BONUS Podcast - How Fox News Covered the Elon Musk - Donald J. Trump Social Media Smackdown

Last week as most Americans looked forward to an extended holiday weekend Fox News went into overdrive as it promoted and pushed Trump’s - One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB). Since Trump created his massive budget reconciliation bill Fox News has spoken about it in vague and broad terms.No one at the network spent much energy discussing what was included in the legislation until it was in the final stages of gaining enough votes in the House and Senate. Once it was close to getting over the finish line the folks at Fox knew their job was to champion it at all costs.Even during the network’s three-hour Independence Day celebration Fox included extended segments about the success of OBBB. Most of what the Fox News audience learned about the legislation was inaccurate, misleading or downright false.In poll after poll the OBBB remained unpopular with most Americans across the political spectrum. Even several Republican lawmakers in both houses were concerned about the legislation yet all but a handful fell in line to vote for it when pressured by their glorious leader.The OBBB is a monster designed to inflict most of its damage after the midterm elections. As the poorest Americans lose SNAP benefits and Medicaid the wealthiest will have a few more dollars and the country will come closer to financial ruin. 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 worked its audience into a frenzy of paranoia over possible secret Iranian sleeper cells while it celebrated the cruelty of a migrant detention center surrounded by alligators and pythons. As the network focused on fear and sadism it also lauded Donald J. Trump as the daddy of NATO.As a new detention center in Florida nicknamed ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ was announced last week Fox News hosts couldn’t hide their excitement over the prospect of an undocumented immigrant being eaten by a giant reptile or suffocated by a enormous snake.Folks at Fox News might not have realized they were echoing a dark and sinister past in the American south when Black Americans were once used as actual bait for alligators according to researchers at the Jim Crow Museum. 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 before Trump decided to bomb three nuclear sites in Iran Fox News was more than happy to encourage him to start a new war in the Middle East - something he vowed he would avoid during his 2024 presidential campaign.When Fox News hosts weren’t standing in front of maps of Iran or going over various animated displays of bunker busting bombs, they were downplaying anti-Trump protests, demonizing Democrats and ignoring the fact that their glorious leader’s approval rating was dropping in multiple polls.Traditionally the American public tends to sour on foreign wars quickly even if they were far more popular when they started. Fox News hosts seemed determined to sell Trump as a president dedicated to peace while pummeling Middle East countries with 30,000-pound bombs. 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

This podcast covers special weekend editions of shows that were added by Sean Hannity, Bret Baier and others to cover the U.S. military strikes on Iran. 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 as Fox News tried to hype up mostly peaceful protests against ICE raids across the country the network was hit with a giant asteroid of a story - one that was too big to ignore and incredibly hard to spin. Israel, seemingly frustrated with Trump’s lack of progress with a diplomatic solution, launched Operation Rising Lion and struck Iran’s nuclear sites.Iran immediately retaliated striking Israel. As of today 224 Iranians have perished along with 24 Israelis.Israel’s actions push the world dangerously close to an expanded global conflict. President Trump has made things worse by recklessly tweeting things that imply that the United States is prepared to enter a full scale war with Iran.Trump posted on social media for Iran’s "unconditional surrender" and said the U.S. knew where Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was located, but would not kill him, "for now.” In social media posts Trump has also used the pronoun ‘we’ when referring to the actions of the Israeli government. 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

Trump tried to look like a fascist and failed miserably. Army 250 was the saddest parade in the world. 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 before Trump decided to abuse the power of the presidency with his inappropriate use of the U.S. military the network was dedicated to a story that most Americans couldn’t care less about - the former president’s use of an autopen.The term ‘autopen’ showed up 69 times in last week’s transcripts. Last week congressional Republicans led by Rep. James Comer launched a pointless investigation into Joe Biden’s use of a signing machine or autopen.American presidents have used machines to sign documents for decades. The use of an autopen is not illegal or unethical. Republicans, helped by Fox News, are trying to create a narrative that Biden was so mentally incapacitated that he had no idea what he was signing or that someone else in the Biden admin. was signing documents without the president’s knowledge.The autopen scandal is just the latest bright shiny object to keep the Fox News audience focused on something besides Trump’s attempts to turn the United States into his own private fascist fiefdom. 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

Enjoy laughing at the folks at Fox News melting down. In this episode I start with “The Five” and cover every show until “Hannity” on Thursday night 6/5/25 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 after Elon Musk announced he would be leaving his role in the Trump administration Fox News ramped up its hero worship of the eccentric billionaire to hyperdrive.For months Fox News has aggressively tried to promote Elon Musk as a selfless patriot who loved his adopted country so much that he donated his time and energy to cutting government waste, fraud and abuse to save the United States from the beast of overwhelming debt.The network portrayed his relationship with Trump as if they were as close as brothers. Musk became a main character on the network who was even compared to the Marvel comic book hero Iron Man.Despite the feverish PR campaign to make Musk into a beloved figure most Americans, including Republicans, still don’t like him or his non-congressionally approved wannabe government agency DOGE - the Department of Government Efficiency. 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 started with the announcement that former president Joe Biden had an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bone. The folks at Fox used the former president’s diagnosis as even more proof that the entire Democratic Party was complicit in hiding his declining health to the American public.Meanwhile Trump continues to show signs of his own cognitive decline along with a severe personality disorder. During a commencement speech at West Point Trump claimed there were ‘no wars and no problems’ during his first administration.During Trump’s first term in office the U.S. was still at war in Afghanistan, Neo Nazis terrorized Charlottesville, Virginia, a global pandemic caused the death of millions, international supply chains fell apart, Americans faced shortages of food, medical equipment and other necessities, and entire industries were shutdown. 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