“Why does FoxNews always put Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Jessica Tarlov, and every Democrat on, saying bad things about the Republican Party and, of course, me?” Trump posted.
“I actually think they get more airtime than Pro Republicans. This is why MAGA, and REAL Patriots, will never like Fox!” he continued.
Trump then argued that Republican responses receive far less attention.
“They repeat a completely negative narrative, on and on it goes, and then we get a quick retort. It’s truly amazing that I won all three Elections. The opposition is enormous, but the fight goes on!” he added.
The attack is notable because Fox remains one of the country’s dominant cable news operations and has historically attracted a heavily Republican audience. But Trump’s relationship with the network has repeatedly swung between praise and confrontation.
Now the fight has become even more intense following the departure of longtime Fox anchor Maria Bartiromo.
Fox News Media officially announced on September 3 that it had parted ways with Bartiromo after more than 12 years. The company did not publicly give a detailed reason for the split. Fox confirmed that “Mornings with Maria” would become “Mornings with FOX Business,” while her other programs would receive replacement hosts.
“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12 ½ years and wish her all the best on her next chapter,” Fox said.
But White House senior counselor Peter Navarro has offered a far more explosive account of what happened behind the scenes.
Navarro claims Bartiromo had shared with him an internal Fox Business message concerning coverage of a Trump address about alleged Chinese interference in American elections.
According to Navarro, Bartiromo had planned to interview him following the speech before receiving an internal programming directive.
Navarro published what he said was the message sent to Bartiromo’s producers:
“Hi – We don’t want to promote it or push to the speech at all. We don’t want to do 2020 election segments at all Thurs or Friday.”
Navarro said he subsequently shared that information with the White House and claimed Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott received an angry call from the West Wing. Those assertions come from Navarro’s account; Fox’s public statement announcing Bartiromo’s departure did not say that the episode caused her exit.
The Los Angeles Times separately reported that a person familiar with Bartiromo’s departure described it as a “business decision.”
Navarro, however, has continued hammering Fox publicly.
“Fox is not real news. It is CNN with better lighting, a fake slogan and a flag graphic. Stop watching its dangerous drivel,” he wrote.
Navarro’s criticism expanded beyond Bartiromo to Fox’s relationship with other major media organizations.
“News flash: A network that sells itself to conservatives has blacked out a Republican president and put out a press release about it, arm in arm with CNN. Fox is the more dangerous of the two, because it pretends to wear our colors,” Navarro wrote.
He has even argued that Trump administration officials should stop appearing on Fox, proposing that Cabinet officials, White House personnel and other administration figures withhold interviews and exclusives from the network.
The Bartiromo controversy also arrives after several high-profile departures that reshaped Fox’s lineup.
Lou Dobbs’ Fox Business program was canceled in February 2021. Tucker Carlson and Fox abruptly parted ways in April 2023. Bartiromo has now joined the list, although the circumstances surrounding each departure were different.
For Trump, however, the immediate issue appears broader than any single host.
His September 30 message suggests frustration with Fox’s overall editorial balance, particularly its willingness to feature Democratic voices criticizing Republicans and his administration.
Jessica Tarlov has become one of the network’s most visible Democratic commentators, frequently challenging her conservative co-hosts on “The Five.” Schumer and Jeffries, meanwhile, are the Democratic leaders of their respective chambers of Congress.
Fox would therefore argue that interviewing or featuring leading opposition politicians is part of covering national politics. Trump’s complaint is that the network gives those voices disproportionate space while conservative responses receive less prominent treatment.
That disagreement is increasingly playing out in public.
For years, Fox occupied a unique place in American political media: distrusted by much of the left while maintaining an enormous conservative audience.
The rise of alternative conservative outlets and independent personalities has changed that landscape. Fox no longer has the same near-exclusive position it once enjoyed among right-leaning television viewers.
That gives Trump’s criticism added significance.
Rather than treating Fox as the automatic home of conservative political coverage, Trump is openly challenging its programming decisions and telling supporters that the network does not necessarily represent the MAGA movement.
Navarro has gone even further, portraying the dispute as a question of whether conservative viewers should trust Fox at all.
Fox, meanwhile, remains a ratings powerhouse. In announcing Bartiromo’s departure, the company said Fox News Channel had been the most-watched television news channel for more than 24 consecutive years and that Fox Business was the leading business channel on cable.
That makes the confrontation particularly unusual.
This isn’t simply another Republican politician attacking CNN or another traditionally liberal media organization. It is a Republican president and one of his senior advisers publicly battling a network whose audience includes millions of the very voters Trump considers his political base.
And if Trump’s latest message is any indication, the tension isn’t disappearing anytime soon.
“The opposition is enormous, but the fight goes on!”
