Trump’s Rage at Fox Continues — But Conservative Media Has Been Conspiculously Silent

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TOP STORY

THE RUMBLE OVER RALLIES

President Donald Trump remains furious at Fox News, but the network isn’t talking. Per our stack, there are reports the president “doesn’t rate anymore,” which is one reason why the network isn’t airing his speeches live. That decision hasn’t escaped Trump’s attention, and he’s responded by railing against the network almost every day.

But that hasn’t changed things much. Today, our stack takes a look at why.

THREE TAKES

CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter — Fox News continues to choose to not air Trump’s rallies live, a fact that’s earned the president’s chagrin. It’s also “a programming decision with huge political and cultural significance,” Stelter noted today. For the president, who truly leapt into the public  consciousness via reality TV, “it’s like being deprived of oxygen.” For the rest of us, it appears to be confirmation that “Fox agrees with the GOP candidates and strategists who are privately fretting about Trump hurting their chances in the midterms.” The network hasn’t commented on the decision publicly,  and it’s not clear anyone will. One current  host told Stelter, “This is coming from the top down … Trump doesn’t rate anymore.”

Status, Natalie Korach — Meanwhile, as the president tried to ramp up the feud, the network went about its business — celebrating its 30th birthday Wednesday. It’s an enormous milestone, capping “three decades as perhaps the most influential—and polarizing—force in American media.” Fox has “reshaped cable news and helped transform its landscape into a central battleground of politics and culture” since 1996, Korach added, and its lead over CNN and MS NOW is “wider than ever.” But the president “has rarely seemed as frustrated with the network as he has been lately” and is now firing off “near-daily attacks.”

Townhall, Jeff Charles — The president’s decision to go “scorched Earth” on the network appears to be good news to Charles and Townhall. Charles seemed to celebrate the president as he “railed against Fox News on Tuesday for giving too much coverage to Democrats as the midterm elections come closer on the horizon,” but stopped short of directly analyzing or commenting on Trump’s behavior. Instead, he focused on Trump’s frustration that Fox News interviewed Senate candidate Dan Osborn (I-NE), who is running against Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE). Ricketts ”appeared to mock rural Trump voters,” in leaked audio, Charles added. “He mentioned a hypothetical ‘Billy Bob’ in Red Cloud whose life ‘probably sucks so f*cking bad.’”

TAKEAWAY: It’s worth noting that Red State’s Charles didn’t actually offer any praise or even analysis of the president’s attacks on the network — just raised concerns about a candidate threatening the Republican incumbent. Of course TV outlets like Newsmax will look to pounce on Trump’s current antipathy toward Fox News. They’re looking to convince some Trump diehards to watch them instead of Fox. But it’s the right leaning digital outlets which will really signal which way the wind is blowing here. And based on the coverage of this story, it seems they are becoming less and less inclined to appease Trump.

📰 TOP SCOOPS & ANALYSIS 📰

SCOOP The Federalist, Margot Cleveland — Internal documents from special counsel Jack Smith’s team that were shared with The Federalist “expose the depth of disregard Smith held for constitutional separation of powers,” Cleveland wrote today. Those documents suggest Smith attempted to  “to sidestep the Speech or Debate Clause in another case involving a congressman” in the months before he “subpoenaed the toll records of scores of Republican senators.” The memorandum in question was written by Assistant Special Counsel John Pellettieri and ultimately makes “Smith’s later decision to withhold from Judge Howell’s successor, Judge James Boasberg, the information that he was seeking nondisclosure orders for subpoenas targeting other members of Congress, even more nefarious.”

SCOOP Status, Natalie Korach — Staff at Condé Nast were on the receiving end of an invite to an all-hands company meeting Wednesday, Korach reported. The invitation “features fall foliage surrounding 1 World Trade Center, the company’s headquarters, with black-and-white circular headshots of interim chief Mike Perlis and Lynch floating below the building.” It is also “a valiant effort by Lynch to calm internal nerves around a major transition, part of a game of musical chairs that saw Ynon Kreiz, the former Mattel chief, end up co-leading David Ellison’s new media empire at Skydance.”

