March 5, 2019

Three Revelations From Explosive ‘New Yorker’ Fox News Story

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fox-news-trump-stormy-daniels-803166/?fbclid=IwAR3mkD2ZSh1hHsBrN2AA93kx18K04kA4t6rC4GVK2E2_Ysa_gCceXozcubU
"Fox News and the Trump White House: a seamlessly integrated human centipede. Want proof? Look no further than the fact that Bill Shine, current White House communications director and the former president of Fox News, collects checks from both shops. (Shine, who resigned from Fox after the network was rocked by a series of sexual misconduct scandals, is still being paid out the remainder of a $7 million bonus.) Hope Hicks, who preceded Shine in his government gig, now works at his old network’s parent company, 21st Century Fox. In her latest piece for the New Yorker, investigative reporter Jane Mayer explored the unholy alliance between the network and the Trump administration. It’s a story that explains both how Fox made Trump (by offering him weekly segments on Fox and Friends), and how Trump radicalized Fox (by shamelessly flogging the racist “birther” conspiracy regarded as too fringe by Fox personalities Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck). As Mayer explains, it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. At least three former commenters or contributors to Fox News became cabinet members (Ben Carson, K.T. McFarland and John Bolton), not including former Fox anchor Heather Nauert, who withdrew from consideration as UN ambassador, or former adviser Sebastian Gorka, who frequently appears on the network. But, as Mayer reports, you don’t need to have left Fox to be looped into White House strategy sessions. “Pete Hegseth and Lou Dobbs, hosts on Fox Business, have each been patched into Oval Office meetings, by speakerphone, to offer policy advice,” Mayer writes. “Sean Hannity has told colleagues that he speaks to the President virtually every night, after his show ends, at 10 p.m"."