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President Trump gets some pushback from an unlikely source

Well, well, well. President Donald Trump faced some tough questions from a TV cable news personality, who pushed back on many of his claims about how supposedly great things are going these days.

And the person who pushed the president Monday night was none other than Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. The pushback was gentle, but it was pushback nonetheless.

As CNN’s Brian Stelter noted, “President Trump’s Fox News interviewers are sometimes so promotional and deferential that little gets challenged, and almost no news is ever made. However, Laura Ingraham was more strategic than that. On Monday, she sat down with Trump and scrutinized several of his policy proposals, channeling dissension within the pro-Trump ranks — and seemingly catching the president off guard.”

The Daily Beast’s Cameron Adams wrote, “The interview is in stark contrast to Ingraham’s visit to the Oval Office in March, when the president showed off his ‘Coke button’ to the Fox host and complained about the Rose Garden and the need to pave it over.”

Ingraham asked Trump about the economy, the government shutdown, health care, the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, and China, among other topics. She often used the term “MAGA folk,” while questioning some of Trump’s ideas.

Trump snapped back, “MAGA was my idea. It was nobody else’s idea. I know better than anybody else MAGA wants to see our country thrive.”

The headline on The Daily Beast story called the interview “fiery.” I’m not sure I’d go that far. Stelter wrote, “She generally framed her questions in a positive light for the president, while still conveying the concerns of Republican voters.”

Look, Ingraham didn’t remind anyone of Mike Wallace in the interview. And, clearly, she remains sympathetic and supportive of Trump. But it wasn’t the normal softball Q&A that Trump is accustomed to when he talks to someone at Fox News.

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Digging deeper

Mediaite’s Colby Hall looked deeper into Ingraham’s interview with Trump, and noticed a larger trend in his piece, “Fox News Is Reclaiming Economic Populism — Leaving Trump’s ‘Con Job’ Excuse Behind.”

Hall wrote how Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race was due, in large part, to Mamdani hammering on one theme: affordability. Many in conservative media have painted Mamdani as some sort of bogeyman.

Hall wrote, “For many, Mamdani is less a sign of socialist ascendance than a vessel for a mandate about the crushing cost of living. And Fox, to its credit, seemed to recognize this faster than most. The network has notably treated Mamdani less as an ideological outlier than as a news peg — and more as a frame to return to covering something larger and more urgent: the economic reality that helped elect him, and President Donald Trump, ironically, in the first place.”

Hall added, “I’ve been critical of Fox News for ignoring storylines before. In this instance, I come to offer praise: This seems far less like random variation and more like an intentional editorial decision. And, more importantly, it reveals something important about where the network sees the audience — and where President Trump does not.”

Trump continues to brag about how great the economy is and how prices are down. The fact that prices, in many instances, are not down doesn’t deter Trump from insisting that all is fine. When asked about high grocery or gas prices, Trump says it’s a “con job” being told by Democrats.

Trump told Ingraham, “They put out something, ‘Say today, the costs are up.’ They feed it to the anchors of ABC, CBS, and NBC, and a lot of others, CNN, etc. It’s like a standard — I’ll never forget they used a word like ‘manufactured.’ Do you remember the word manufactured? ‘It’s a manufactured economy.’ Nobody uses that word. Every anchor broke in, ‘Manufactured.’ They do exactly what they say.”

Trump also said, “Gasoline is gonna be hitting $2 pretty soon, or around $2. Gasoline is at $2.70 now.” For the record, at the time Trump said that, the average price of gas was $3.07.

So Ingraham deserves credit for asking Trump, “So, you’re saying that voters are misperceiving how they feel?”

It actually was a well-phrased question — one that Trump answered by not really answering as he pivoted back to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

In some really sharp analysis, Hall wrote, “Fox News has become a juggernaut of political media — record revenue, ratings, and even a successful streaming platform. And none of that is by accident — it’s come by hard work and savvy recognition of what its viewers are feeling and want to hear about. This is why this should be deeply concerning for the Trump administration. The stakes are straightforward: when Fox has to choose between narrative loyalty and audience relevance, it will choose the audience — every time. Trump can spin gas prices into fairy tales. But Fox has made a subtler — and potentially destabilizing — choice: listening to its viewers over its standard-bearer. And once that shift begins, it rarely reverses.”

Fumbling the ball

Brothers Peyton and Eli Manning — the Super Bowl-winning former NFL quarterbacks — have hit the jackpot with their superb “ManningCast” broadcast on ESPN2. If you haven’t seen it, the brothers watch the “Monday Night Football” game, adding their thoughts on the action and whatever else crosses their minds, like they’re two guys sitting in your living room watching a game. They often bring in high-profile celebrities from sports and entertainment to join in the fun.

It’s supposed to be light and irreverent and a refreshing alternative to the regular “MNF” broadcast. So if you tune into the “ManningCast” for hard-hitting journalism and penetrating questions on serious topics, you’re going to the wrong place.

Having said that, Monday night’s “ManningCast” dropped the ball. One of their guests was Disney CEO Bob Iger, who is a fan of the Green Bay Packers — who were playing the Philadelphia Eagles. Iger wore a Packers hoodie and talked about being a Packers fan.

