Fox News commentators have flipped reality on its head to paint a "cult" like narrative about former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan that gives off "North Korea vibes," argued Greg Sargent in a blistering analysis for the New Republic.
This analysis arrives as the former president faces an ongoing trial which has been rife with mishaps that include reports of frequent courtroom naps, a contempt ruling and a threaten of jail from judge Juan Merchan over multiple gag order violations.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, that he cooked his books to cover hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
To hear it from Fox, Trump has prosecutors right where he wants them, Sargent argues.
"On Monday night, Trump posted a video on social media featuring Fox personality Jesse Watters gushing that his trial may win him the White House," wrote Sargent. "Trump also promoted a video of Fox’s Jeanine Pirro insisting that it showcases his ability to 'withstand pressure.' Other Fox figures have spun Trump’s buffoonish outbreaks of narcolepsy in court as proof he’s Owning the Libs: Certain of acquittal, he can do some power-napping while showing the trial the contempt it deserves."
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Watters even said that the trial “keeps the former president disciplined, structured, and away from his tongue-wagging rallies” that even Fox now appears to acknowledge don't have the luster and excitement they once did.
This comes despite the fact other reporting indicates Trump himself is deeply aggrieved with how the trial is going, and is scapegoating his lawyers for it.
"Trump would not be so angry with his lawyer if he thought the trial were going as well as his spinners say it is," Sargent concludes. "Indeed, this saga shows how deeply flimsy the vast illusion that MAGA propagandists have woven around Trump and his legal travails has truly become ... And as his private anger at his lawyer suggests, despite all the MAGA mythmaking to the contrary, no one is more aware of all this than Trump himself."
