Media Matters weekly newsletter, Fri., July 17, 2026

Media Matters weekly newsletter, July 17

WRITTEN BY JASON CAMPBELL

PUBLISHED 07/17/26 10:57 AM EDT

Welcome back to Media Matters’ weekly newsletter. This week: 

• The election interference claims in Trump’s prime-time address have been pushed by conspiracy theorists like John Solomon in recent months. 
• Trump’s self-dealing is under the microscope. Some in right-wing media are speaking up about it — while others deflect or deny concerns. 
• With Todd Blanche, MAGA media is finally getting its dream AG. 

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• Right-wing moment

  

• This week's infighting

  • The construction of data centers has been dividing the right, with some media figures coming out in opposition to the data centers and others supporting them. Fox personalities are promoting a false narrative that Democrats and left-leaning organizations are driving opposition to the fast-tracked construction of data centers. In reality, Americans across the ideological spectrum are concerned.
  • Steve Bannon: “Jay Clayton is unacceptable as director of national intelligence” for refusing to state outright that “Joe Biden did not win the presidential election in 2020.”  
  • Candace Owens slammed Benny Johnson’s coverage of the Charlie Kirk trial as "shameless and grotesque and dishonest.”

• The election rigging conspiracy theories that MAGA media can’t quit

  

  Citation

  Molly Butler / Media Matters

  On Thursday, President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address to the nation on alleged vulnerabilities in U.S. elections and interference by China. Trump’s speech was full of baseless claims in which he amplified debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. With the Iran war ongoing with no end in sight, increasing energy prices, and the American people adamantly saying that affordability is their priority, Trump’s topic for a prime-time address seems odd. But it makes sense given the people he’s surrounding himself with. 

  In the lead up to Trump’s speech, conservative media figure and “special government employee” John Solomon (who reportedly played a key role in “urging” Trump’s speech) had been touring right-wing media for months claiming China interfered in the 2020 election. Solomon is a longtime proponent of right-wing conspiracy theories and played a key role in Trump’s first impeachment. 

  Solomon, along with Trump’s recently installed acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, were reportedly leading the effort to scrounge up documents Trump used to make his case to the American people regarding election fraud. The 2020 election’s security has been litigated over and over again, always showing the conspiracy theories as baseless. Nonetheless, Trump’s media propagandists keep promising something will eventually come from further investigation into a six-year-old election. 

  In reality, the security of American elections has been threatened by the Trump administration’s own efforts. While Fox News has been portraying Trump as a leader on election security, his administration has repeatedly taken actions to weaken the nation's election security.

• This week in stupid

  • Following Immigration Customs Enforcement-related shootings in Texas and Maine, the Department of Homeland Security briefly suspended (and then unsuspended) ICE traffic stops. Right-wing media figures lashed out at the suspension, with a Newsmax host saying, “If illegal aliens are allowed to shield themselves from deportation using cars, well, I got to ask this question — why should any Americans continue to follow traffic laws?” 
  • After Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was hospitalized for almost a month without releasing any details about his health to the public, CNN’s Scott Jennings and multiple GOP senators noted they had had long conversations with the senator, fueling criticism and conspiracy theories among some right-wing media figures. 
  • Fox’s Jesse Watters: “We used to win landslide elections in this country. … We bring in all this foreign-born population, Democrats are all of sudden competitive.”

• Trump’s self-dealing as president is under the microscope. Some in right-wing media are speaking up about it — while others deflect or deny concerns.

  

  Citation

  Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

  Donald Trump is facing scrutiny from some right-wing media figures over new reporting about how he is taking advantage of his position as president to enrich himself and his family. 

  In his recent mandatory financial disclosure, Trump revealed he earned at least $2.2 billion in 2025, including over $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures alone, after he pledged to make America “crypto capital of the planet.” Trump also accepted a $400 million jet gifted from Qatar, and helped negotiate a billion-dollar deal surrounding a tungsten mine in Kazakhstan that his sons are invested in. 

  As the evidence has piled up, some in right-wing media are now admitting Trump is engaging in “cut and dry fraud,” while others on the right are deflecting and downplaying concerns that he is abusing the presidency for blatant self-dealing. 

  You can read more about how this breaks down in this great piece.

• Excuse me?

  • Immigration and Customs Enforcement has faced widespread backlash after agents carried out two deadly shootings during vehicle stops in less than a week. Right-wing media figures, however, have been excusing, justifying, downplaying or even celebrating the deaths. 
  • Right-wing and right-leaning online shows and hosts earned millions of views pushing extreme rhetoric in the wake of Karmelo Anthony’s trial in the U.S., the murder of Henry Nowak in Britain, and race riots in Northern Ireland following an alleged knife attack by a Sudanese immigrant. In one example, Media Matters found that 3 episodes of white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ show covering these events earned at least 2.4 million combined views. 
  • Newsmax’s Michael Savage: “Criminalize the Democrat Socialist Party and deport them now before you lose your freedom and your life.”

• With Todd Blanche, MAGA media is finally getting its dream AG

  

  Citation

  Andrea Austria / Media Matters

  Donald Trump’s goal for the Department of Justice is to eliminate its traditional independence in favor of a gangster government in which he and his allies can do what they wish without fear of legal consequences while his enemies face zealous pretextual prosecution. He has been aided every step of the way by a MAGA media that demands his federal law enforcement official privilege personal loyalty to the president over any other ethical or moral standard, and seek their removal when they fail to live up to it. Trump and his propagandists seem to have finally gotten their man in Todd Blanche, whose attorney general confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee began this week. 

  Blanche’s view is that the president — not the United States — should be seen as the Justice Department’s client. A MAGA made man who established his bona fides representing cronies like Paul Manafort and Boris Epshteyn, Blanche became principal lawyer for Trump between his presidential terms. As other Trump attorneys quit in the face of the then-former president's numerous federal and state prosecutions, Blanche stayed loyal, took on more responsibility, and ultimately helped Trump avoid accountability. Trump, upon his return to the White House, rewarded his personal lawyer by appointing him deputy attorney general and, in April, acting attorney general. 

  At the DOJ, Blanche oversaw some of the most notoriously political prosecutions of the era. He has also served as Trump’s all-purpose fixer. 

  If you would like to read more about this, check out Media Matters’ Matt Gertz’s great piece.

 https://www.mediamatters.org/media-matters-weekly-newsletter/media-matters-weekly-newsletter-july-17