Written by Eric Kleefeld
Published
Fox News is continuing its fawning coverage of President Donald Trump’s Thursday night town hall special on the network — and starting to clean up some of the damage he did to himself on the crucial issue of Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlements.
During the special, Trump had a key exchange with Fox anchor Martha MacCallum:
MARTHA MACCALLUM (ANCHOR): But if you — if you don't cut something in entitlements, you'll never really deal with the debt.
TRUMP: We will be cutting, but we're also going to have growth like you've never had before.
And Democrats have already been quick to focus in on this as a major campaign issue:
Fox’s coverage of the event, however, has consisted mainly of talking about how great Trump’s appearance was — and attempting to sweep his comments about cutting entitlements under the rug.
On Fox & Friends, the March 6 episode kicked off with truly sycophantic commentary from the co-hosts about Trump’s appearance at the town hall, which supposedly demonstrated his obvious intelligence and command of the issues — and his superiority to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, as well:
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From the March 6, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends
JEDEDIAH BILA (GUEST CO-HOST): In terms of the town hall yesterday though, what I really appreciated is just the ease with which President Trump talks about issues. And I think that's something that Joe Biden and people working for Joe Biden were probably paying really close attention to. Joe Biden has been struggling on that debate stage significantly, to get his voice out, to make what I think are succinct and clear and important home run points. And you see President Trump in that forum. He looks very comfortable. He is definitely not afraid to talk about the issues. And there's just a comfortable ease that he talks about these things that I think is going to be a problem for Joe Biden.
PETE HEGSETH (GUEST CO-HOST): Yeah, that's a great point. I kind of wondered when it was first announced, why the president was doing a town hall now. I mean, I'm glad he did on the Fox News Channel -- Bret and Martha did a great job. But you could speculate that it's a warning shot. It is a demonstration -- especially more potent after Tuesday, with Joe Biden's limitations. You put this guy on a stage with professionals, around people, he's very comfortable. This is not 2016, where he's an insurgent candidate. He's the incumbent president, with a grasp of the facts and a booming economy -- you know, provided you've got the coronavirus aspect that needs to be managed, which he spoke to very well last night.
STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): He did.
HEGSETH: It shows -- hey, you really want to put Joe on this stage?
And later on, the Fox & Friends co-hosts and Fox News correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera marveled at Trump’s insults against Democratic presidential candidates Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Rivera then compared Trump to a skilled boxer, or even a famous Japanese movie monster.
“He sees the vulnerability, just like a counterpuncher. You know, if a guy’s got his guard up, he gets under there, gets him in the kidneys or in the ribs,” Rivera said. “He’s that kind of politician. It will be vicious. He’s like Godzilla when he walks out on stage. He knows the weakness, he’s looking for the weakness, he finds it, he exploits it.”
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From the March 6, 2020, edition of Fox News’ Fox & Friends
On purported “news”-side program, America’s Newsroom, guest co-anchor Laura Ingle said that Trump had been “touting his administration's accomplishments and slamming Democrats to supporters” at his town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania. But correspondent Leland Vittert discussed how Trump’s comments on Social Security were already becoming the subject of attacks from Democrats.
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From the March 6, 2020, edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom
Later on, co-anchor Ed Henry and Ingle interviewed White House adviser Kellyanne Conway. In what might have seemed like actual, responsible journalism, Henry asked Conway about Trump’s comments on Social Security, and even followed up her denial by playing the video.
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From the March 6, 2020, edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom
ED HENRY (CO-ANCHOR): Kellyanne, the president this morning promising he’ll protect Social Security and Medicare. You were there at that town hall -- he said the opposite. He said that he, in a second term, would cut Social Security and Medicare, and he would cut entitlement programs. Why did he say that?
KELLYANNE CONWAY: He didn't say that. He didn't say that. You're misquoting him, respectfully. He -- and when I talked to him after, I said there were some articles and some Twitter traffic that says the following -- and he said, “No, I'm talking about cutting deficits."
HENRY: But how do you do that, Kellyanne? Pardon me, you have got to do that by cutting programs. Let's hear the president -- we've got the sound bite, and I'll let you react.
CONWAY: Sure, sure.
(VIDEO BEGINS)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The economy is the best economy we've ever had. It's nothing compared to what it's going to be when the trade deals kick in.
MARTHA MACCALLUM (ANCHOR): But if you -- if you don't cut something in entitlements, you'll never really deal with the debt.
TRUMP: We will be cutting, but we're also going to have growth like you've never had before.
(VIDEO ENDS)
HENRY: So Martha MacCallum said right there, “But you're going to have to cut entitlements to cut the deficit." And he said, “We'll be cutting."
CONWAY: But that wasn't what he was talking about. He is not talking about cutting entitlement, and he has said that several times. Now his press secretary put out a statement last night that that is not what he was referring to, and the president himself has weighed in on this, as well. And he also talked about growth, which was important. He was talking about the booming economy.
Conway then switched gears to talk about other issues, including Trump’s supposed dedication to entitlement programs, military pay raises, and care for veterans. The co-anchors also moved on, with Ingle asking about Trump’s work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the coronavirus outbreak. (The anchors did not point out that the very subject to which Conway switched — Veterans Affairs wait times going down plus the flexibility of the VA Choice program — actually came from the Obama administration, but Trump has falsely claimed credit for the reforms on numerous occasions.)
Later on in the program, Henry briefly discussed a Twitter exchange between Biden and Sanders about Trump’s remarks on Social Security: “Biden starts, he says, ‘Here’s the deal, folks: Social Security is on the ballot this year, and the choice couldn’t be clearer. I'll protect and expand it. Donald Trump will cut it and take it away’ — Kellyanne Conway was on a short time ago, saying that's not true.”
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From the March 6, 2020, edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom
Henry did not make it at all clear that there was video of Trump saying exactly that he would cut entitlement programs, and that Conway’s denial of the actual video was plainly false. The network that elicited Trump’s comments on Social Security has already started pushing them down the memory hole.