As Trump’s war in Iran stirs anxiety over food production given fertilizer shipments are being blocked, right-wing media divisions emerge.
Legacy outlets that bent the knee to Trump are bleeding readers, viewers, and credibility.
Right-wing media accused Trump of “obvious” stock market manipulation.
Right-wing media are calling for ICE to “surround the polls” in midterms
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This week in stupid
One week after Newsmax’s Greg Kellydeclared “we kind of just won the war,” he said, “The war is ongoing and hopefully coming to a close soon."
Fox’s Charles Payne: “One of the worst things for the market hasn’t been the war, it’s been the media’s coverage of the war."
While discussing the war with Iran, podcaster Benny Johnson: “With every passing moment, the apocalypse grows nearer.”
Fox News’ united front in support of Trump’s Iran war may be breaking down
Citation
Molly Butler / Media Matters
Four weeks after President Donald Trump launched a poorly conceived war of choice against Iran, the lockstep support for the conflict that has characterized coverage from Fox News’ star hosts is beginning to fray. The power struggle is significant — it is not an exaggeration to suggest the course of the war might hinge on which Fox shows the president is watching, as he often takes guidance from his loyal propagandists at Fox.
Even as the war has gone on and the right-wing media split over the war has widened, dissent has remained virtually absent on Fox. However on Wednesday, Fox host Laura Ingraham warned that further U.S. action could produce devastating unintended consequences and suggested that Trump should refocus his attention on the domestic economy and political situation. In other segments that night, Ingraham highlighted the lack of popular support for the war and potential issues for Republicans in the midterms.
On the rest of Fox primetime programming that night, however, Trump would’ve seen nothing but glowing support for his war. Both Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity praised Trump’s handling of the war.
For his part, Hannity has undergone an interesting reversal since the start of the war. During the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East and the first few days of Operation Epic Fury, Hannity was vehemently opposed to deploying U.S. ground troops to Iran. He even declared that “there are still idiots out there that actually think Donald Trump is going to put boots on the ground. He's not.” And yet, less than one week into the war, Hannity shifted the goalposts, suggesting ”two scenarios where there might be a necessity for some boots on the ground" in Iran. His evolution on the issue has moved in tandem with Trump’s growing interest in sending ground troops, and reports that U.S. forces are preparing for deployment to the region.
This week's infighting
Right-wing media figures accused Donald Trump of manipulating the market after stocks surged following his March 23 social media claiming that the war in Iran was winding down.
Laura Loomer called on Trump to fire Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Podcaster Tim Dillon said the Trump administration is “completely dysfunctional” and “gaslighting the public” about the war with Iran.
Podcaster Dave Rubinsaid his “former friend” Megyn Kelly has “gone off the deep end.”
Meanwhile, Megyn Kellylamented “The nerve of Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin, both of whom are two original ‘Never Trumpers,’ to now cloak themselves in MAGA gear.”
Podcaster Tim Pool: “I’m entirely convinced Candace Owens is an op.”
Divisions emerge in right-wing media as Iran war stirs anxiety about food production, fertilizer
The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran — which has been largely but not entirely supported by major right-wing media outlets — is threatening to upend not just international oil markets but also world food production, with fertilizer costs soaring just as farmers in the global north enter the spring planting season. Some figures in right-wing media have taken notice, alarmed that a spike in domestic food prices could be disastrous for Donald Trump and the Republicans in the fall midterms.
The right-wing comments on the potential looming food crisis (in which poor countries are set to take the brunt of the disruption, perhaps triggering famine or political instability) largely break along two lines. The first is pro-war voices, mostly at Fox and Newsmax, who have argued that Iran’s closing of the Strait of Hormuz is proof that the U.S. and Israel should escalate the war. On the other side are figures like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly who have been more critical of the war effort and now cite rising food prices as one reason to oppose it.
The Trump administration appears now to be on the verge of a ground operation in Iran, and opening the Strait of Hormuz looks to be a key objective. Iran could respond in any number of ways to a ground operation, including mining the strait, which could further disrupt global trade. With the conflict set to escalate, the divisions that are already present in right-wing media regarding the war are likely to intensify as well.
Media Matters’ John Knefel wrote a great breakdown of this issue. I invite you to read it here.
Excuse me?
Right-wing media are calling for ICE to “surround the polls” in midterms.
Both English language and Spanish language right-wing pundits have been advocating for the Trump administration to begin a military intervention in Cuba with the purpose of regime change.
Trump’s mandate to send ICE agents into U.S. airportsappears to stem from his Fox News viewing habits.
Podcaster Tim Pool said women “vote for drama. They vote for stupid interpersonal trash that does not matter to the function of a society. They vote for soap operas.”
Legacy outlets that bent the knee to Trump haven’t just lost credibility - they’re bleeding readers and viewers
Citation
Andrea Austria / Media Matters
Looking at two recent examples, it turns out that there isn’t a ratings bump for MAGA capitulation. When David Ellison (son of Trump’s megabillionaire ally Larry Ellison) took control of CBS last year following a corrupt deal, he installed conservative journalist Bari Weiss at the helm of CBS News. But six months into Weiss’ rightward makeover of the outlet, it appears that a viewer exodus is occurring.
According to Status’ Oliver Darcy, CBS Evening News has lost 7% of viewers while CBS Mornings plummeted 13%. Meanwhile, the audiences of competitor shows at ABC News and NBC News grew over the same period.
The ratings collapse is a devastating indictment of the strategy Ellison and Weiss are executing at CBS — and a blaring warning for CNN if Ellison is able to complete his takeover of that network and let Weiss run the same playbook there.
In addition to CBS, data analyzing print circulation among major audited newspapers saw year-over-year decline across the board in the six months running through the end of September 2025, with the biggest drops coming at The Washington Post (which fell 21.2%) and the Los Angeles Times (down 19.8%). The billionaire owners of those two papers had responded to Trump’s return to the White House by trying to shift their papers to the right.
For the billionaires running these outlets, the declines in their news outlets may be a small price to pay to win over Trump. But the real losers are viewers and readers who rely on good journalism to navigate the world, and the journalists facing layoffs from their outlets.
Media Matters' Matt Gertz wrote a great rundown of this, which I invite you to read here.
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