New York Times reported that Fox News hosts are feuding over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Sept. 24 decision to start impeachment proceedings against 73-year-old President Donald Trump. Taking delight in watching cable TV’s No. 1 network in a civil war, the New York Times pointed out the feud between daytime anchor Shepard Smith and evening host Tucker Carlson. Getting back at the Fox News network is an obsession with the New York Times, often the butt of criticism for the otherwise conservative-leaning cable news network. Times reporters act as if they can’t believe the entire Fox News Network host would not be on the same page. Shepard Smith has been a longtime critic of Trump, no different than the universal condemnation coming CNN and MSNBC where there’s not one host or guest that does anything other than attack Trump, whatever the issue.
Raising the feud between Smith and Carlson shows how the Times wants to paint the Fox News Network with a broad brush, that they only support conservative causes. If the Times listens to Shepard Smith, they’d know that his show—and all his guests—is 100% against Trump. Fox News has always sold itself as “fair and balanced,” despite leaning to the right, especially its nighttime line up. Smith frequently uses Fox News Legal Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano, despite his lack of experience, training or education in matters related to the federal courts. Napolitano, also rabidly against Trump, opines on all issues, even where it goes beyond his education, training and experience. Carlson rejected Napolitano’s recent characterization that the whistleblower complaint proves Trump engaged in impeachable offenses, especially Trump talking with the Ukrainian president about Joe and Hunter Biden.
Napolitano served as a judge on the New Jersey Superior Court from 1987 to 1985, dealing with largely personal injury and civil cases. He has zero experience in Constitutional law or the federal courts, never working as a U.S. attorney or federal judge. Yet when it comes to matters related to Trump, Napolitano doesn’t hesitate on Smith’s show to hazard opinions on Constitutional or federal cases. Napolitano thought nothing of concluding that Trump broke campaign finance laws when his former attorney Michael Cohen made payments to former porn start Stormy Daniels and Playboy Centerfold Karen McDougal. When it came to Trump phone call with 40-year-old Ukrainian President Zolodymyr Zelensky, Napolitano told Smith Trump violated the Constitution and campaign laws. Tucker Carlson took exception to Napolitano’s analysis, calling it hogwash.
When Carlson asked 69-year-old former Independent Counsel and U.S. Atty. Joe DiGenova his opinion about the whistleblower complaint he said Trump had every right to ask any foreign leader about corruption of any U.S. citizen, including Biden and his son. DiGenova called Napolitano a “fool” for hazarding opinion on something he knows nothing about. Smith took great umbrage at diGenova’s remarks, especially Tucker’s refusal to defend a Fox News host. Smith called diGenova’s remarks “repugnant,” because he was personally offended. New York Times calls Smith a nonpartisan news anchor but he has been 100% anti-Trump. Whatever Smith’s politics, it’s not about whether he’s liberal or conservative, it’s about his open hatred for Trump. Smith got called out by diGenova for using a legal analyst that has no business hazarding opinions beyond his pay-grade.
New York Times finds it amusing at a cable news network can have differing opinions on something so controversial as Trump’s call with the Ukrainian president. Reporting that Fox News “The Five” co-host Greg Gutfeld mixed it up with liberal Juan Williams, the Times acts like its something unusual. Williams often finds himself the odd man out with the other four hosts on “The Five.” But to the New York Times, this is newsworthy to highlight dissension at nation’s No. 1 cable news network. Citing Fox New Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, the Times makes the point that Wallace doesn’t buy the White House spin or its apologists. “To dismiss this a s a political hack seems to be an effort by the president’s defenders to make nothing out of something, and there is something here,” Wallace said, a openly anti-Trump journalist. Yet to the Times, it’s evidence of Fox News’ civil war.
Covering Fox News, the New York Times gets to hit back at the cable network frequently critical of its reporting. When it came to the 22-month Mueller investigation, the Times published numerous un-sourced stories tying Trump to the Kremlin. When Mueller came out with his findings March 23, the Times had egg all over its face. Trump often cites fake news stories published in the New York Times, only infrequently retracting and apologizing for inaccurate stories. Writing about dissension at Fox News, the New York Times delights in watching its cable news nemesis squabbling with each other. “You don’t think dirt on Joe Biden and Joe Biden’s son would be of value,” said Wallace, arguing with Fox News anchor Sandra Smith. Wallace, like Shepard Smith, is not nonpartisan: Both despise Trump, just like the New York Times. There’s no feud at the Times when it comes to Trump.
