Former President Trump accused Fox News host Laura Ingraham of running a “hit piece” on him for airing a segment focusing on his poll numbers compared to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who is expected to announce a White House bid in the coming days.
Trump, minutes after the segment aired Monday evening, took to his Truth Social website to blast the longtime conservative commentator, who has been largely supportive of him in recent years.
“Laura Ingraham on FoxNews just did a hit piece on me (there go her ratings!) showing some polls which indicate that Ron DeSanctimonious may do better against Biden than I would, when actually polls show that I do MUCH better against Biden than ‘Rob,'” Trump wrote.
“The poll your looking at now, which has me doing far better against Crooked Joe, was just put out by FOX, I am sure unhappily,” Trump continued. “I’m also leading DeSanctus by over 40 points in Primary Voting. Watch Greg Kelly on Newsmax at 10:00 P.M.”
Then-President Trump gives Fox News host Laura Ingraham a kiss after inviting her on stage during the 2019 Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
During the segment, Ingraham hosted conservative author and pundit Chris Bedford, who serves as executive editor of Common Sense Society, and the two discussed how Trump’s poll numbers match up against President Biden and DeSantis in states Trump narrowly lost during the 2020 election.
“Joe Biden is running pretty badly behind a generic Republican figure like a Ron DeSantis or Tim Scott,” Bedford said, referring to the GOP senator from South Carolina who announced his White House bid on Monday. “But he’s consistently beating Donald Trump.”
Ingraham noted the economy and immigration are two of the key issues voters have indicated are most important to them in the 2024 election, before suggesting leading national Republicans are coming up short in addressing those concerns.
Trump’s public criticism of Fox is nothing new. The former president has relentlessly attacked top hosts and leaders at the network in recent weeks over its coverage of DeSantis and other issues, in one recent rebuke calling Fox the “RINO” network, a pejorative term meaning Republican in name only.
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During an interview with The Hill last fall, Ingraham deflected a question about whether Republicans should support Trump or DeSantis, saying instead the party should focus on populist messaging regardless of who the GOP candidate in 2024 ends up being.
Tensions between Fox and Trump have grown more intense in the weeks following the company’s recently settled defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over the former president’s claims about the voting system company’s software.
Fox last month ousted Tucker Carlson, its top-rated prime-time host who was vocally supportive of Trump on his show, a move that has enraged some conservatives within the former president’s base.