ANALYSIS The Bulwark’s False Flag, Will Sommer — The GOP has… an “Andrew Tate eel-sex problem,” Sommer wrote today. This despite the fact that Andrew and his brother Tristan Tate, both accused of sex trafficking and rape, have “been a real hit with the American right over the years.” The pair have enjoyed support from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and right-wing commentator Candace Owens, among others. But that might come crashing to a halt, especially now that accusations Andrew was in possession of at least one photo of “a person performing an act of intercourse with a live animal, namely an eel.” There’s also a “similar claim” that involves a horse.

ANALYSIS The Poynter Report, Tom Jones — Vice President JD Vance will make a primetime appearance on CBS News just before the midterms, Jones reported today. The “timing that is certainly good for a Republican Party looking for a last-minute rally ahead of the midterm elections.” The town hall will air Oct. 17 and will be moderated by Tony Dokoupil in Michigan. It also “gives a high-profile Republican a chance to make the GOP’s case immediately before what is expected to be a close race to control Congress.”

ANALYSIS CJR’s The Media Today, Tom Zeller Jr. — This summer an article by Caroline Williams was published in Science magazine. It was removed three months later “after editors discovered that the author was an impostor—not Caroline Williams, the established freelance journalist based in the United Kingdom, but someone who had adopted Williams’s name and clips.” Managing editor John Travis told Zeller the magazine “had only communicated by email” with the presumed Williams, which isn’t unusual by any stretch — and the weirdest part of the whole debacle is that the article “was an accurate story.” As the real Williams told CJR, “It really sent me on a bit of a spin, because I was like, well, how many editors out there have me on their mental list of ‘do not touch’? I have no idea.”

ANALYSIS Page Six Hollywood, Ian Mohr — Roseanne Barr is back, about eight years after she tweeted out a message that Disney said was “abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values.” She’s shooting a new series called MeeMaw alongside Randy Quaid, Drea de Matteo, Omar Gooding and Doug Jones. “It’s every bit as revolutionary as The Roseanne Show, if not more, and my work has improved with time,” Barr told Page Six. “I want everybody who disagrees in a family to sit in the same room and just laugh and go, ‘Yeah, maybe I was an a**hole that time. Well, you were an a**hole this time. Oh, we’re all a**holes. Let’s get a beer.” And while she “feels certain that “Meemaw” is for everyone,” news of her return may “make liberals’ heads explode.”

ANALYSIS The Bulwark’s Morning Shots, Bill Kristol and Andrew Egger — Kimberly Guilfoyle, currently serving as an ambassador to Greece, has popped up again after attempting to set up a deal with “penumbral MAGA figure and Trump donor” Eric Deters. “The transaction was simple,” Egger wrote. “Deters wanted someone in the family—so to speak—to help get a few requests in front of the right people.” As for Guilfoyle? “She asked Deters to wire $100,000 to American Express to pay off her credit card balance.”

📈BUSINESS OF MEDIA 🎥

ADWEEK Daily, Rebecca Stewart — A trend alert regarding the trendiest A-listers: Celebs—think Sydney Sweeney, Lily Collins, and Kendall Jenner—are increasingly eschewing traditional endorsement deals in favor of equity partner roles. Sweeney’s controversial campaign with sports betting app Novig, is a good example here. They’re trading upfront ad fees for long-term ownership stakes and creative input. QUOTE  “In the past few months alone, celebrities like Lily Collins and Kendall Jenner have signed on with buzzy challenger brands as both equity partners and ambassadors. It’s a shift away from the traditional celebrity endorsement deal, where stars put their faces on billboards.”

ADWEEK Daily, Mitchell Parton — Walmart’s Vizio smart TV brand is bolstering its streaming business by partnering with 40 digital creators, including YouTube star MrBeast, and producing original feature-length holiday films to beef up ad opportunities on its WatchFree+ platform. QUOTE  “Vizio is also getting into original, feature-length films, like the forthcoming Jingle Bells Wedding Bells.”

