Nicolai Haugsted
Fox News could be heading for disaster as viewers turn away from Trump and his Republican allies.
For years, Fox News has enjoyed a remarkably successful relationship with Donald Trump, benefiting from a political movement that transformed American conservatism and kept millions of viewers glued to their televisions.
The network helped shape the conversation surrounding Trump’s rise, while the president regularly provided its commentators with an almost endless supply of political drama.
But the relationship has become increasingly complicated as Republicans confront the consequences of their devastating midterm election defeat, according to RawStory.
Trump’s declining popularity, controversial policies and increasingly unpredictable public appearances have created an uncomfortable situation for a broadcaster that has invested heavily in his political success.
According to one media analyst who has spent years studying Fox News, the network may now be discovering the disadvantages of tying its identity so closely to a single politician.
Juliet Jeske, founder of the media-monitoring project Decoding Fox News, believes the conservative broadcaster is entering a particularly difficult period, with declining ratings and an editorial approach that she argues has become increasingly detached from political reality.
Fox News is struggling to adjust to Trump’s political troubles
Jeske has spent four years closely monitoring Fox News, documenting its coverage for people interested in the network’s political influence but unwilling to watch it themselves.
Her project’s slogan neatly summarizes the assignment.
“I watch all the Fox News you’d never want to.”
Speaking to Raw Story, Jeske described a network whose coverage has grown increasingly peculiar since the United States launched its war against Iran on February 28.
The Republican Party’s disastrous performance in the November 3 midterm elections, she argued, only accelerated the problem.
“Really, from the war on, Fox has just gotten stranger and stranger,” Jeske said.
“It’s like watching a tragedy every day.”
Her criticism centers on what she considers a widening gap between the political picture presented by Fox News and the reality confronting Republicans.
According to Jeske, the network has repeatedly minimized Trump’s declining popularity while portraying his political appearances as more successful than the election results suggest.
“They’re downplaying the fact that he’s deeply, deeply unpopular,” she said.
“They’re downplaying that his goofy rallies didn’t do anything and may have actually hurt Republicans.”
The assessment is Jeske’s interpretation of the network’s coverage, rather than an established explanation for the Republican Party’s electoral losses.
Nevertheless, the election results have given her criticism a particularly timely backdrop.
Election night delivered an uncomfortable reality check
Jeske believes Fox News entered the midterms poorly prepared for the scale of the Republican defeat.
During the campaign, she said, the network devoted considerable attention to the high-profile contests involving Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and James Talarico in Texas.
Both candidates went on to win their races against Republicans Mike Rogers and Ken Paxton, respectively.
Meanwhile, Jeske argued, Fox News gave insufficient attention to other important contests, including races in Ohio and Kansas that ultimately contributed to the Democratic wave.
The result was an election-night broadcast in which some commentators appeared genuinely surprised by developments that had received relatively little attention on the network.
“The tone was kind of panicked,” Jeske recalled.
“You could tell that they were scared.”
She admitted that some moments were so unusual that she found herself laughing.
Former Republican congressman and Fox News personality Trey Gowdy expressed shock at the results.
Reporter Madison Alworth described women praying for Republican Senator Jon Husted in a bathroom.
Meanwhile, correspondent Nate Foy attempted to illustrate the disappointing Republican results in Kansas with an unusual prop.
Holding up a bag of M&Ms, he announced:
“Things aren’t so sweet in Kansas.”
Jeske was less than impressed by the attempt at election-night humor.
“Come on,” she said.
“That is out of ‘Anchorman.'”
The comparison to the comedy film Anchorman captured her broader impression of a network struggling to reconcile its expectations with what voters had actually delivered.
Trump’s election-night appearance raised further questions
The surprises did not end with the congressional results.
According to Jeske, one of the most remarkable moments came when Trump himself called into Fox News during the election coverage.
Despite the Republican Party’s heavy losses, the president reportedly declared himself the most popular American president since Abraham Lincoln.
Jeske found the exchange particularly revealing.
“I was so clobbered by the stuff I covered on Election Day,” she said.
“But that was the weirdest, trying to act like Trump’s behavior was normal.”
