Donald Trump was triggered Tuesday morning when Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen told viewers that “all the momentum” is now in favor of calling witnesses in the Trump impeachment trial.
Although Trump’s tweets below show what a thin-skinned coward he is, they also show that he is attempting to bully Fox News into even more sycophantic coverage:
Really pathetic how @FoxNews is trying to be so politically correct by loading the airwaves with Democrats like Chris Van Hollen, the no name Senator from Maryland. He has been on forever playing up the Impeachment Hoax. Dems wouldn’t even give Fox their low ratings debates....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2020
.....So, what the hell has happened to @FoxNews. Only I know! Chris Wallace and others should be on Fake News CNN or MSDNC. How’s Shep Smith doing? Watch, this will be the beginning of the end for Fox, just like the other two which are dying in the ratings. Social Media is great!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 28, 2020
Apparently, the Van Hollen interview that set Trump’s tiny Twitter fingers a-twitching was on today’s America’s Newsroom (below). On that show, which airs from 9 AM - Noon ET, Van Hollen called for Chief Justice John Roberts to adjudicate the issue of calling witnesses and which ones.
Never mind that anchors Ed Henry and Sandra Smith pushed Republican talking points throughout the 10-minute interview. Neither questioned why Republicans would not want to hear from witnesses such as John Bolton, who has made clear that he has relevant information to share. No, “straight news” anchor Ed Henry pushed the GOP whataboutism, “asking” about Hunter Biden’s job at Ukraine’s Burisma, “Has that ever been looked at?” Henry also sneaked into his question about the possibility of witnesses a gratuitous comment that witnesses would cause the trial to “drag on now for at least a couple more weeks.”
Smith pushed the Fox/GOP talking point that Democrats should have gotten Bolton’s and other witness testimony during the House impeachment investigation, without noting that Trump had blocked them.
Fortunately, Van Hollen pushed back on all those talking points nicely. Trump must have noticed.
Trump’s attack on Chris Wallace suggests he wants Wallace to get pushed out, like Shepard Smith was. As Mediaite noted, yesterday Wallace had a contentious exchange with Fox’s Katie Pavlich when she tried to promote false Republican talking points. “Get your facts straight,” Wallace snapped, as he corrected her.
Unfortunately for Trump, Wallace, anchor of Fox’s prestigious Fox News Sunday, is unlikely to get the heave ho. But should he decide to leave, Wallace will undoubtedly have many opportunities elsewhere. As Smith has.
As for Trump’s bullyboy question, “How’s Shep Smith doing?” let’s compare where each of them is in a few years.
You can watch the innocuous segment that triggered Trump below, from the January 28, 2020 America’s Newsroom.
Published with permission of Newshounds.
