and how network frames Iran conflict coverage
Quotes
"By design, he has surrounded himself with loyalists. Scholars have taught us that autocrats and dictators specifically by design surround themselves with loyalists."
Host~8:30
"She really comes with all the numbers and data... But they don't listen. It's really interesting, isn't it?"
Host~15:45
"You cannot apply our logic to this man. You cannot say, well, why aren't people reining him in?"
Host~7:00
"Trump could drop a nuke and I still vote Republican over those people... She makes no sense."
Host (quoting Megyn Kelly)~28:00
"This is a typical right wing media bullshit argument... yes, Donald Trump's batshit crazy, but you know what, we're going to vote for him all over again, because we're fucking stupid."
Host~32:00
Full Transcript
We are in the middle of a war and instead of listening to his Pentagon, he has Pete Hexeth firing generals and Kanks. Donald Trump sits around and binge watches Fox News. There is a queen on Fox News named Jessica Tarlov. And she does just incredible work fact checking and checking propaganda in real time. So a lot of these Fox viewers that have been so radicalized, the only time they ever hear a tinge of sanity is from Jessica Tarlov. And of course, Trump hates her. And in the middle of the war, he has, he's attacking her because you know, he loves to attack women, pop this up. Trump for Fox executives only take Jessica Tarlov off the air. She is from her voice to her lies and everything else about her. One of the worst personalities on television, a real loser. People cannot stand watching her. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJ T and just a couple of notes here while the war is going on. Trump is watching Fox, you guys, just to make sure they stay on script, because this is a presidency that rules by propaganda like all fascist autocrats do. And he's trashing Jessica Tarlov because she's one of the only dissenting voices on the network. So he has this massive, massive, massive insecurity. And anytime it's exposed, he lashes out pumps. You know, this truth as it were is the answer to the question I often ask myself about people surrounding him, not raining him in, putting keeping him on point because he just goes fucking crazy if everybody doesn't agree with him all the time. It's really, really sick. Yeah. And I think we always have to remember, we cannot apply our logic to this man. You cannot say, well, why aren't people raining him in? By design, he has surrounded himself with loyalists. Scholars have taught us that autocrats and dictators specifically by design surround themselves with loyalists. That's why you see all of this purging the deep state that they spoke about during the campaign. Those were nonpartisan government workers, people that wanted health insurance, wanted a steady job, government seemed like a good employer, couple weeks of vacation. All of these people have been purged and replaced with loyalists. And you know, we also have to give credit to Jessica Tarlov because she sits next to Jesse Waters all, all, all hour. I mean, that is, I don't know how she does it. Okay. And then here is a screen grab from Fox coverage on the war. Pop this up. This is Fox digital Iran war nears completion as Trump eyes deadline. What the end game could look like us strikes hit one of Iran's largest bridges this week as Trump warns much more to follow. So this is just their online reporting. All right. Nothing about the batshit crazy press conference that we saw yesterday. Nothing. We don't hear anything about that from Fox news. They are constantly saying washing the fact that he took credit live on television for killing Osama bin Laden and advised everybody to read a book about it. He says the Iranians in this press conference were begging him, please sir, even though you're bombing right next to me, please keep bombing the gaze for Iran save us all this crazy shit crickets. They just have to tell this, this cult, they're like cattle. And they just guide them as to what they want to hear. Oh, we're going to bomb Iran, we're liberating them. Oh, it's nearing completion. No critical thought. And that's why what Jessica tarlaw does is so important because probably maybe eight, 10% might hear her and go, Hmm. I wonder why, why they keep her on if, if she really is lying because clearly she's not lying. Well, she's the only one on that station that is not lying. That's actually telling the truth. I mean, my parents watched the five. They will even tell you and they are like ass deep and maga. They will even tell you Jessica tarlaw. She really comes with all the numbers and data and I thought, so why aren't you listening? But they don't. It's really interesting, isn't it? Because I think that there's maybe a respect for her because she does she doesn't get into the personalities of it. She touts all of these numbers. But Fox News, we have to remember they paid a billion dollars for lying about the 2020 election. In any other world, that business would be considered, oh, they're liars, they're out of business. Catholic Church pays billions and billions of dollars for covering up child rape. In any other world, that business, the Catholic Church would be out of business. But we always have this in Western culture where we let certain people get away with stuff that we would never let other people get away with. People that we deem powerful or in positions of power. And you know, that brings me to the Epstein files. You know, it's just a play Fox News gets away with this, the Catholic Church gets away with it, Southern Baptist Church gets away with it, all of these billionaires, including the president of the United States get away with it. All right. And in