Barrett Media’s Morning Edition, Jason Barrett — Speaking at the Broadcasters Foundation of America Media Mixer in Chicago, iHeartMedia Chairman and CEO Bob Pittman urged radio execs to integrate on-air talent directly into sales. He warned that stations miss out on monetizing engaged audiences when hosts treat sales as “someone else’s job.” With all the worries around the state of radio right now, actionable advice from someone who has a stake in the continued resilience of the platform is noteworthy. QUOTE  “Pittman explained the business model in plain terms. Radio builds a relationship with engaged consumers. Then it rents that relationship to advertisers. That’s why he called talent involvement in sales pivotal.”

Barrett Media’s Morning Edition, Garrett Searight — Conservative media behemoth The Daily Wire is refocusing its commercial and content strategy under new CEO Mike Richards, a 30-year linear television veteran brought in to streamline operations. Searight has a feature-length interview worth reading. QUOTE  “Looking ahead, Richards wants The Daily Wire to narrow its approach. The company launched 11 years ago to shape culture through entertainment. It also set out to influence politics through editorial and shape thinking through podcasts. Richards says those three pillars now anchor his strategy.”

Awful Announcing’s The A Block, Sean Keeley — The six-part docuseries Saban premieres tonight across ESPN platforms, giving legendary seven-time national championship coach Nick Saban an unvarnished platform to reflect on his career and retirement ahead of College GameDay’s visit to Tuscaloosa. Keeley got to watch it early and though he found it strange the series is coming out after Saban has only been retired two years, he ultimately concluded the timing makes sense for a number of reasons. Be warned, though, that “Saban still seems to struggle to open up, even though he brought the camera crews into his home.” QUOTE  “The timing of the docuseries couldn’t be better for ESPN, as it debuts days before Saban and GameDay head to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, this Saturday for the matchup between No. 6 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia. And that, obviously, is no coincidence.”

Simon Owens’s Media Newsletter, Simon Owens — AI newsletter The Rundown, which launched in late 2022 from founder Rowan Cheung’s viral Twitter threads, managed to become an eight-figure media business with 23 full-time employees and over 3 million subscribers. It offers a rare blueprint for turning social media threads into a standalone media company, though that guide may be a little specific to its time. QUOTE  “I’m not sure Twitter/X has the juice anymore to launch a success story like this, especially now that it throttles links.”

CNN’s Reliable Sources, Brian Stelter — Stelter pointed to a WSJ scoop that means big business: Spotify re-upped its multiyear licensing and ad sales deal with star podcaster Joe Rogan for The Joe Rogan Experience. This secures multi-platform distribution and is pretty similar to his previous agreement. The earnout is estimated around $250 million.

OTHER COOL STUFF

Morning Brew — In-flight Wi-Fi has ushered in a frustrating new etiquette trend: passengers dialing into live Zoom meetings from their airplane seats. Please never do this.

Awful Announcing — Remember this summer when Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong shared that his favorite conspiracy theory is that Babe Ruth never existed? As baseball season ends and football picks up, we’re onto something new: New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye admitted during a radio appearance that he remains “a little bit skeptical” about the 1969 Apollo moon landing, confessing he isn’t “200 percent” sure humans actually went.

👀 WHAT GOT MISSED? 👀

The Washington Sun, Evan McMorris-Santoro, Jasmine Wright, and Manuela Silva — The White House is about to “escalate” its “war with Medicaid,” The Washington Sun reported today. The team added, “Minnesota’s temporary human services commissioner, John Connolly, is preparing for federal health officials to officially withdraw up to $259 million in Medicaid payments the Trump administration froze earlier this year.”

🏆 NEWSLETTER OF THE DAY 🏆

Punchbowl News AM — Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to pick one newsletter apart when the entire thing is worth an intense read, and that’s true for today’s offering from Punchbowl. As the team rightly pointed out at the top, there are only 26 days until the midterms, which means it’s increasingly important to pay attention to everything that’s transpiring.

That includes Josh Turek’s Senate campaign in Iowa (he’s “within striking distance of becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate election here since 2008”), demands by Senate Democrats that the Trump administration “fulfill its commitment to end its blockade of wind and solar project approvals,” and the fact that lawmakers in DC “don’t have the political will for a ‘bailout’ of Silicon Valley if the growth boom promised by artificial intelligence falls short.”

This newsletter was produced by Lindsey Ellefson.