Fox Host Says Trump Knows There’s ‘No Bad Publicity’ and Drops ‘Certain Words’ to Ignite Media Firestorms
Fox News’s Martha MacCallum held a panel discussion with radio host Hugh Hewitt, GOP strategist Karl Rove, and Fox’s Howie Kurtz on Monday to discuss former President Donald Trump’s widely covered “bloodbath” remarks over the weekend.
MacCallum played the clip of Trump saying there would be a bloodbath in the country if he isn’t reelected in a lengthy rant about trade policy and the auto industry.
“I spent three hours this morning doing nothing but the story of bloodbath and Howie’s interview because the former president is a ratings draw and people want to talk about it,” Hewitt said about his radio show, adding:
It’s a lie to actually suggest that the former president was calling for physical violence. He wasn’t. And I’m glad you played both the beginning and the end of that, because it’s clearly, clearly, I mean, there isn’t any doubt here. There would be no doubt in any objective reading. He was talking about what would happen to the automobile industry in America if the Chinese-funded and Mexican-constructed EVs were allowed into the country without tariffs.
I don’t happen to agree with him on the policy, but I do agree this was completely taken out of context because it wasn’t about journalism, about super serving a hardcore audience with what they wanted to hear that Donald Trump is a tyrant who has blood on his hands, and more to come.
“Yeah, Hugh staying with you for a moment, though. When you listen to Joe Scarborough, he’s saying that you are wrong. He’s saying, you know, clearly there’s an inference in there that’s larger than just the auto industry. And if you don’t get it, you’re just a cable idiot. That’s what he’s saying, Hugh,” MacCallum replied, referring to the MSNBC host’s comments earlier that morning accusing Trump of threatening violence.
“I’m not going to call Joe stupid like he’s calling all of us stupid on this panel, because I used to go on Joe’s show back when he was in love with Trump, and Trump would call him and they would both beat up on me. So Joe has changed over time as ratings has required him to change. And the MSNBC audience is right in the change. But this morning was laughable. Joe knows it. He’s got a ratings to deliver and he delivered it this morning,” Hewitt said.
“You know, it’s interesting, Howie, because what the former president said to you,” MacCallum noted, turning to Kurtz who spoke to Trump for an interview on Sunday.
“You know, I do believe that he’s a politician and prior to that, a businessman who believes there’s no such thing as bad publicity. And so if you drop certain words into the ether, you’re going to get talked about, you know, the great Hugh Hewitt spent three hours talking about this morning,” MacCallum added, noting that Trump often creates these news cycles deliberately with vague yet bombastic language.
“And here’s a sound bite, on the issue of the ‘enemy of the people’ phrase that he has used from your interview, Howie, watch,” she said before rolling the clip.
“They really don’t like ‘enemy of the people.’ I would be honored to do that if they would do it right. If they would. You know, they’re like the policeman or policewoman. They’re, like, the police. And frankly, they keep our country honest in a certain way. If they do their job properly and they haven’t been doing it properly,” Trump said in the clip.
“Howie, your thoughts on that exchange?” asked MacCallum.
“Well, I sense that he might be open to some kind of a ceasefire because he’s using ‘fake news’ a lot less, and he almost went all the way. But then he said, you know, ‘but they’re not doing it properly.’ So it’s there’s no ceasefire as of now,” Kurtz replied, arguing Trump has been signaling he might be willing to cool his battle with the media.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
