Fox News hosts were open about the conservative channel’s bias in a segment on Donald Trump’s visit to North Korea, admitting that “if it were the adversary” travelling to meet with Kim Jong-un, they’d have no praise.
“Of course they’re going to attack him,” host Greg Gutfeld said on a Monday episode of The Five, referring to criticism of Mr Trump’s visit to the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea. “That’s what you would do.”
“And let’s be honest,” Mr Gutfeld continued, “if it were the adversary—an adversary from your party on the other side, we would do the same thing.”
Fox News has long been a conservative news organisation, but its relationship to the Trump administration is unprecedented. The president is known to mimic talking points from the channel’s programmes, especially its early morning shows, on a regular basis. Acknowledgement of this has reportedly been used to deliver messages to Mr Trump regarding desired policy and opinions.
Mr Trump is also known to speak to Fox host Sean Hannity on the phone on nearly “most weeknights.” In a recently released transcript from Paul Manafort’s trial, it was revealed that the conservative talking head was also exceptionally close with the president’s former campaign manager.
In response to Mr Gutfeld’s comments, fellow host Jesse Watters mockingly yelled “How dare Obama meet with a dictator with no preconditions?”
Juan Williams, the liberal representation on the show, later pointed out that the response to former president Barack Obama’s attempts to meet with leaders of Cuba, Iran, and even North Korea were regularly brushed off for the same reasons critics call Trump’s meeting a farce. Mr Gutfeld jumped in right away.
“Couldn’t trust Obama, though,” he said. The cast laughed.
