Mediaite

07/17/2025

Fox News has spent years walking a high-wire act — catering to President Donald Trump’s MAGA base while trying to maintain journalistic credibility. This week, that wire is on the verge of snapping. Faced with a bombshell story rooted in MAGA conspiratorial paranoia — the Epstein files — Fox’s top opinion hosts have removed themselves from a national discourse.

Over the weekend, Trump posted a frantic, all-caps Truth Social missive effectively demanding that all stories about Epstein’s client list be dismissed as a Democrat “hoax.” He went further, blaming the whole thing on a cabal of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. It is a ludicrous conspiracy — and this time, even his own supporters aren’t buying it.

Polling shows that 60 percent of Trump voters believe the Epstein revelations deserve more scrutiny. GOP lawmakers, typically allergic to crossing Trump, are now openly disputing his spin. The MAGA coalition is showing real cracks — and Fox News knows it.

So what has the most-watched cable news network done in response? Mostly, pretend it’s not happening.

A search of SnapStream transcripts from Monday through Thursday at 8 a.m. reveals just how stark the avoidance is. CNN has mentioned “Epstein” 1,274 times. MSNBC: 1,156. Fox News? Just 136 — and that includes reruns. Strip out Special Report and the late-night satire of Gutfeld!, and Fox has mentioned Epstein a meager 82 times since Trump told his base to drop it. That’s not editorial discretion — that’s subservience.

Yes, Fox & Friends Weekend and MediaBuzz acknowledged Trump’s pivot in solid segments Sunday morning. But since then, the network’s main opinion engines — Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, the weekday Fox & Friends crew — have been radio silent. Not a single monologue, segment, or real engagement with the story. For the most-watched hosts on the most-watched network, it’s a staggering omission.