Personalities on Fox News, President Donald Trump’s favorite cable TV network, can’t seem to agree on whether they support the congressional spending deal on border security.
The president’s key media allies panned the congressional compromise that includes a fraction of what Trump demanded for his promised border wall and slashes Immigration and Customs Enforcement beds for detainees by roughly 17 percent.
White House cheerleader Sean Hannity interrupted coverage of Trump’s El Paso rally on Monday so he could react, characterizing the proposal as “garbage” and warning Republicans they owed the public an explanation.
Meanwhile, Laura Ingraham dismissed the plan as “pathetic” on Twitter, and Lou Dobbs called it “an insult to @POTUS and the American people.”
However, “Fox & Friends,” the morning news program that Trump routinely favors with live-tweets, took a different tone.
The co-hosts suggested Trump take the deal, even though it didn’t meet his initial demand of $5.7 billion for a wall, according to a clip flagged by Media Matters. Steve Doocy hinted that the president might even have “something up his sleeve,” perhaps reflecting Trump’s new refrain that he’s building a wall anyway.
The reaction of Fox News personalities to the spending deal can have consequences beyond entertainment. A budget deal reached in December was headed for Trump’s signature until Fox News hosts denounced it, leading Trump to withdraw his support and turning into a standoff that shut down the government.
The new bipartisan compromise needs Trump’s signature by midnight Friday to avert a second government shutdown.
“I’m not happy about it,” Trump said Tuesday. But he said he didn’t think there’d be another shutdown.