Fox News has aired 175 segments relating to the economy in the past six months, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been a guest for over 20 percent of them.
The nominee has taken advantage of his standing invitation with Fox News, utilizing the network “to fill airwaves with misleading claims about the supposedly poor state of the economy,” according to an analysis of prime-time weekday cable news coverage of the economy released by nonprofit watchdog Media Matters on Friday.
Trump’s domination over the network, which has been a longtime supporter of his campaign, allows him to inject primetime shows such as “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity” with “dubious [promises] to boost economic growth and job creation through trickle-down tax cuts and restrictions on free trade.”
Trump has appeared on television 40 times during cable network primetime segments relating to economic news and policy in the first and second quarters of 2016; Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has appeared only four times during the same period. For more than a year, the media has seemingly feasted on every incendiary remark uttered ― or tweeted ― by Trump. The report points to Trump’s numerous Fox News segments for his high appearance numbers.
Fox News anchors Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity treat Trump “with kid-gloves,” according to the report, referring to both the unrestrained airtime that he has been awarded on these shows and the willingness of the anchors to let Trump say whatever he wants without challenge.
Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman’s criticism of Trump’s view of international trade is cited by Media Matters as one of the many condemnations of the nominee’s flawed economic assertions.
It is worth noting that all 36 of Trump’s appearances on Fox News in the last six months have been interviews given either on “The O’Reilly Factor” or “Hannity.”
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.
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