Trump: I Know Why 'Fox & Friends' Is Able to Get Such Good Ratings
President Donald Trump revealed Monday why he thinks the Fox News show “Fox & Friends” gets better ratings than competing morning programs.
In a tweet, Trump praised the show for “exposing the truth,” suggesting that its dedication to honest reporting may be the reason more people watch the Fox show than its “untruthful competition.”
“Thank you to @foxandfriends for exposing the truth,” Trump tweeted. “Perhaps that’s why your ratings are soooo much better than your untruthful competition!”
As noted by The Hill, “Fox & Friends” — which celebrated its 20th anniversary on Feb. 1 — has indeed enjoyed good ratings over the years, garnering more viewers than CNN’s “New Day” and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
In 2017, the show saw a 25 percent bump in viewership over the previous year, averaging 1.6 million total viewers. In that regard, it was the best year in the history of the morning program.
Much of the show’s focus Monday morning was on the recently released House Intelligence Committee memo that alleges the Obama Department of Justice abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to surveil the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election.
Later, Trump tweeted out praise for intelligence committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, who compiled the memo and pushed for its release.
The “Fox & Friends” hosts also conducted an interview with right-wing British politician Nigel Farage, one of the leaders of the campaign for the U.K. to leave the European Union.
“The big problem we’ve got is a population crisis caused by government policy on immigration,” Farage, who now serves as a Fox News contributor, told co-host Steve Doocy.”We have a population of 65 million but it’s increasing by half a million people a year. We just haven’t got enough hospitals, we haven’t got enough doctors, we haven’t got enough facilities.”
“The National Health Service has turned into the International Health Service and we’re providing a lot of health care for people coming into Britain from all over the world. We do need some absolutely fundamental reforms,” he added.
“This system we have was set up in 1948. Surprisingly for a state-run thing, for most of the first 50 years the public had great faith in it. Right now it’s pretty much at breaking point.”
Possibly in response to Farage’s remarks, Trump linked the situation in the U.K. to the one in America, where he claimed that “Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare.”
The president’s reported love of “Fox & Friends” led one outlet to name the three regular weekday co-hosts of the morning program the “most influential” figures in media for 2017.
“The President of the United States regularly starts his day watching Fox & Friends and then tweets about whatever they cover, and however, they cover it,” Mediaite wrote late last year in explaining its reasoning.
“He promotes their show, tags them by name, and sings their praises. That alone makes Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and Ainsley Earhardt three of the most influential media people not just in the United States, but in the entire world,” Mediaite added.
Trump was pleased to see that the hosts of his favorite TV show were honored in such a manner, noting that the recognition is well-deserved.
“Was @foxandfriends just named the most influential show in news? he wrote on Twitter. “You deserve it – three great people! The many Fake News Hate Shows should study your formula for success!” he tweeted.
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