Trump Reveals New 2024 Media Strategy, Issues Warning to Fox News

Former President Donald Trump suggested in a new interview that he knows he needs corporate media to cover his campaign in order to have a chance at winning in 2024.

“I’m doing a lot of different media. I was disappointed with Fox,” Trump told The Messenger. “I thought the firing of Tucker [Carlson] was a tremendous mistake. I was very disappointed. And of course, I was disappointed with the coverage of the [2020 presidential] election, in particular, the early call in Arizona.”

Since the end of the 2020 election, the former commander-in-chief has largely given interviews to conservative media outlets and podcasters, and he has not returned to Twitter—a social media platform that he used effectively in the 2016 campaign cycle.

But for the 8 p.m. timeslot, CNN’s event with Trump outperformed both Fox News and MSNBC in terms of overall ratings. It also easily bested the rival news networks in the important 25–54 age demographic, according to Nielsen.

In public comments and on social media, Trump and his conservative allies said the CNN town hall was a success and showed the former president as a dominant force within the GOP.

“I was amazed to see that they were traumatized by what took place. They were actually traumatized,” the former president said on Monday about the CNN staffers’ reactions. “They should have said, ‘We had a tremendous ratings night, one of the best in years, many years,’ and spiked the football.”

His recent comments were made days after partaking in a CNN town hall-style broadcast last Wednesday night, which was largely criticized by left-wing lawmakers and media pundits. Some within CNN, like media reporter Oliver Darcy, also panned the network for holding the town hall.

After new CEO Chris Licht took over last year, the company has parted ways with several of its hosts, including former media reporter Brian Stelter, and recently, anchor Don Lemon. Licht reportedly defended the town hall in a conference call with staffers last week, arguing that half of the country supports or will likely support Trump and deserve to have their voices heard.

“It’s really amazing to watch the head of CNN get absolutely lambasted for asking me to do a so-called Town Hall,” Trump also wrote on Truth Social. “In all fairness, nobody had any problems with what he wanted to do until after the show started, when they quickly realized that [host] Ms. Collins was not exactly Barbara Walters, or even close. That’s when the trouble from the Radical Left started.”

Traffic on Sixth Avenue passes by advertisements featuring Fox News personalities, at the News Corporation building, in New York City, on March 13, 2019. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Trump also said that Fox News could generate a similar ratings boost if they would stop focusing on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has signaled he may be readying a 2024 presidential bid. Trump again derided DeSantis, claiming that he has “no personality” and weak political instincts.

In the wake of the 2020 election, Trump blasted Fox News for calling the presidential race in Arizona for Joe Biden and has suggested his viewers stop watching the channel. Meanwhile, about three weeks ago, Fox News issued a news release saying that it had parted ways with Carlson, the formerly top-rated primetime host, without offering any explanation.

“Fox News is way down in the Ratings,” Trump also wrote on Truth Social on Monday. “After firing Tucker Carlson and refusing to fight against a VERY Corrupt and Rigged 2020 Presidential Election, which just cost them plenty of money, prestige, and RATINGS, they are a far cry from what they used to be. FoxNews has become the DeSanctimonious Network, but it will never work because he doesn’t have the goods. Without my Endorsement, he was a dead man walking. Even with Fox, he’s already pretty close to that again!”

Earlier this month, a Fox News spokesperson told media outlets that its ratings are still very high throughout the day. That came in response to Nielsen data showing that Carlson’s temporary replacement show, “Fox News Tonight,” appears to be unable to deliver the same numbers as before Carlson’s departure.

“For more than 21 years, Fox News Channel has been cable news’ most-watched network in all categories with more Democrats, Independents and Republicans now tuning in than either CNN or MSNBC,” the company stated. “Attracting more than 50 percent of the cable news viewing audience with the top 12 programs in cable news, Fox News’ powerhouse team of journalists, analysts and opinion hosts are trusted more by viewers than any other news source.”

Nielsen ratings for last Thursday, May 11, show that Fox has been able to improve its ratings somewhat. Host Jesse Watters’ 7 p.m. ET show drew 2.18 million views, while “The Five’ drew 2.6 million for the 5 p.m. hour.

However, neither “Hannity” nor Laura Ingraham’s show, which airs at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., respectively, were able to crack 2 million viewers, the data show. “Fox News Tonight,” which was hosted by Kayleigh McEnany, a former Trump press secretary, also only drew 1.39 million. Carlson averaged more than 3 million viewers in all of 2022.