Fox News apparently admitted what many critics have been saying all along — Donald Trump gets a pass for doing the same things that made them so angry about Barack Obama.
As the network offered glowing coverage of President Trump for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the hosts of The Five admitted that they would not have been so effusive had it been Barack Obama crossing into the DMZ and meeting with a belligerent world leader.
As HuffPost noted, show co-host Greg Gutfeld said that he understands those who are criticizing Trump from the left, and admitted he would have been doing the same if it were Obama.
“Of course they are going to attack him. Let’s be honest: If it were an adversary from your party on the other side doing it, we would do the same thing,” Gutfeld said.
Many had criticized Trump for meeting with Kim in his own country, which seemed to legitimize the dictator. Others pointed out that the president himself was highly critical of the idea of Obama meeting with Kim.
Jesse Watters, the co-host of The Five who has been a vocal critic of Barack Obama and a big backer of Donald Trump, seemed to find the double standard funny.
“How dare Obama meet with a dictator with no preconditions!” Watters said, mocking outrage as he imagined how Fox News would have responded to Obama doing the same thing for which they were praising Trump.
Fox News has long come under criticism for praising Donald Trump on the same issues that they once attacked Barack Obama for. The double standard was even cut into a montage from the news site NowThis’ Twitter account, garnering some viral attention after Trump’s visit to North Korea.
Fox News had a pretty different reaction when Obama wanted to negotiate with North Korea pic.twitter.com/CBC29Bn7xE
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 1, 2019
While it may have been obvious to many watching that Fox News had a double standard for Obama compared to Trump, the admission led to some viral interest. Many took to social media to mock the news network for finally admitting it, and for the hosts seeming to find plenty of humor in the double standard.
Reacting to Trump’s photo op with Kim Jong Un, the hosts of Fox’s gabfest The Five predictably heaped praise on the president—then readily admitted they would attack a Democrat for doing the same meeting https://t.co/pgP2KRsnlr
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 2, 2019
Fox News hosts aren’t even trying to hide the double standard anymore. https://t.co/pnmN1ikzbA
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) July 2, 2019
With @FoxNews admission today that if Obama did something it’s bad, if trump did same thing it’s good, we all have to accept that fox and GOP talking points are not worth responding to. Counter their lies with an attack, not a defense against lies or pointing out their hypocrisy.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) July 2, 2019
Fox News has long taken criticism for its coverage of Donald Trump and for its very close ties to the president. The hosts of the morning show Fox & Friends , a favorite of Trump, often speak directly to the president in their segments and try to offer some advice on how he should handle foreign and domestic issues. Trump also has a close relationship with host Sean Hannity, even admitting at one point that they spoke nightly on the phone.