Many of President Donald Trump's tweets and policy stances come from watching "Fox & Friends" every morning, and even one long-time Republican lobbyist thinks that's dangerous.
Charlie Black, a longtime business associate of Trump allies Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, tells The New Yorker's Jane Mayer that he's concerned about Trump not reading policy briefings and instead making decisions based on what he sees on Fox.
"Trump gets up and watches ‘Fox & Friends’ and thinks these are his friends," Black says. "He thinks anything on Fox is friendly. But the problem is he gets unvetted ideas."
One Republican source who has a contract to appear on Fox News tells Mayer that Fox News host Sean Hannity has become a "West Wing adviser," which he says reflects the fact that there is no normal process for policy making at the White House right now.
"The place has gone off the rails," said the source, who also described an "utter breakdown of any normal decision-making in the White House."
The revelation that "Fox & Friends" is essentially making White House policy is just one of many damning details in Mayer's piece. She also reports that Fox spiked a story about Trump paying off former mistresses during the 2016 presidential election and that Trump ordered former economic adviser Gary Cohn to push the Department of Justice to block a merger between AT&T and CNN parent company Time Warner.
