Fox News’ election fraud pandering may be its most dangerous lie yet, but it's paving the way for how it will cover the Biden presidency

Vox

"It’s time for Fox to dispense with the bad-faith, bifurcated approach to the truth it has used for years, which allows its most popular stars to peddle lies to its audience under the guise that they’re merely offering their opinions," says Peter Kafka. "That won’t happen, of course. That’s in part because of Fox’s well-documented symbiosis with Trump, where its top talent — Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, the Fox & Friends crew — act as Trump’s on- and off-air advisers and cheering squad. (Even this week, as Trump floats a trial balloon that he’ll ditch Fox and take his audience to a much smaller media operation, like Newsmax, or start his own 'rival' network, his complaints on Twitter are about Fox’s news operation, not his TV pals.) And it’s in part because Murdoch, who enjoys conservative politics but truly loves power, has an endgame in mind: By mid-January, Joe Biden will be president, and Fox News will be the disloyal opposition, a position where it thrives. What we’re seeing now is a warmup act. In one part of the Fox universe, Trump and his team are making as-yet-unfounded allegations of election fraud — or Trump and his team are fighting election fraud but everyone else is against them and it may not work out. Either way, we’ll get to the same point next year, where Fox News is very comfortable attacking the Democratic president — who some viewers will believe doesn’t have the right to be in office."

ALSO:

• There are 73 million reasons why Fox News will stick with Trumpism: "With around 73 million voters indicating their comfort with another four years of Trump's madness, the one certainty is that while Trump may recede from the center of our lives, Trumpism isn't going anywhere," says Melanie McFarland. "The difference, at least for Fox, will be in finding and anointing the next star for the right wing to rally around. On its face, that idea doesn't quite wash. Trump insists on starring in anything that bears his name, including the political movement he birthed. Logically Trumpism cannot exist without the grifter for which it is named. However, a new era is dawning for Fox and for Trump, and the former at least has been planning for the latter's exit for much longer than he expected. Already the network has signaled a reduced level of allegiance to Trump; that was already happening before Fox called Arizona for President-elect Joe Biden on election night, a move that triggered angry pushback from the White House and the Republican party over its call."
• Why President Trump cannot win his war against Fox News
• Tucker Carlson apologizes on-air for a now debunked claim of a dead Georgia voter