During his election night speech, Donald Trump promised to be a “president for all Americans.” But on Monday morning, he went out of his way to smear the roughly 30 percent who identify as Democrats.
While Vice President Mike Pence was in South Korea threatening military strikes against North Korea, Trump was engaged in one of his favorite pastimes — live-tweeting Fox & Friends. During the 7 o’clock hour, the show featured an interview with Michael Knowles — “author” of the “book” “Reasons To Vote For Democrats.” (The book is nothing but blank pages, the suggestion being there are no reasons to vote for Democrats.)
At one point during his interview, Knowles said “it is unbelievable how within the first 100 days of this presidency we have exposed the total failure of the last eight years of foreign policy.” Knowles didn’t share any reasons why he thinks Obama’s foreign policy was a failure, nor did Fox & Friends hosts ask him for any.
Nonetheless, about 50 minutes later, Trump shared the quote on Twitter.
"The first 90 days of my presidency has exposed the total failure of the last eight years of foreign policy!" So true. @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2017
Less than 10 minutes later, the president followed up with a direct recommendation.
A great book for your reading enjoyment: "REASONS TO VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS" by Michael J. Knowles.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2017
The love-fest between Trump and his favorite morning show has reached new heights since the inauguration. In February, Trump posted a tweet praising Fox & Friends while blasting CNN and MSNBC.
The fake news media is going crazy with their conspiracy theories and blind hatred. @MSNBC & @CNN are unwatchable. @foxandfriends is great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
Two days after that tweet was posted, Trump held a lengthy news conference where he lauded the “very honorable people” working on Fox & Friends.
“They hit me also when I do something wrong, but they have the most honest morning show,” Trump said during an exchange with CNN’s Jim Acosta. “That’s all I can say. It’s the most honest.”
Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade reciprocated the praise the next morning, saying Trump “looked bigger than the superpower which he’s representing.”
Trump did an interview with Fox & Friends that aired on February 28. During it, host Steve Doocy thanked Trump for the news conference shout out. Trump replied by referencing his repeated call-ins during the campaign and suggested he might not be president if it weren’t for the exposure they provided.
“You have treated me very fairly, and I appreciate it,” he said. “Remember those call-ins, right?… Maybe without those call-ins, someone else is sitting here.”
Trump again praised Fox & Friends during his interview with Fox News host Tucker Carlson in March, saying, “I saw this morning on Fox & Friends, I watch — I like that group of three people, but they had a man who was saying ‘Trump is the greatest president ever, and there will never be one like him.’”
Days after the Carlson interview aired, FBI Director James Comey announced Trump’s campaign is under FBI investigation for possible collusion with Russia. The next morning, Fox & Friends told viewers who missed the House Intelligence Committee hearing where Comey made that announcement that they “didn’t miss much.”
Last week, Fox & Friends celebrated the U.S. military’s latest bombing of Afghanistan with a patriotic country music video.
“The video is black and white. But that is what freedom looks like, that’s the red white and blue,” host Ainsley Earhardt said over aerial video of a bomb dropping.
“One of my favorite things in 16 years at Fox News is watching bombs drop on bad guys,” Geraldo Rivera added.
During his first interview as president, Trump explained the importance of Fox News to his agenda, saying that evidence and facts don’t matter as long as Fox News hosts and the network’s “very smart” viewers agree with him.