Trump “not happy” with Fox News because its polls show him losing

President Trump lashed out at Fox News after its polling showed him losing to all four major Democratic presidential candidates. “There’s something going on at Fox News,” Trump said, ominously.

Trump even appeared to threaten Fox News. He noted that he controls which networks will host the presidential debates next year. He seemed to be saying that if Fox News doesn’t treat him more favorably, it might be shut out of the debates.

But what is the “something” that’s “going on” at Fox News? Trump praised nearly the network’s entire stable of major political hosts — Hannity, Carlson, Ingraham, Pirro, Waters.

He took a shot at Juan Williams. But going back at least as far as Alan Colmes, Fox News has always had a leftist or two among its commentators — as it should.

The network’s only sin appears to be that it took some polls in which Trump fared poorly.

If Trump doesn’t believe the polls, that’s fine. I don’t believe Trump would trail Elizabeth Warren in the popular vote by 6 points or Biden by 11, as the Fox polls found.

But this doesn’t mean the Fox poll is “fake,” that it was conducted in bad faith, or that it employed suspect methodology. The President of the United States should not be complaining about a news network because he doesn’t like its poll results. And he certainly shouldn’t be suggesting that his decision about which networks will host presidential debates depends in any way on the findings of a network’s surveys.

If Trump is trailing any of his Democratic rivals in this booming economy, it’s because of his petulance and his intemperate outbursts. Both were on display in Trump’s remarks about Fox News.

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