That’s all well and good, but viewers assumed that the Mannings would eventually ask Iger about a topic too big to ignore. It was the second “MNF” game since the Disney/YouTube carriage dispute that has left many viewers without the game.

But the Mannings never asked Iger about it.

Awful Announcing’s Sean Keeley wrote, “It never happened. After a few segments, the Mannings sent Iger on his way, everyone thanked one another for the pleasant time, and that was that. To put it mildly, what the (expletive) was the point of that?”

The Mannings can’t be expected to be Woodward and Bernstein, but at the same time, you can’t have the head of Disney on your broadcast and not ask about the biggest sports media story at the moment that is affecting the very product you’re broadcasting. The “ManningCast” is owned by Peyton Manning's production company, Omaha Productions, which produces the show in partnership with ESPN.

The Mannings had two choices here. If you’re going to have Iger on your broadcast, you have to ask about the carriage dispute. If they felt uncomfortable getting into that controversy, that’s fine. But then, don’t have Iger on at all.

But they easily could’ve just tossed up an easy one by saying, “Bob, before we let you go, we have to ask about the Disney/YouTube situation. Can you just give us an update?”

Iger could’ve spewed out some cliches and said they’re working on it and hope there’s a resolution soon. And that would have been that.

But as Keeley wrote, “Iger’s lack of comment on the situation leaves more questions than answers. It also created an annoying realization for many viewers like us who tuned in specifically to see what the CEO might have to say, only to find out this was just a chance for him to talk about his beloved team.”

Fans on social media blasted the “ManningCast,” as Sports Illustrated’s Ryan Phillips documents here. Phillips wrote, “It is genuinely shocking that Iger even accepted the invitation to be on-air during the dispute if he wasn’t going to provide some kind of update. Instead, he and the Mannings blissfully acted like nothing abnormal was going on.”

Getting ahead

“The Pat McAfee Show,” which airs weekdays on ESPN, interviewed President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Again, we’re talking about a former athlete (McAfee) interviewing the president, so expectations that it’s going to resemble real in-depth journalism should be low.

McAfee, the former NFL punter who has turned into a major star on ESPN, was broadcasting live from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina in honor of Veterans’ Day. Trump was on for about 20 minutes via the phone. The conversation was mostly about sports, although Trump couldn’t help himself and took a few potshots at his political opponents.

After the interview, McAfee tried to stay ahead of any criticism he might get for hosting Trump.

He said on the air, “I would like to say, though, for the media people that are going to be mad about that happening, that’s the president of the United States. It’s Veterans Day. He’s the commander-in-chief. Obviously, if we’re going to have the opportunity to talk to him, we’re going to.”

He then added, “As soon as we found out this was an opportunity, I reached out to President Obama as well and his team to potentially come on. Because of scheduling and conflicts, they were very kind and obviously sent incredible hope for the veterans and were thankful … but because of his schedule, he wasn’t able to do that. But I did reach out.”

McAfee says he hopes Obama will eventually come on the show.

Obama, by the way, spent part of his day surprising Korean and Vietnam War veterans on an honor flight from Madison, Wisconsin, to Washington, D.C. He posted a video on X and wrote, “Ahead of Veterans Day, I was honored to welcome a flight of veterans and their families as they arrived in DC. To all those who bravely served our country, thank you to you and your family for your extraordinary service. The sacrifices that all of you have made to protect our country will be honored, today and every day.”

Uh, thanks for the credit

Earlier this week, The Washington Post’s Lauren Weber had this story: “‘God is an anti-vaxxer’: Inside the conference celebrating RFK Jr.’s rise.”

Well into this story was an interesting passage about Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph A. Ladapo. Along with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ladapo wants to end vaccine mandates in that state. In addition, Ladapo has criticized what he calls the “mainstream media,” saying, “I saw reporters from The Washington Post and the Atlantic that represent these forces that — I have nothing against them, to be clear — they represent forces who are working toward the enslavement of humanity.”

In a nifty move, Weber got a reaction from Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who said, “In fact, The Atlantic is not working towards the enslavement of humanity, but I appreciate his concern.”

Media tidbits

• The Associated Press’ David Bauder with “In Trump-dominated media world, editing video takes on new significance — as BBC uproar shows.”
• I mentioned the Disney/YouTube dispute earlier in this newsletter. Here’s Variety’s Todd Spangler with “YouTube TV Blackout Is Costing Disney an Estimated $4.3 Million per Day in Lost Revenue.”
• The Kansas Reflector’s Anna Kaminski with “Marion County agrees to pay out $3M for newspaper raid, expresses regret.”
• The Associated Press’ Mark Kennedy with “Cleto Escobedo III, Jimmy Kimmel’s bandleader and childhood friend, dies at 59.”
• Variety’s Nick Vivarelli with “Pope Leo Woos Hollywood With Cate Blanchett, Chris Pine, Dave Franco and More Top Talents Set to Attend Special Audience.”

Hot type

• I’ve been fascinated this week by all the remembrances of the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the freighter that sank 50 years ago this week on Lake Superior. The tragedy was immortalized by Gordon Lightfoot’s 1976 song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Here’s another story worth reading: The New York Times’ Jennifer Schuessler (with visuals from Erinn Springer) with “In the Wake of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

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