Fox News landed in an awkward bind after Tuesday's election rout, and a longtime observer of the network sees no easy exit.
Matt Gertz, a longtime Fox watcher at Media Matters, told Zeteo's Justin Baragona that the network now finds itself in a "hell of a pickle" because "admitting that actually Trump and his policies are incredibly unpopular would amount to a fairly substantial rug pull for that audience."
Baragona, writing in his weekly Ragebait newsletter for Zeteo, reported that Fox worked hard throughout Tuesday night's coverage to avoid blaming Trump, despite a widespread understanding among those on set that the results amounted to a rejection of the president.
He characterized the network's election night broadcast as an hours-long "struggle session," with its biggest stars grasping for any explanation other than Trump for the scale of the Democratic victories.
One former Fox employee told Baragona that "Trump is toast," but said the network still refuses to turn its fire on him. "Even while they move on from him, they won't attack him or throw him under the bus," the ex-staffer said.
Jared Holt, an extremism researcher, argued that Fox and the GOP painted themselves into this corner. "The Trump era is coming to a close, and the problem that networks like Fox and even just the broader Republican Party has in general is that they've spent the last 10 years purging out all dissent from their ranks," Holt told Baragona.
The president turned his fire on Fox itself after sweeping losses became clear, writing on Truth Social that the network "bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition."
The network was reeling before the polls closed. Fox News viewership fell 27 percent year over year in October, while CNN's audience grew 3 percent and MS NOW's jumped 17 percent, CNN reported. According to preliminary Nielsen figures reported by Variety, October was on pace to be the network's weakest month in total-day viewers since December 2023.