a piece for a media, Colby Hall writes about what the Fox viewer sees every single day. Pop this up. So watch Fox for a day and you'll see it gravitating toward a particular set of facts. Iran's weakness, the necessity of the mission, the heroic success of the US military, how the left is actively rooting for the US to lose. When criticism does appear, it's aimed away from Trump himself. He may not have been fully briefed. He may have received bad information. He may be navigating forces beyond his control. Trump is suggested to oddly be the victim in all of this as bizarre as it sounds. And Pups has some anecdotal conversations with her Fox binging parents where they do, they blame everybody arounding Trump, surrounding Trump, but not Trump. Right. They despise Stephen Miller. They think he is absolutely appalling and vile. Yet they haven't made the connection that Trump is Stephen Miller's boss. And but for Trump, Stephen Miller wouldn't be in the job. And that continues to happen. One thing it's been on my mind since this weekend. Lar Ingram wrote in a post that I saw, well, I guess the left, and I'm paraphrasing, I guess the left's mad that they got the US pilot back. No, I am delighted that the US was able to rescue the pilot. What where my angst and frustration and concern is that we are a war with Iran in the first place, not that a pilot was rescued, that Pete Heckseth, Steve Wittkopf, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, that they are so bloodthirsty that they got us into the war. Lara, that's why I'm mad. That's a really good point. And I think as to this Colby Hall piece, I think it's really important that the Republican Party is always like or the party of individualism and of personal accountability. And time and time again, they're not they're a party, they're a cult, they are cattle. 90 days ago, they opposed wars in the Middle East, regardless of what country it is. And as it pertains to Laura Ingram, bringing this down to a black and white tribal type thing, this is their default setting. It's always the left is rooting against America. The right is so pro America, Trump will dry hump an American flag. And that's why we like him. We love President Trump because he loves America more than anybody else. And every time they can bring it down to this black and white argument, it really works well with the Fox News viewers who lack fundamentally the ability to critically think and call that stupidity, call it what you want, but they genuinely lack the ability to critically think. 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We all saw in the lawsuit that I mentioned earlier where Fox had to pay a billion dollars in discovery, they got all their text messages and Hannity and everybody's just trashed and Trump about what a nutty is. But you can't trust Tucker and you can't trust Megan. And there's this saying a broken clock is right twice a day, right? And I think that always applies to these people because Tucker Carlson, I remember was super critical of the whole Venezuela situation where they went and captured Maduro. And he was very critical of it on his station. And then like three or four days later, he's at the White House standing there clapping like a trained seal for Donald Trump. So you cannot believe these people. And Megan Kelly, you know, she, you also cannot trust this person because here is a video of Megan Kelly who her quote is Fox Iran war coverage is quote, insufferable. But at the same time, she also says shit like this, play the clip. Trump could drop a nuke and I still vote Republican over those people because they want to have a new voter. In some ways, I really am. But honestly, they what they want to do is nuke our own country. You know, it's like the open border, what they're doing to children, all that stuff is still they would do it all if put back in power. And I think most Republicans know that which is okay, pumps. She makes no sense. She knows that's not going to happen. But she gets makes hundreds of thousands of dollars going on there and tiptoeing into sanity. But then she has to you know, throw red meat. Here's the thing. Trump dropping a nuke on Iran as crazy as that sounds. I would not rule it. This man has absolutely zero ability to look at consequences. So Megan Kelly, what you need to be doing is rallying the people that listen to you to try to get their people in their districts to get real about the 25th Amendment. This made us a fucking nut. Never happened pumps. I know it'll never fucking happen. We cannot apply our logic to these people because what does she default to she defaults to Donald Trump is crazy. And I agree. And the Fox news coverage is insufferable. But viewer, if he dropped a nuke, I'd still go vote for him because the Democrats want a nuke America. And it's like Megan Kelly, no, we don't. We want your viewers to have health care. We want your viewers to earn a livable wage. We want billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes because our country simply cannot afford them. We actually support the troops. 30% of all homeless people are veterans. Yeah, 30%. And so you say you support the troops, support them in totality. But in fact, you support the nuke and pun intended here, but you do not support the fallout. Then you're going to play, you know, victim. So this is a typical right wing media bullshit argument that they always play that yes, Donald Trump's bat shit, and he's so crazy, and he's so dangerous. And Fox News is a propaganda machine. But you know what, we're going to vote for him all over again, because we're fucking stupid. That's the message. All right, that's all we have. Like, subscribe, comment, and we will be back later with more news.