President Donald Trump turned on Fox News on Tuesday night in a string of posts on Truth Social, as Democrats flipped seats in Texas, South Carolina and Kansas and took control of both the Senate and the House during a historic midterm election. He argued the network "bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition." It is a striking charge to level at the outlet he has long championed, and it deserves a plain-eyed response.
The ratings point Trump raised is real, but his explanation does not hold up. Fox News reported 1.1 million average viewers for October, down about 27% from the same month a year earlier. Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch addressed that decline on Monday's earnings call, citing "viewer fatigue" and saying the viewers were not moving to rival channels. Murdoch's own account points to a general pullback in television viewing ahead of a midterm with a second-term president, not a verdict on any one network's coverage.
Trump's claim that viewers left because Fox covers the "Trump Deranged Dumocrats" also sits awkwardly with the numbers the report cites. MS NOW had 588,000 average viewers in October across all dayparts, and CNN had 402,000, both below Fox's audience. Those two networks reported double-digit gains in primetime, but the report offers no evidence that Fox's audience drifted toward them. A president who has spent years praising a channel is now blaming it for an election outcome, and the record does not show a clear cause.
The business side of Fox Corp. remains strong. Revenue for the fiscal first quarter reached $4.57 billion, up 22% year over year, and advertising revenue rose 47%, helped by political ad spending and the FIFA Men's World Cup. Those figures suggest the company is not in retreat, whatever the cable ratings show.
What should happen next is simple. News organizations should be judged on accuracy and fairness, not on whether they please the person in the White House, and audiences should measure coverage the same way. Trump may keep attacking the press when results disappoint him, but a column built on a 27% ratings drop and a network's refusal to echo his line is not a case that Fox's reporting caused the losses. Readers deserve that distinction spelled out clearly.