Fox tried to ignore Trump’s racist post on “truth social” depicting the Obama’s as apes, and only after it sparked outrage from some Republicans, did their best to try to whitewash it.
As Mediaite reported, there was no mention of what happened on either Fox News or Fox Business Network until the segment above on Special Report with Bret Baier aired at 6pm eastern time.
Here’s the pitiful exchange between host Bret Baier and correspondent Peter Doocy, where they unquestioningly reported that it was a staffer and not Trump who posted the video, while bemoaning that the White House was forced to go “off message” about the Dow and their desire to push Trump’s new scam prescription drug portal, TrumpRx.
BAIER: President Trump is congratulating the nation on the big Wall Street numbers. Meanwhile, the White House is engaged in damage control tonight over a posting on the president’s social media account that many people are calling racist.
The images of Barack and Michelle Obama as primates are being blamed on a staff member. They have been removed from the site. Senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy has details of all of this live from the North Lawn. Good evening, Peter.
DOOCY: Good evening, Bret. It’s unclear if President Trump ever even saw this image of the Obamas that was tacked onto the end of an unrelated video, before it was posted to his account. But it was posted, and some of the president’s closest allies pressured him to take it down, which he did.
OZ: It’ll save money. It’ll save lives.
DOOCY: The White House Messaging Friday was supposed to be all about TrumpRx.gov.
OZ: This is an extraordinarily successful launch already.
DOOCY: But the day was upended and some of the president’s most reliable Republican allies broke with the White House when an AI-generated clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as primates flashed on screen toward the end of a video about alleged voting abnormalities in a video reposted to the president’s Truth Social account overnight.
Initially, Press Secretary Karoline Levitt said, “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Republican Senator Tim Scott said, “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The president should remove it.” Susan Collins, up for reelection in Maine, wrote, “Tim is right. This was appalling.”
And shortly afterwards, the White House clarified, “A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.” The post has since been deleted from the president’s Truth Social account.
Alabama Republican Senator Katie Britt, who frequently appears alongside the president in the Oval Office, said, “This content was rightfully removed, should have never been posted to begin with, and is not who we are as a nation.”
As markets closed, the president posted a celebratory message. “The Dow Jones industrial average just hit 50,000 for the first time in history,” fulfilling a prediction he made at Davos earlier this year.
TRUMP: We’re to hit 50,000 and that stock market’s going to double in a relatively short period of time because of everything that’s happening.
DOOCY: If you go on the way back machine, as President Trump pitched his tariffs, he warned investors that there could be some short term pain on Wall Street. And there was. Shortly after Liberation Day, Wall Street had some of its worst days in history, but now less than a year later, a record high close.
They’re hoping this just goes away. Good luck with that.
