President Donald Trump on Sunday slammed his preferred news network over recent unfavorable poll results, saying: “There’s something going on at Fox [News], I’ll tell you right now. And I'm not happy with it.”
Trump’s comments to reporters in New Jersey were in response to a question about the network’s recent survey showing the president losing head-to-head matchups against four of the top Democratic presidential primary candidates.
Trump said he didn’t “believe” the poll, adding: “Fox has changed. My worst polls have always been from Fox.”
He also complained about how Democrats had barred the network from hosting or televising the party’s 2020 primary debates and signaled a warning about the the general election cycle.
“And I think Fox is making a big mistake,” the president said when asked about the polling and the network’s leadership. “Because, you know, I'm the one that calls the shots on that — on the really big debates.”
The president’s criticisms are a continuation of a war on one of his favorite targets, the news media. But Trump has increasingly lumped in Fox News, a network known for its conservative bent, in recent months for what he views as unfavorable coverage.
He has squared off with the network as it devoted time to forums with Democratic presidential candidates earlier in the year. Trump took jabs at Fox News over the network’s town halls with Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders in April and Pete Buttigieg in May.
This time, Trump’s annoyance with an unfavorable poll led him to wrongly assert that he has control over the 2020 presidential debates.
The Commission on Presidential Debates, which is not controlled by any political party or outside organization and does not endorse, support or oppose political candidates for parties, has sponsored general election presidential debates in every election since 1988.
Trump on Sunday also teed off on Fox News political analyst Juan Williams, who the president said “has never said a positive thing” — following up on a tweet earlier in the day in which he called Williams “pathetic,” “nasty” and “wrong.”
He said he was “certainly happy” with other Fox hosts, including Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Tucker Carlson and Jeanine Pirro.
