On March 2, Fox News announced on air that former White House press secretary and former Trump 2020 senior adviser Kayleigh McEnany has joined “the Fox family.” McEnany’s new employment was initially reported in late January, shortly after the January 6 insurrection, though at the time Fox denied the report, and her offer was reportedly “put on pause.” McEnany was a regular fixture on Fox News even when she worked at the White House - appearing on the network at least 326 times since August 2017.
Fox News Channel has long been part of a revolving door for GOP politics. Given Fox’s devotion to former President Donald Trump’s agenda and its flailing attempts to win back viewers from rival right-wing TV channels, McEnany is a natural fit for a network that specializes in partisan lies and misdirection. And for a Trumpist liar as prolific as McEnany, there may not be many options for her beyond Fox.
At her first briefing as press secretary, McEnany promised not to lie to the media, then told multiple lies before that 15-minute session even ended. Much like her fellow Trump lackeys, McEnany “lies the way that most people breathe,” including in absurdly shameless moments like when she defended Trump’s indefensible lie that COVID-9 affects “virtually nobody,” or when she lied that Trump never downplayed the pandemic, despite a public tape of Trump doing exactly that at length. On virtually any topic, there are examples of McEnany bending, avoiding, or outright subverting the truth in absolute service to Trump -- exactly the outlook that is foundational to Fox News.
Perhaps the worst lie McEnany told was one that was also promoted all over Fox News: that the 2020 election may have been stolen from Trump, which ultimately led to a deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. McEnany, appearing in one or two of her roles (sometimes it got confusing), pushed that lie in numerous Fox appearances after Trump lost the 2020 election, appearing on Hannity 20 times during that period. As a sign of McEnany’s priorities, she gave only three press briefings (which were also full of lies) in her official White House capacity during the same time period.
Threatened by competition from both mainstream and even more conservative channels and breaking promises to its remaining advertisers, Fox News is doubling down on the malicious lies of Trumpism in hiring McEnany, including the voter fraud lie that led to an attack on Congress, five deaths, more than 280 arrests, and a second Trump impeachment. With the former president deplatformed and potentially facing legal jeopardy, it seems that those remaining stuck in the Fox-Trump revolving door will do whatever they can to hold on to ratings and influence.