Trump campaigned on mass deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants. While members of the incoming administration claim they are going to prioritize deporting criminals, Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has said, “If you’re in the country illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder. The bottom line is: Every illegal alien is a criminal.” Trump immigration adviser Stephen Miller has put forth plans to end birthright citizenship and strip naturalized citizens of their legal status in the country. And Trump himself has doubled down on his sweeping deportation plan in an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, calling for millions to be deported and even suggesting amending the Constitution to end birthright citizenship. But Fox News continues to obscure the nature of what mass deportations will look like.

• Fox News anchor John Roberts downplayed Trump’s mass deportation plan by comparing his actions during his first term to deportations under former President Barack Obama. Roberts: “Obama in his eight years deported or otherwise removed 5.3 million people. Trump in his four years was about 1.5 [million]. So even if he kept up that pace, he’d be 2 million — 2.5 million below where Obama was. So why is everybody complaining about Trump?” [Fox News, America Reports, 11/27/24]
• Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer and Fox host Kayleigh McEnany made comparisons to Obama’s actions when he was in office. Hemmer said, “Under Barack Obama, eight years now, you had 5.3 million removals and returns.” McEnany, Trump’s former White House press secretary, responded, “President Trump’s going to try to do the same. But you will have the media seizing on pictures and images. They will try to make this a huge scandal ignoring the past and precedent with President Obama.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 11/25/24]
• Fox News anchor Dana Perino dismissed the severity of mass deportations by suggesting the Trump administration will focus on “criminals.” Perino: “Zooming out to a bigger picture about migrant crime in America, you know, I think a lot of people have different definitions in their mind of what mass deportations would look like. Tom Homan has been clear: The criminals come first, they are the first on the list.” [Fox News, America’s Newsroom, 11/12/24]
• Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce suggested that people talking about the severity of Trump’s mass deportations plans are spreading “lies meant to fearmonger.” Bruce: “These are politicians — I mean, the drama is sending in the Airborne and handcuffing kids. Lies meant to fearmonger. This is performative theater of Hamlet or something because that's all they have.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 11/27/24]
• Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt commented on Trump’s Meet the Press interview, emphasizing that Trump will “deport millions of undocumented illegals, but first it will be the criminals.” Earhardt also mentioned Trump floating a legislative path for “Dreamers” to remain but did not mention Trump’s plans to amend the Constitution in order to end birthright citizenship. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/9/24]

Trump has threatened to levy a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada as well as an additional 10% tariff on China. Economists warn that this will cause higher prices for consumers as importers pass on the higher cost of products to customers. As a result of these threats, China and the U.S. are on the brink of a trade war that could damage the U.S. economy. Trump has continued to push his tariff plan since the election, telling NBC’s Meet the Press that he can’t guarantee tariffs won’t raise prices for consumers. Despite his campaign trail proposal that tariffs would combat inflation, Trump now told NBC, “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.” As The Associated Press noted, “That’s a different approach from Trump’s typical speeches throughout the 2024 campaign, when he framed his election as a sure way to curb inflation.” 

• On America Reports, conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin dismissed the idea of a trade war with China and said, “I don't think the Chinese tariffs are actually the big issue.” Holtz-Eakin said: “We will see how the tariffs work out. I don't think the Chinese tariffs are actually the big issue. Those went in in the first term, they were kept by the Biden administration, Mr. Trump has said he is going to raise it to 60%. We can debate how much of an impact that will have but the notion that somehow a new trade war is about to develop — it's been going on for a long time.” [Fox News, America Reports, 11/15/24]
• Fox News host Sean Hannity claimed that Trump “really doesn’t want tariffs” and suggested Trump is just using them as a negotiation tactic. Hannity: “Donald Trump really doesn’t want tariffs but he will implement tariffs if, in fact, they don't close the border in Mexico and they don't close the border to the north. He'd rather not, he'd rather get along. However, just making that threat is believed because he will do it, and he's negotiating." [Fox News, Hannity, 12/3/24]
• Kayleigh McEnany suggested the Trump tariffs won’t come to pass and he is just using them to secure the border, calling it “the art of the deal.” McEnany: “We saw this, as I mentioned, last week. On May 30, 2019, Trump said 5% tariff on Mexico if you don't secure the border. Then they secure the border. That happened last term. Well, this term, you’ve got the art of the deal again.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 12/3/24]
• Fox host Jesse Watters suggested that tariffs are “just a threat” and added that the “stock market shrugged it off.” Watters: “Will Trump throw up these tariffs on day one, and for how long? Or is this a threat meant to change bad behavior and bring a stronger hand to the negotiating table?” He later added, “Democrats on Wall Street are whining about the tariffs but the stock market shrugged it off. … Democrats couldn’t get deals done with Mexico or China to stop drugs and migrants so they should sit this one out. Trump had tariffs and no inflation in his first term.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 11/26/24]
• Watters ignored economists’ warnings: “How can you say now tariffs are going to drive up inflation? You can't.” Watters said, “All these people running their mouths about tariffs have to sit this out because this is Donald Trump's deal. If you have a guy who had four years with no inflation and tariffs, how can you say now tariffs are going to drive up inflation? You can't.” [Fox News, The Five, 11/26/24]
• Investment banker Lou Basenese told anchor Sandra Smith that “tariffs seem like they’re going to be a lot of trouble and passed on the cost to consumers, but in reality it doesn’t happen.” Basenese added that “50% of the cost gets absorbed by the wholesalers, and tariffs are really just a negotiating tactic to get the other parties to the table.” [Fox News, America Reports, 11/26/24]

