Updated: November 5, 2020 8:07:45 pm
Supporters of President Donald Trump pause to pray during a rally outside the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office on Wednesday, Nov.4, 2020, in Phoenix. (AP Photo / Matt York)
Donald Trump and his fans are furious on Fox News, the favorite news channel of the current president of the United States. On Wednesday night, several hundred Trump supporters gathered outside Maricopa’s records office in Arizona and shouted slogans against Fox, the right-wing cable news channel owned by the Murdoch family. Trump himself voiced his discontent with Fox Tuesday night in a short speech announcing a premature victory that now seems increasingly impossible. In the past 24 hours, several Fox reporters have complained to the air that they faced severe criticism: “Setback was a mild term,” as one put it.
What has caused this latest and seemingly strongest showdown between Fox News and Trump is the channel’s decision to call Arizona for Democratic candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday night when more than a million votes were still missing and Biden was leading by 1.8 lakh. votes. Follow LIVE updates of the 2020 US elections
What’s going on in Arizona?
Supporters of President Trump gather for a voter rights rally, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Phoenix. (AP Photo / Matt York)
The state, located on the country’s southern border with Mexico, contributes 11 electoral votes. Traditionally, it goes in the Republican kitty with the state that voted for a Democratic presidential candidate only once since 1952 (Bill Clinton in 1996). This year, the state was being seen as one of the states on the battlefield with opinion polls that gave Biden a slight advantage over Trump.
On election night, when the results began to roll in, Biden took an early lead that he maintained and developed throughout the night. At 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, when 73 percent of the votes in Arizona had been counted, Fox called Arizona for Biden before any other major news network when the Democratic candidate led with 6.5 percentage points (1.88 lakh votes). about Trump. Many viewed the contest as too close to call due to expected gains at the back of the count, as ballots are counted in counties with strong Republican support.
Read also | How the US Counts Its Votes in the Presidential Election and Why It’s Taking So Long
Arnon Mishkin, director of Fox News Decision Desk, explained the decision shortly after the screening, saying: “We did it after half an hour of discussion. It’s time? It’s been clear for a while that the former vice president is at the helm in Arizona and the state is more likely to win. It was in the category of what we call “knowable but not invocable” for about an hour. We finally call him now. There are some pending votes in Arizona, but most of them are coming from Maricopa where Biden is currently in a very strong position and a lot of them are mail-in ballots where we know from our voter analysis that Biden has an advantage. I regret that the president cannot take charge and win enough votes to eliminate that 7-point advantage that the former vice president has.
Since then, the lead has narrowed considerably as absentee votes began to be counted. Thursday at 3.16 a.m. M. (1.46 p. M. In India), when 86 percent of the votes were counted, Biden’s lead over Trump narrowed to 2.4 percent (68,000 votes), although the state was still expected to win. .
The unstable love story between Fox and Trump
From Sean Hannity to Laura Ingraham, Trump has several fans on the conservative-friendly news network. Since his election to the White House, he has made regular calls to ‘Fox & Friends’, the network’s morning show, as if it were his morning ritual. He often tweeted comments and news from the network, coinciding with his world view.
Since the beginning of 2019, things have changed when he began to face the heat over the Ukraine scandal and the construction of the border wall between the United States and Mexico. He was often critical of Fox’s new coverage and editorial comments. His retorts became more scathing in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and the presidential race, though he continued to grant calls and interviews to the network more frequently than others.
“The new @FoxNews is disappointing millions of GREAT people! We have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox no longer works for us! ”He tweeted on August 28, 2019. 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram
On Election Day, he said on ‘Fox & Friends’: “Fox has changed a lot. Someone said, ‘What’s the biggest difference between this and four years ago?’ I say, ‘Fox.’ Trump has hinted several times that he intends to start his own news and opinion channel that will be a response to “CNN fake news,” but has not provided details on the plan.
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