Trump lashes out at Fox News after midterm losses, while network hosts scramble to defend their coverage
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President Donald Trump attacked Fox News on election night over the Republican Party's poor midterm results, while Fox anchors and commentators pushed back by defending the network's polling and shifting attention to broader policy failures and public anger.
President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on election night to accuse Fox News of helping produce the Republican Party's midterm defeats, claiming the network “constantly and consistently puts on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse.” Shortly after, he called Fox anchors to congratulate Democrats and appeared stunned by the results.
During the call, Trump briefly slammed Fox's polling unit as “terrible,” prompting anchor Bret Baier to point out that the network's polls had come close to the actual results. Other Fox hosts, including Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, tried to steer the conversation toward the Iran conflict and other policy issues, with Hannity defending the decision to go to war and Ingraham describing the war as one factor behind voter dissatisfaction.
Radio host Buck Sexton wrote on X that the Republican Party deserved the loss, citing weak messaging and costly policies, but he did not directly name Trump. Fox commentators largely avoided placing the blame squarely on the president, instead pointing to broader problems such as high gas prices and broken promises that had alienated voters.
Trump also targeted liberal commentator Jessica Tarlov, calling her “dumb as a rock,” and sent a rebuttal to co-host Greg Gutfeld that was read on air. Tarlov responded on X, suggesting Trump should improve his grip on reality.
Later, Trump complained about Fox's ratings decline, blaming the network's coverage of Democrats rather than his own approval ratings, which analysts say remain near historic lows. Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch has said the ratings dip reflects viewer fatigue.
The exchange exposed the strained relationship between Trump and the network that depends on him for a Republican audience even as it criticizes the consequences of the election results.