President Donald Trump was the subject of some friendly fire on Friday, coming under attack from his favorite Fox News program in the wake of his aborted attack on Iran.
The morning hosts on Fox & Friends had some choice words for the president after reports emerged that he had authorized an airstrike on Iran but called it off at the last minute. As The Daily Beast noted, host Ainsley Earhardt seemed to give cover to Trump for the abrupt change of course, telling viewers that the president has knowledge that the general public is not privy to and argued that “something” must have happened behind the scenes to make Trump change his mind.
But co-host Brian Kilmeade took a more antagonistic view, appearing to goad Trump by insinuating that the decision to call off the strike makes him look weak before America’s enemies.
“North Korea’s watching. Turkey’s watching. Russia’s watching. China,” he said.
The Daily Beast noted that the Fox & Friends program continued in what appeared to be an attempt to paint Trump as weak.
“They blow up four tankers and we do nothing. When they blow up our drone that costs $130 million and we do nothing,” Kilmeade said. “We know it’s not going to end there. So at some point, in the Middle East, no action looks like weakness, and weakness begets more attacks.”
Reports indicated that Trump had approved plans for airstrikes in Iran in response to claims that the country has attacked oil tankers, but Trump called a stop to the attack at the last minute. On Twitter, Trump said he decided not to go forward with the attack after asking advisers how many people could be killed and learning it was up to 150.
It is widely known that Trump favors Fox & Friends over other programs on the network, often tweeting in real time about segments he watches on the show. Because the Fox News hosts and guests know he is usually watching, they often deliver messages directly to Trump.
White House did not impose new Iran sanctions Thursday, despite Trump’s claim https://t.co/GMApumTUcA
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 21, 2019
There have been other recent signs of tension between Donald Trump and the cable news network that often gives him favorable coverage. As The Inquisitr has previously noted, normally Trump-friendly hosts like Tucker Carlson have been taking more shots at Trump over failed campaign promises to build the wall, and Trump also lashed out at the network after it gave airtime to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in which his progressive ideas were well-embraced by the live audience.