As right-wing media figures look for a scapegoat after the midterms, some say JD Vanceshouldn’t run for president. In fact, the Iran hawks have coalesced around a specific narrative: The war was great until Vance ruined it.
The 49 right-wing media figuresclaiming to have Trump’s ear.
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How right-wing media is responding to this week’s elections
Ben Shapiro: “This midterm election was a repudiation of President Trump, period. End of story.”
MAGA “prophet” Julie Green: “There was a red wave last night. It was stolen.”
Fox’s Ainsley Earhardt: “Don’t be discouraged, because this is normal.”
A Fox guest called for White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to resign, along with “anybody involved in what was 100 percent a preventable election wipeout.”
John Solomonsaid the Fox News era of the Republican party is probably over.
Newsmax's Greg Kelly also lashed out at Fox News: “No wonder why they don't give a damn, they're set for life over there.”
The midterm results are a crushing rebuke to Fox News’ Trump propaganda
Citation
Andrea Austria / Media Matters
The massive bet Fox News made on President Donald Trump’s political success turned to ash on Tuesday night. The right-wing network's executives and stars clearly calculated that if they showered Trump with praise, propagandized for his administration, and shielded their viewers from its scandals, both the network and the political party it exists to promote would reap the rewards. The midterm election results this week, however, were a historic rebuke to Fox’s effort.
The elections were a resounding defeat for Trump and the Republican Party. For Fox’s troubles, the network received a significant drop in viewership leading up to Election Day — one apparently triggered by disaffected Republicans changing the channel. On the night of the election, Trump attacked the network and called in to lash at Fox for being insufficiently supportive.
Media Matters’ Matt Gertz writes: “Fox traditionally molds itself in the image of the leading elements of the GOP, and its influence historically waxes when that party is out of power. But with Trump, his MAGA movement, and the Republican Party discredited at the ballot box, the network’s stars will be crawling out of a very deep hole that they dug themselves into.”
Excuse me?
Nearly a quarter of episodes of Tucker Carlson’s online show feature claims about demons, alleged occult activity, and/or the supernatural, including discussions of “ritual killing” and people suffering from “demonic possession” — at least 644 times. Supernatural themes have increased dramatically on Carlson’s show as the former Fox primetime host has reinvented himself as an independent power center on the right, vowing to “help build a third party,” releasing his 10-point vision for America, and fueling speculation about a potential third-party run.
A Media Matters analysis found that in the months leading up to this week’s election, progressive Twitch streamer Hasan Piker was mentioned on Fox News more than Republican Senate candidates Ken Paxton, Dan Sullivan, Susan Collins, Darline Graham, Michele Tafoya, Jon Husted, Roger Marshall, Ashley Hinson, John Sununu, Pete Ricketts, and Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Tim Pool: “Repeal the Seventh Amendment outright."
Ahead of the midterm elections, the bros of the podcast world largely abandoned Trump and his allies. In fact, 9 of the leading “bro-casts” that interviewed Trump or Vice President JD Vance during the 2024 election have not hosted the president at all in 2026 (Vance appeared only once). The 9 shows also barely mentioned Trump ahead of the midterms.
A Fox News legal editor said there are “legitimate questions” about “Trump’s family members and those close to him getting disproportionately wealthier as Americans feel like they are getting poorer.” Meanwhile, others at Fox are rallying to the defense of the Trump family.
Some right-wing media figures say midterm losses are a death knell for a JD Vance 2028 run
Citation
Media Matters / Andrea Austria
After the Republicans suffered major electoral losses this week, some in right-wing media are questioningwhether Vice President JD Vance could or even should secure the party’s nomination in 2028. The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro, for example, said Vance’s candidacy would be a “rough road,” and conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg said Vance was “the biggest single loser last night.”
Right-wing media commentators more generally are looking for a scapegoat to blame for the party’s losses. Some figures have doubled down on long-standing feuds by blaming their media contemporaries for the losses (One America News host Dan Ball, for example, blamed Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson, and Joe Rogan), while others are pointing to “weak-ass Republicans" who “have not campaigned on anything.” As Trump’s grip on the Republican Party seems to be weakened, some media figures are even blaming him directly, highlighting his “unpopular and pointless war” and the fact that “everybody’s paying out the nose for rent and groceries and gas."
Right-wing media hawks are responding to Vice President JD Vance’s craven attempt to scapegoat the Iran war as the primary cause of the GOP’s midterms collapse by trying to rehabilitate the war as a huge success, blame Vance’s role in diplomatic efforts for its unpopularity, and block his potential ascent to the Republican presidential nomination in 2028. Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade castigated Vance on Thursday for trying “to distance himself in a sensationalistic way from the president one day after the midterms” before declaring the vice president “the person who did the most damage to the war effort.”
Media Matters President Angelo Carusone argued that the post-midterm right-wing media blame game is actually a succession fight.
As the fallout from the midterm elections continue, we’ll keep you posted on where right-wing media are putting the blame.
These 49 figures within the right-wing media ecosystem are claiming they have had contact with Donald Trump or the White House
Media Matters has identified at least 123 individual claims made over the past six months from 49 figures within the right-wing media ecosystem, including multiple election denial activists, boasting of contact with Donald Trump or the White House. Many of these individuals — who range from prominent election deniers to Fox news personalities and influential podcasters — claim to have discussed policy during phone calls and texts with Trump, meetings in the Oval Office, or other interactions with White House staff.
Out of the 123 identified claims, Tina Peters, Wayne Allyn Root, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are among the figures with the most claims to have Trump or his staff’s ear. Additionally, 12 election denial figures account for 30% of the total claims. And nearly two-thirds of the claims about these interactions mentioned influential policy discussions, including relations with China, the Iran war, and election integrity efforts.
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