Days after reporting on Fox News' shadow ban of former President Donald Trump, The New York Times' Jeremy Peters told Newsmax's Eric Bolling on Monday night that star host Tucker Carlson didn't vote for Trump and thinks little of his supporters.
Videos surfaced over the weekend of Carlson laughing it up with Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course as supporters broke out into boisterous "Let's go, Brandon" cheers.
But Peters insists Carlson is not a Trump fan.
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"There are a lot of people, Eric, who snicker behind Trump's back, who say that they support him publicly and they like his ideas, and they like him, but privately, it's a different story," Peters said.
"In private, what [Carlson] says about Trump is very different than what he says about Trump in public, and it benefits him to be seen having photos taken with Trump at the golf course and everything," Peters said.
Peters examined conservative media in his recent book "Insurgency: How Republicans Lost Their Party and Got Everything They Ever Wanted."
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"I quoted him in my book. [Carlson] said, 'I am voting for Kanye West.' This is in 2020.
"But he didn't vote for Trump, as far as we know. I mean, I don't know. I wasn't there with him in the ballot box, but we know that Tucker Carlson is one of these people who benefits from having the Trump audience on his side, but thinks very little of the people who make up that audience."
Peters says there is no love lost between Trump and Fox News' Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, the Fox Corporation CEO, Peters said.
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"It's a fight between two very powerful figures: Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, who controls Fox Corporation, on the one hand and Donald Trump," Peters told Bolling. "I think we've seen this time and time again where they are always looking to one up one another – show each other who's boss.
"And, you know what? In this fight, there really is no boss."
Peters reported Trump has not been interviewed on the Murdoch-owned cable network for more than 100 days, while other Republicans were getting attention in his stead.
But Peters predicts Fox News is going to jump back on covering Trump when it benefits the network.
"Fox News is deciding that, for now, it's sustainable to not really talk about Donald Trump – as much to criticize him wherever it's feasible," Peters said.
"But, let's not fool ourselves, as soon as their viewers and Republican voters – who are their viewers – start going the other way, that's where Fox is going to be.
"I think that they know that Fox, that right now, they can afford not to have Donald Trump on the airwaves of the 24/7 like they used to, but we'll see what happens once he announces," he added.
Then there will be no media entity that can ignore Trump once he makes his 2024 presidential campaign official, according to Peters.
"It's going to become harder for Fox – or for any media entity, like The New York Times, MSNBC, USA Today, you name it – it's going to be harder to ignore him," he said.
Both Fox News and Trump ultimately benefit from the ongoing tension, Peters continued.
"The media loves tension," the Times media analyst said. "We love stories about fights, especially, if you're in my position: fights among Republicans."
Trump and Fox News have had a long contentious relationship, including the 2016 presidential campaign and the 2020 presidential election night coverage, but one where both need each other, according to Peters.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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