In his first term, Trump appointed three conservative judges who helped repeal Roe v. Wade, which upheld access to abortion in all 50 states. Trump has bragged about his role in this and has claimed, “I was able to kill Roe v. Wade.” Since the reversal of Roe, reproductive health care has become more dangerous in states that have restrictive abortion laws. In his second term, Trump could limit access to abortion by cracking down on health care providers’ ability to send abortion pills or receive telehealth appointments. NPR noted, “Though President-elect Trump has promised to veto any federal abortion ban, he can still wield the powers of the executive branch to curtail access. And because the majority of abortions in the U.S are done via a two-pill regimen that essentially causes a miscarriage, any efforts to limit abortion care will likely target these medications.”

• Sean Hannity said women are overreacting to losing access to abortion, calling it “hysteria,” and cited Trump’s claim that he will veto a national abortion ban. Hannity: “Some women [are] reportedly getting sterilized in order to prevent themselves from ever getting pregnant, saying they fear access to abortion will be denied in a second Trump term. Never mind the fact that Trump explicitly promised to veto a national abortion ban, if somehow that managed to reach his desk. The media mob, they’re happy to stoke the fears, driving people to extreme measures.” [Fox News, Hannity, 12/2/24]
• Hannity said Trump is not going to ban abortion or limit access to contraception, calling claims to the contrary “lies” and “hysteria.” Hannity: “Donald Trump is not going to have a national abortion ban. He’s not going to stop IVF. And he is not going to limit access to contraception. As it turns out, many Democrats have been drinking that, you know, that Kool-Aid and actually believing all the lies, all the hysteria coming from the state-run media mob and the Democrats. They believe the lies. Some are even reportedly stockpiling abortion pills and hormones, which will still be available after Trump is sworn in.” [Fox News, Hannity, 11/8/24]
• On Hannity, media personality Dr. Drew Pinsky called it “hysteria” to be worried about abortion pill bans. Pinsky: “As it pertains to the abortion pills, again, that is an hysteria. In the states that have restrictive access to abortion, 100% of them provide for abortion when the mother's life is in danger. One-hundred percent. Yet what these same individuals are doing is they're whipping themselves into an emotional state that is disconnected from reality and delusional.” [Fox News, Hannity, 11/21/24]
• On Hannity, former ESPN host Sage Steele downplayed the loss of access to abortion because “nothing’s going to change,” adding, “There're plenty of places where you can go abort and kill your baby until the very last minute.” Steele added, “I don't want to hear it from all these people saying that rights are being taken away. They are staying exactly where they are now, which is in the hands of the states where they always should have been." [Fox News, Hannity, 11/25/24]
• Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt said that Trump won because “people knew he wasn’t going to ban abortion.” Earhardt: “People knew he wasn't going to ban abortion. They tried to say that. He says it’s going back to the states. They knew a lot of other things that he was going to do and it was going to be positive for them, and the economy.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 11/15/24]

Trump has claimed there will be “retribution” against his opponents and those he calls “the enemy from within.” In his rallies and in posts on Truth Social, Trump has suggested he intends to carry out this retribution by purging the Department of Justice of anyone Trump views as disloyal, prosecuting journalists who do not disclose sources, and investigating political rivals. In Trump’s Meet the Press interview, he said that members of the House select committee on January 6 were “political thugs” who “should go to jail.” While Trump said he would not direct the FBI to punish them, he suggested that President Joe Biden should pardon the members that were on the committee.

• Sean Hannity suggested the Trump DOJ will end “weaponization” of the FBI and DOJ rather than take revenge on Trump’s enemies. Hannity claimed Americans rejected “weaponization of justice” and “the politicizing of the FBI and our intelligence community.” He added, “Now it's critical that the Department of Justice undergo much-needed reforms. Measures need to be put in place so this can never ever happen again to anybody, Democrat [or] Republican. The days of anti-Trump and anti-conservative witch hunts are over.” [Fox News, Hannity, 11/25/24]
• On The Ingraham Angle, former Trump attorney David Schoen said Trump’s reelection was “a rejection of this lawfare weaponization.” Schoen: “A major part of this vote was a rejection of this lawfare weaponization. The American people are fair-minded people who want a justice system that reflects integrity, not targeting political opponents to get them out of the election, to use some means other than the ballot. We need a return to normalcy here.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 11/21/24]
• Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade said that Trump won’t go after the FBI agents, just the “7th floor,” a reference to where the FBI’s most senior agents work in the Washington, D.C., headquarters. Kilmeade: “The one thing Trump people always do, they will not just malign the FBI, they’ll malign the 7th floor of the FBI. Because they met FBI agents who tell the real story. … They know that they are stopping assassination attempts, you know, they’ve got their hands full of terror, the border, international stuff.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 12/2/24; The Washington Times, 2/15/18]
• Fox & Friends co-host Lawrence Jones: “I like what Donald Trump said in that interview. ‘OK, look I'm not trying to go for vengeance or anything like this, but if Pam Bondi and Kash Patel find some corruption within the department, they are going to get it out.’” [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 12/9/24]

