Trump wants official propaganda network — but he's already got Fox News

Frustrated that the media refuses to stick to stories about how great he is, Trump now thinks the United States should create its own propaganda network.

The United States, he fumed on Twitter Monday, should be “starting our own Worldwide Network to show the World the way we really are, GREAT!” The comments came in the midst of an attack on CNN, a frequent target of his Twitter tirades.

But a new report by The Daily Beast reveals that the Trump administration already has an embarrassingly sycophantic propaganda network eager to promote his agenda and talking points: Fox News.

Emails uncovered by the Sierra Club through a Freedom of Information Act request found a channel of communication between the office of then-EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and “Fox & Friends,” in which “Pruitt was essentially allowed to dictate the terms for the interview and avoid any difficult questions.”

Pruitt presided over multiple scandals during his time in the Trump administration.

In an email to EPA press secretary Amy Graham, Fox producer Diana Aloi solicited “talking points” and the “top three priorities” the administration wanted to be asked about on air.

The Fox News team even sent the government its script for the introduction of a Pruitt segment, which included blaming the Obama administration for leaving behind “a huge mess.” In response, the Trump team declared the entire setup “perfect.”

When the segment aired, Fox News stuck to the government-approved script as hosts Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt recited the introduction nearly word for word.

The eagerness of Fox to help the current administration promote its agenda and specific talking points, even when interviewing a scandal-plagued official from that administration, further demonstrates how Fox functions as the propaganda arm of the this White House and Trump himself.

Before 2016, Fox built up Trump into a political pundit, giving him a platform to regularly spew false conspiracies about President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

Since Trump took over the presidency, the network has easily incorporated defending him and amplifying his dishonesty into its 22-year long crusade against the truth.

Fox host Sean Hannity routinely uses his show to shill for the administration. In exchange, Trump promotes Hannity, telling his followers to tune and watch the show. He even fawned over the dishonest host during a lengthy softball interview last year, telling Hannity, “I’m very proud of you.”

Trump already has the propaganda network of his dreams, and he can see it every day during his so-called “executive time” periods dedicated to watching television.

He even has one of the network executives who orchestrated the cover-up of rampant sexual harassment, Bill Shine, now on the White House payroll as his communications director.

In Fox, Trump has the same sort of propaganda autocratic and oppressive regimes utilize. And yet, he wants even more.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.