The media analyst also criticized Fox News for what she regards as its reluctance to seriously examine concerns surrounding Trump’s physical and cognitive health.
Such concerns have circulated among critics of the president, although Jeske’s observations do not establish any medical diagnosis.
Her broader argument is that Fox News commentators have become increasingly unwilling to challenge the president, even when his statements or behavior generate controversy elsewhere.
That reluctance, she believes, has created an editorial problem that becomes more difficult to manage as Trump’s political standing weakens.
The network’s relationship with Trump runs unusually deep
Fox News has never concealed the enthusiasm with which many of its commentators greeted Trump’s return to the White House in January 2025.
Jeske remembers the network’s inauguration coverage as a celebration of a political victory in which its personalities appeared personally invested.
“They were ecstatic when he won — they were Trump State media all the way,” she said.
“They had arrived. They were part of the machine.”
The relationship extends beyond favorable television coverage.
According to the Raw Story report, approximately 30 former Fox News personalities are employed within Trump’s administration.
Among them are Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and US Attorney Jeannine Pirro.
Their appointments illustrate the unusually close connections between the conservative broadcaster and the president’s political operation.
Those connections can provide Fox News with valuable access to influential administration figures.
But they may also complicate the network’s ability to distance itself from unpopular government decisions.
Jeske believes the relationship has become so intertwined that separating the two would be extraordinarily difficult.
Falling ratings could make the situation worse
Fox News has also faced reports of declining ratings, adding a commercial dimension to its political difficulties.
Jeske argues that younger viewers are increasingly abandoning the network, potentially creating longer-term problems for its audience.
The broadcaster has historically benefited from a loyal conservative following, particularly during periods of intense political conflict.
However, Jeske believes its commitment to defending Trump could become a liability if his popularity continues to deteriorate.
The problem, as she sees it, is that Fox News cannot easily change its political identity without risking the loyalty of viewers who expect enthusiastic support for the president.
At the same time, continuing to defend unpopular decisions could make attracting new audiences more difficult.
Jeske also accused the network of portraying Democrats as dangerous political opponents while simultaneously minimizing the significance of their midterm victories.
Such an approach, she suggested, allows commentators to maintain their familiar political narrative without fully confronting the implications of the election.
Her analysis presents a difficult dilemma for Fox News, although the network’s long-term ratings trajectory and audience behavior will ultimately determine whether those concerns materialize.
Pete Hegseth could become expendable
Jeske believes Fox News may eventually find it relatively easy to distance itself from individual figures associated with the Trump administration.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who previously worked for the network, could be one such example.
Hegseth’s formal contractual relationship with Fox News ended when he joined the administration.
If his political position deteriorates further, Jeske predicts that the network could abandon its association with him without much hesitation.
She pointed to the departures of prominent personalities such as Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo as examples of how the broadcaster has handled difficult relationships.
Her argument is that individual commentators and former employees can ultimately be replaced.
Trump presents a considerably greater challenge.
Unlike a television personality whose contract can be terminated, the president remains the central political figure around whom much of the network’s current coverage revolves.
Distancing Fox News from Trump would therefore require something more substantial than a change in its lineup.
It could mean reconsidering an editorial identity that has developed alongside his political movement.
Fox News may be stuck with the president it helped champion
Jeske’s assessment is particularly bleak because she sees no obvious solution for the broadcaster.
Trump still controls the White House, commands considerable influence among Republican voters and remains closely connected to numerous Fox News personalities.
Even after the midterm defeat, abandoning him would carry significant political and commercial risks.
Yet continuing to present an overwhelmingly favorable picture of his presidency could become increasingly difficult if public dissatisfaction grows.
For Jeske, the relationship has reached a point where the network and the president are almost impossible to separate.
“It’s just become one organism, they can’t cut the cord,” she said.
“They know Trump’s unpopular but they don’t know what to do.”
The prediction is far from a guarantee that Fox News will experience a lasting decline.
The network has survived political setbacks, changing administrations and major controversies before.
But Jeske believes the current challenge is different because Fox News has invested so much of its identity in Trump’s personal political fortunes.
