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Trump supporters across the United States increasingly say they no longer trust Fox News, the television network owned by Rupert Murdoch that has acted as one of the president’s staunchest allies in recent years.
As Fox News announced more statewide wins for Joe Biden on Wednesday, Trump supporters across the country expressed frustration with the network. Some say they have shifted their allegiance to outlets that lean even further to the right, such as One America News, which employs a prominent conspiracy theorist as one of its correspondents.
In Arizona, pro-Trump protesters gathered outside a Phoenix polling place chanted, “Fox News sucks!” A man in Nevada yelled the same catchphrase repeatedly in the background of a live news feed there.
In Detroit, as Trump supporters chanted “Stop the Count” outside a vote-counting venue, news that Fox had just called Michigan for Biden had little effect on the rally.
“Fox, you can’t even trust them,” said Rob Phail, 51, of South Lyon, Michigan, who had been leading the “stop the count” chants. “They are the worst chameleons of all. So you’re like, OK, who do you trust? “
When asked who he would trust to confirm the actual election results, he said, “Trump.”
On Facebook, in a now-deleted group of Trump supporters claiming that Democrats were trying to steal the election, dozens of commenters described how “totally betrayed” they felt while watching Fox News on election night.
“When CNN seemed more pro-Trump, I was concerned,” wrote one person.
Others said they felt Fox was “turning” to the president and said they believed various Fox reporters had gone “totally leftist.”
On Twitter, some Trump supporters were beginning to label Fox News “fake news.”
Trump supporters’ frustration with Fox was mounting ahead of the network’s ballot calls for Biden this week.
The right-wing network, owned by Rupert Murdoch and built by the late Roger Ailes, was once so closely aligned with Trump that many observers said it functioned as “state media.” Reporters recounted how the political talking points broadcast by Fox News anchors were picked up by the president and then reinforced again on the news network.
Trump himself has presented his criticism to the network, criticizing its decisions and some of its presenters for months. His followers seemed to have moved with him. During the first presidential debate in September, moderated by Fox News host Chris Wallace, many Trump supporters said they believed Wallace was biased against the president.
On Election Day, Fox made an advance call that Joe Biden had won Arizona, a decision that allegedly angered the Trump administration and helped shift the broader public narrative of the election result toward a likely Biden victory.
Now, some Trump supporters say they have shifted their allegiance to smaller, even more vehemently pro-Trump outlets, such as Newsmax or One America News. OAN has spread multiple conspiracy theories, including amplifying unsubstantiated claims about a 75-year-old protester pushed by police during police brutality rallies this summer.
As Trump has taken on Fox, he has lavished more praise on OAN, tweeting last year that he is “doing incredible reporting.”
