Podcast #179 - Fox News: The Jeffrey Epstein Vortex

Last week most American media companies broadcast live coverage of a humble press conference organized by adult survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking criminal enterprise in front of the Capitol building.Fox News completely ignored it. The network spent most of its focus on Trump’s threats to send National Guard troops into Chicago, RFK Jr.’s Senate hearing and what one Fox contributor described as the Democrat Party’s death spiral.Women sharing their stories about suffering abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, a high-rolling billionaire with powerful friends and allies including the president was not a story that Fox News wanted to elevate. Fox producers did include a few short segments about Sydney Sweeney’s jeans commercial - no really, they did that. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Last week Fox News hosts rejoiced over the federal takeover of Washington D.C., praised Trump for an excessively long cabinet meeting and demonized all transgender people after another tragic mass shooting at a Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.When President Donald J. Trump declared that he would send National Guard troops into Chicago the network celebrated the idea of U.S. military personnel fighting crime in the third largest city in the country. The word "‘Chicago’ appeared 132 times in the transcripts last week. But according U.S. News & World Report Chicago did not even make its list of the top 25 most dangerous cities in the United States for 2025-2026 .Other important topics for the Murdoch owned media empire included Cracker Barrel’s decision to go back to its original logo, Gavin Newsom’s social media posts, a recent Democratic National Committee summer meeting and the ICE arrest of Kilmar Abrego Garcia an undocumented immigrant who has been treated like a pawn in Trump’s brutal crackdown on illegal immigration. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Last week on Fox News California Governor Gavin Newsom’s social media posts got everyone worked up, Laura Ingraham celebrated Trump’s federal takeover of Washington D.C. and the network pretended Trump negotiated a major peace deal with Russia and Ukraine even though he didn’t. Fox also finally uttered the name of ‘he who shall not be named’ - Jeffrey Epstein.Fox News also spent a lot of time and focus on gerrymandering battles in Texas and California, a fatal car accident involving an undocumented immigrant driver and Cracker Barrel’s newly designed logo.The phrase ‘Cracker Barrel’ appeared in the transcripts 40 times last week while ‘Israel’ only showed up seven times. After two weeks of showing some interest in the Israel-Hamas conflict the network went right back to ignoring it. Fox News spends very little airtime on the plight of nearly two million people in war-torn Gaza or the remaining Israeli hostages who have been held captive for nearly 700 days. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Last week Fox News misled its viewers about gerrymandering, hyped up a summit with Putin in Alaska, downplayed Trump’s decision to send the National Guard into Washington D.C., demonized a man who hit a federal law enforcement agent with a foot-long Subway sandwich and finally admitted no one really cared about the Sydney Sweeney jeans commercial.“Fox & Friends,” “The Five,” and “Hannity” boasted to their audiences that a recent poll showed that only 12% of Americans were offended by the Sydney Sweeney jeans ad. Instead of conceding that they spent far too much time, energy and focus on a commercial no one cared about, Fox News personalities portrayed the poll as validation for their excessive coverage.The jeans ad was a three-week story on the network while the word ‘Epstein’ did not appear once in the transcripts from last week. Fox News is apparently not concerned that its glorious leader might have had sex with minor-aged girls or supported a sex trafficking ring in any way. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Fox News hyped up the Trump-Putin summit as if it would be this huge victory for the president. It was an abject failure. The legit news team didn’t hide the fact that the summit was a nothing burger. The opinion news team attempted to spin it. I take you through the entire train wreck covering five hours of Fox News programming from “The Five” to “Hannity.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Fox News, the unofficial propaganda network for the Trump administration, continued to largely ignore the Epstein files, a trove of documents that might link the president to a child sex trafficking ring.Last week the network put most of its focus on a gerrymandering battle that involved Democratic Texas state representatives, the Trump administration, Texas Governor Greg Abbott along with the governors of Illinois, New York and California.Jesse Watters presented the legislative fight as a war between good and evil for the soul of America. Although he over hyped the drama at least it was an important news story unlike the network’s other distractions from the Epstein files. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Last week the folks at Fox News pretended the ‘Epstein files’ didn’t exist while everyone at the network got extremely worked up over an American Eagle commercial that featured the actress, Sydney Sweeney. The advertisement was yet another culture war fixation meant to distract from Trump’s possible involvement with the sex trafficking of underage girls.The political furor surrounding the Epstein files has reached the rare distinction of being a bipartisan crusade. Americans across the political spectrum have become obsessed with the mysterious circumstances surrounding Jeffrey Epstein’s death, his once close relationship with the president of the United States and the secrecy surrounding documents related to his alleged sex trafficking operation.Trump and his intelligence officials promised they would declassify everything related to Jeffrey Epstein once they had the power to do so. After months of excuses Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel along with Deputy Director Dan Bongino told the American public that there was nothing to reveal. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Since Fox News decided to completely ignore the current scandal surrounding President Trump and The Epstein Files I went through my archives to find every past segment on Jeffrey Epstein from the past 3.5 years. I’m organized them by subject. The clips are full of selective outrage and hypocrisy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Last week on Fox News the network weaved together the greatest hits from past rightwing conspiracies to create a new tapestry of lies meant to distract its viewers from a growing scandal involving President Trump and an underage sex trafficking ring led by his one-time close associate Jeffrey Epstein.The new fake Obama Russiagate scandal has a bit of everything - a director of national intelligence who is desperate to keep her job, the deep state, Barack Hussein Obama, Hillary Clinton, FISA warrants, declassified memos, dirty dossiers, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Jim Comey, election interference, the complicit mainstream Marxist media and a slew of intelligence community officials who were hellbent on stopping Donald J. Trump’s presidency.The only thing the latest invented scandal lacks is any basis in reality. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe

Anyone watching Fox News last week might think Trump is far more popular than most polls show, New York City is about to turn the entire country into a communist hellscape, the economy is soaring, and Democrats are to blame for the scandal surrounding the Epstein files.The network also produced a barrage of segments trashing the minority party including California Governor Gavin Newsom, and former President Barack Obama. ‘Democrats are terrible’ took up 18% of the airtime on the shows I covered last week.The network also placed undue focus on a New York City mayoral candidate - Zohran Mamdani. Fox News hosts repeatedly smeared the young New York State assembly member as a dangerous radical communist. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingfoxnews.substack.com/subscribe