RUTHFULLY YOURS

The controlling shareholders of Fox News, the Murdoch family and its 89-year-old patriarch Rupert Murdoch, have a long history of backing Democrats like Hillary Clinton and their liberal causes.

After four years of fairly critical coverage of President Trump (Fox “confirmed”, for example, a skepticism-inducing report that Trump called fallen soldiers “suckers and losers,” a claim that even Trump foe John Bolton denied,) many conservatives are re-evaluating Fox News’ true commitment to “fair and balanced” media.

Federal election records show that Murdoch has donated to far-left Democratic politicians including John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Chuck Schumer, Anthony Weiner and even Hillary Clinton, for whom he hosted a fundraiser in 2006, just preceding her first presidential campaign.

Reporting on the fundraiser, CBS News’ Dan Collins, exclaimed that “Rupert Murdoch Loves Hillary Clinton.”

But it does not stop there.

FAIR, a liberal media group, even bragged about how much Fox News (through its parent company News Corp.) was donating to Hillary Clinton during her 2016 campaign against Trump. FAIR wrote:

“All of the broadcast giants are on board. Clinton is the largest individual recipient of campaign donations from Comcast (NBC News, MSNBC), Time Warner (CNN), News Corp (Fox News), CBS Television and Walt Disney (ABC News).” 

No longer viewed as a stalwart of conservative causes, the Murdochs, including Fox News, have been moving to the left for years coinciding with the Democratic Party’s cementing itself as the party of the global elite.

The Murdochs and News Corp. have been big donors to the Clinton Foundation, an organization that includes progressive activists George Soros, Haim Saban and many other left-wing billionaires. They have given literally millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation.

Worrisome to conservatives should be New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd’s assertion that after Rupert Murdoch passes, his son James, a strong liberal who has opposed Trump, will join with his left-leaning two sisters in controlling the family’s vast media empire, including Fox.

James and his wife Kathryn, considered a liberal power couple, are multi-million-dollar donors to Democratic candidates and causes. In this election cycle, alone, they wrote a check for $1 million to try to help Chuck Schumer and the Democrats win the Senate.

At long last, longtime Fox viewers are finally grasping the magnitude of the organization’s ideological shift, at the behest of President Trump’s awareness campaign.

However, in actuality, this shift has been taking place for years.

Glenn Beck, a mainstream and popular conservative commentator tossed from Fox’s evening line-up, said he was prohibited from criticizing George Soros on his show.

His claim was perhaps demonstrated as true this past September, when Fox News hosts cut off former Speaker Newt Gingrich, after he started discussing Soros funded initiatives.

The transcript of that exchange was eerie and further portrays Fox News’ true political allegiances:

“I’m not sure we need to bring George Soros into this,” said co-host Melissa Francis.

“I was going to say you get the last word, Speaker,” Fox host Harris Faulkner said.

“He paid for it. I mean, why can’t we discuss the fact that millions of dollars…” Gingrich said before co-host Marie Harf responded.

“No, he didn’t. I agree with Melissa. George Soros doesn’t need to be a part of this conversation,” Harf said.

“OK. So, it’s verboten [to talk about Soros],” Gingrich replied.

“OK. We’re going to move on,” Faulkner said.

The inclusion of this transcript herein is not an attempt to peddle an erroneous Soros conspiracy theory. Rather, it is merely meant to illuminate that Fox News may be prohibiting criticism of one the most prolific radical left-wing donors in this country’s history. Why? Perhaps because they are sympathetic to the liberal causes he so intensely supports.

Soros, apparently, is not the only topic of discussion barred from Fox’s airwaves. Long-time Fox contributor Dick Morris stated that “Fox always tried to tell [him] never to criticize China when you’re on our air. [He couldn’t] believe the censorship that goes on [there].”

President Trump, never one shy to criticize news outlets, has made his determination about Fox News’ credibility.

Shortly, after the election, he tweeted:

@FoxNews daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews!

11:10 AM · Nov 12, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

[Link: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1326920264203046915]

Speaking of the election, Fox put a lifelong Democratic political operative, Arnon Mishkin, in charge of their election night “call” desk.

Prior to election night, Mishkin had “been skeptical of Mr. Trump’s chances on social media and in occasional Fox appearances.”

Mishkin is a lifelong Democrat, who voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and built his career working exclusively for liberal politicians.

The unsurprising result of Fox’s decision to have Mishkin calling the shots was seen on election night, when Fox News viewers were outraged to see the network refuse to call Florida for Trump, a state he won handily, while they were the first to call Arizona — a much tighter affair — for Biden.

Fox News’ swing to the left started long before Mishkin’s controversial Arizona call on election night.

For years, anchors like Neil Cavuto and Andrew Napolitano have derided and repeatedly criticized President Trump’s (often mainstream conservative) policies and proposals. Indeed, the Chris Wallace’s 2020 smug presidential debate moderation was one of the most bewildering and decried moments leading up to election day.

As ratings amongst its viewers continue to evaporate, it is obvious these blips are the result of a larger ideological shift within the Fox News Organization.

Today, instead, President Trump himself is encouraging his followers to tune in to Newsmax TV and OANN.

Fox News’ long-held monopoly over GOP politics has been fraught with risk and posed great danger to conservatives. For too long, viewers have been fed a false bill of goods.

Just ask Donald Trump about it.

Elliot Fuchs is a political consultant, commentator, and writer. You can follow him on twitter @Elliot_Fuchs.