Welcome back to Media Matters’ weekly newsletter. This week:
The memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran is deepening a rift in MAGA media between the hawks and the hacks.
Some right-wing media figures are blaming Vice President JD Vance for the MOU.
Sinclair’s national programs offer a Trump-friendly spin on his costly oil and gas prices, while local broadcasts show harm to Americans.
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Right-wing media moment
This week's infighting
Eric Bolling on the Iran ceasefire: “In this deal, the biggest loser is the United States and India.”
Vice President JD Vanceaccused Fox’s Mark Levin and Marc Thiessen of promoting Iranian propaganda about the MOU.
Fox host Lawrence Jones on Trump’s deal with Iran: “I don’t think it serves our audience by sugarcoating it — there is some real dissent when it comes to this deal right now.”
Ben Shapiro: “We’ll wait to see the MOU. I will say that the early returns do not look wildly promising at this point.”After the text of the MOU was released, Shapiro called it “a disaster.”
Fox’s Trey Gowdycomplained about the MOU, saying Iran is “better off than they were before the hostilities began.”
A Newsmax guest on the MOU: “This is such a lopsided deal and the losses for President Trump are just mounting.”
Nick Fuentes on Trump’s MOU: “Even if you have this agreement in place, then we’re right back where we started last year. … We have suffered a humiliating strategic defeat at their hands.”
Laura Loomercalled for the Trump administration to investigate Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens.
The MOU between the U.S. and Iran is driving a wedge between MAGA hacks and MAGA hawks
Citation
Andrea Austria / Media Matters
With Trump and the Islamic Republic of Iran signing a memorandum of understanding, the war Fox News helped convince President Donald Trump to launch against Iran may be coming to a close. In the lead up to the MOU’s text being released, a rift was growing within right-wing media between those wanting a swift end to the war and those wanting the war to be pressed further.
After the memorandum of understanding was announced, many right-wing media figures and outlets went into open revolt against the MOU. The agreement to end the conflict has led to a palpable sense of betrayal from the White House’s hawkish media allies, who as recently as last week looked to be on the verge of persuading Trump to end the fragile ceasefire that’s been in place since April and restart the war. The backlash to the MOU — especially from those within Rupert Murdoch’s media empire — has been swift and harsh.
But this revolt is in conflict with the cult-like structure of the MAGA movement. Any criticism of Trump directly could trigger an audience rebellion, and Trump himself is unlikely to change course if he feels personally impugned. So the right-wing media personalities critical of the MOU have decided to blame Vice President JD Vance for the deal. These figures blame the MOU’s contents on Vance while absolving Trump of responsibility for the document he signed and publicly describes as a “very strong deal.”
With the MOU text now public and signed, the right-wing debate over the agreement provides a test of whether Trump’s media supporters are still capable of independent thought.
Trump has spent years culling his propagandists through scandal, corruption, crimes, and insurrection. Those who remain at the highest levels of right-wing media are the purest hacks.
This week in stupid
Before the text was released, Benny Johnsonclaimed the MOU with Iran is “an excellent deal, although the text of the deal isn’t out just yet. So, everything is just pure speculation.”
Fox’s Sean Hannitysaid, “I don’t even think the president saw the memorandum of understanding,” and also said, “A memorandum of understanding is like a worthless sheet of paper.”
Sinclair’s national programs offer a Trump-friendly spin on his costly oil and gas prices, while local broadcasts show harm to Americans
Citation
Molly Butler / Media Matters
Americans are feeling the pain at the gas pump and elsewhere thanks to the surge in oil and fuel prices from Trump’s war on Iran, and local television news stations have been at the forefront of documenting that pain. Even stations owned by the right-wing Sinclair Broadcasting Group have been airing such coverage.
But Sinclair’s national programming has often applied a Trump-friendly spin while discussing high gas prices, downplaying the increases and suggesting they’ll be short-lived.
Sinclair’s The National Desk, which airs on more than 70 stations, repeated administration claims early in the war that there would be only a small jump in prices and that the increase would be short-lived, and more recently has hyped seemingly every small drop in prices. And coverage from Sinclair's Full Measure, which airs weekly on more than 130 stations, has featured a segment attacking California’s energy and environmental policies, much like Fox did, and another segment pushing a promise from Trump that gas prices would soon come down.
Media Matters has this great piece detailing the discontinuity between Sinclair’s national and local broadcasts regarding gas prices.
Excuse me?
Right-wing streamer Asmongold on the Department of Justice investigating California Gov. Gavin Newsom: “Hopefully, they figure out and make up whatever they possibly can to get this guy in jail.”
Multiple prominent podcasters and social media influencers have suggested in recent weeks that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may exit his role, citing complaints from MAHA voters and the string of high-profile resignations within Trump's cabinet. Tensions between the Trump administration and MAHA influencers have reached new heights after Trump signed an executive order promoting the production of glyphosate, a pesticide ingredient that “has been linked to cancer in numerous studies.”
Trump’s moves to halt Jay Clayton’s confirmation hearing in order to get Bill Pulte into office as acting director of national intelligence — and also to tie the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to the Save America Act — echo what Steve Bannon has been saying. And Bannon has been clear that this strategy revolves around elections.
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