Trump’s pick to run Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has long promoted anti-vaccine beliefs that include linking vaccines to autism and claiming the COVID-19 vaccine is unsafe; Kennedy founded and previously chaired the anti-vaccine nonprofit Children's Health Defense, which he stepped away from to run for president. There are a litany of ways Kennedy can undermine vaccination programs despite pledging not to “take away” vaccines. For example, Kennedy could use the executive branch to weaken vaccine distribution programs, slow down new vaccine approvals, and make it easier for vaccine misinformation to spread. 

• Fox News reporter Griff Jenkins said “preconceived notions” that Kennedy is anti-vaccine are “not fully accurate.” Jenkins: “The critics may find that their preconceived notions about Kennedy are not fully accurate — particularly, chief among them, that he's anti-vaccine.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 11/15/24]
• Sean Hannity reacted to Kennedy laying out his “Make America Healthy Again” platform, saying he is “definitely not anti-vaccine.” Hannity: “Despite what you may hear from the dishonest, frankly dead legacy journalists, he’s not on a mission to ban medicine, he’s not on a mission to ban your food, he's definitely not anti-vaccine.” [Fox News, Hannity, 11/14/24]
• On Fox & Friends Weekend, Hoover Institution senior fellow and former Trump adviser Dr. Scott Atlas declared, “Bobby Kennedy’s not calling for banning vaccines. He’s saying prove the safety, prove the efficacy.” Co-host Charlie Hurt responded: “Exactly.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Weekend, 11/23/24]
• On The Story with Martha MacCallum, author Michael Shellenberger claimed that Kennedy will not “ban vaccines or discourage vaccines,” adding that he will be “very constrained” and is “proposing some pretty reasonable measures.” Shellenberger: “I think he obviously made that commitment that he wasn't going to ban vaccines, he wasn’t going to discourage vaccines. I think if he gets through his nomination, I think he is going to be very constrained with what he can do, but he's basically proposing some pretty reasonable measures to have better regulation of all drugs including vaccines.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 11/15/24]

Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency promises massive rollbacks to government agencies and regulations including a target to eliminate $2 trillion of government spending, which would be achievable only if entitlements are cut. While Trump pledged on the campaign trail to protect Social Security and Medicare, he repeatedly tried to cut the programs during his first term. Trump’s 2021 budget included billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security, and during his campaign for reelection in 2024, Trump claimed that there are “tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do” to entitlements. 

• Martha MacCallum claimed that DOGE will not cut Social Security or Medicare and that saying he will is just a scare tactic. MacCallum: “That is the scare tactic that keeps us from ever cutting anything because as soon as you suggest it, as [former Treasury Secretary] Larry Summers says, ‘Oh, it’s such an idiotic idea, it could never happen,’ as soon as you start suggesting it, they go, ‘Oh no, it’s Social Security and Medicare, don't touch it,’ but it's not. There is so much more there.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 11/14/24]
• On Fox News Live, Trump adviser Steve Moore called for government cuts but specified, “We're not talking about cutting people’s Social Security benefits.” Moore: “We never get rid of things. We keep adding things but we never get rid of things. We're not talking about cutting people’s Social Security benefits, we’re not talking about imperiling our national defense. We’re saying there is so much fraud — we estimate there's $300-400 billion of fraudulent payments that go out every year and nobody does anything about it.” [Fox News, Fox News Live, 11/16/24]
• On Fox, Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump said her father-in-law would “absolutely not” cut Social Security or Medicare in a second term. Fox News host Howard Kurtz responded, “Yeah, he said it to me in our first interview in 2015, and he didn't do it in his four years." [Fox News, MediaBuzz, 11/10/24]
• After The Five co-host Jessica Tarlov mentioned that Social Security and Medicare would be hit in order to achieve the cuts planned by DOGE, co-host Jeanine Pirro responded, “Donald Trump has indicated he's not going to cut Social Security, he’s not going to cut Medicaid.” [Fox News, The Five, 12/5/24]
• Sean Hannity claimed it is a lie that Trump is “going to take away Social Security and Medicare.” Hannity also said it is a lie that Trump is “going to limit access to contraceptives, stop IVF, have a national abortion ban,” declaring, “No, he's not.” [Fox News, Hannity, 11/13/24]