Donald Trump has an up and down relationship with Fox News.
It’s mostly down these days.
And that’s because Donald Trump went to war with Fox News over this bad decision.
Conservative media platforms Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
One of the true wildcards in the 2024 election is the presence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the ballot.
The Kennedy name is golden with a certain set of Democrats, and he could be an outlet for disaffected liberals to voice a protest vote against Joe Biden.
But Kennedy also criticized the Left’s lies about January 6, served as leading advocate against vaccine mandates, and opposed funding for the war in Ukraine.
All those stances make him appealing to anti-establishment independent voters.
And it looks like Kennedy is going full bore to play spoiler to help Biden win the election.
POLITICO found that a “plurality” of Kennedy’s 69 media appearances since January 6 were on TV shows or podcasts associated with conservative or libertarian politics.
Daily Wire founder Ben Shapiro defended his interview with Kennedy.
“RFK Jr is the highest polling third-party candidate since Ross Perot,” Shapiro told POLITICO. “He’s a fascinating figure and I regularly interview newsworthy people across the political spectrum on my show. With that said, I’ve made clear that I support President Trump’s reelection effort, and have even co-hosted a campaign event for him.”
Donald Trump slams Fox News for continually interviewing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Donald Trump wasn’t happy when he saw Fox News Channel’s Raymond Arroyo interview Kennedy.
“So bad that FoxNews [sic] puts RFK Jr., considered the dumbest member of the Kennedy Clan, on their fairly conservative platform so much. Competitive networks don’t want anything to do with him,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump reminded followers that Kennedy was really a radical leftist who supported abortion-on-demand and the Green New Deal.
“He’s a Radical Left Lunatic whose crazy Climate Change views make the Democrat’s Green New Scam look Conservative. He’s polling badly, 8% at best, but says he does well against Crooked Joe and me, one on one. WRONG, he gets trounced!” Trump continued.
“Junior said I’m the ‘best debater’ in generations, and I want to debate him, and Crooked, but first he’s got to get his bad poll numbers up – a lot! He would be ‘easy pickins,’” Trump added, saying conservatives shouldn’t throw their “precious vote on this phony Liberal Activist.”
“With all of that said, he probably hurts Sleepy Crooked Joe more than ‘US!’” Trump concluded.
What the polls show
The polls show Trump is right – for now.
Trump’s lead in the RealClearPolitics Polling average expands from 1.5 to 2.2 points when Kennedy is included in ballot tests.
The Hill and Emerson’s polls of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin showing Trump’s lead growing in five of the seven states when Kennedy’s name is included while also staying the same in Arizona and Michigan.
But we’re still a ways out from November and that could all change if Fox News continues to highlight RFK Jr.’s anti-establishment positions.
