CNN, MS NOW & Fox News Ratings Show Huge Swings: Who’s on Top & Who’s Lagging Behind?
What To Know
- Fox News led cable news ratings in 2025, increasing total viewership in both primetime and total day compared to 2024, despite slight declines in the key 25-54 demo.
- CNN and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) experienced significant double-digit declines in both total viewers and the 25-54 demo across primetime and total day.
- Fox News dominated the list of most-watched cable news programs, with 14 of the top 15 shows, while MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show was the only non-Fox program to make the list.
The cable news ratings for 2025 are in, and it was another strong year for Fox News, which posted gains in total viewers across primetime and total day compared to 2024.
On the other end, CNN and the newly branded MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) both saw declines compared to last year, falling by double-digits in total viewers and the key Adults 25-54 demo in primetime and total day.
Fox News also experienced declines in the key 25-54 demo, though not to the extent of its rival networks, posting single-digit drops.
According to AdWeek, citing Nielsen big data + panel for 2025, Fox News averaged 2.652 million total viewers (up 11 per cent on last year) during primetime. In the demo, the network averaged 278,000 viewers, down five percent year-over-year.
It should be noted that Nielsen changed its rating methodology last year, so the way numbers are measured compared to 2024 could be skewed.
In total day, Fox News averaged 1.691 million total viewers (up 16 per cent compared to 2024) and 180,000 in the key demo (down 3 per cent).
Fox News topped the charts for total primetime viewers across all cable networks and placed third in the demo. It also held the top spot for total viewers across total day and ranked second in the demo.
MS NOW (MSNBC until November 2025) averaged 915,000 total viewers (down 15 per cent on 2024) and 80,000 demo viewers (down 40 per cent on last year) in primetime. During total day, MS NOW averaged 551,000 total viewers (down 30 per cent) and 48,000 demo viewers (down 43 per cent).
Overall, MS NOW ranked third in total primetime viewers across all basic cable networks and dropped from ninth to 19th in the demo. In total day, the network dropped from No. 3 to No. 2 in total viewers and from eighth to 13th in the demo.
Meanwhile, CNN averaged 573,000 total viewers (down 16 per cent) and 102,000 demo viewers (down 31 per cent) in primetime. Across total day, it had 432,000 total viewers (down 10 per cent) and 70,000 demo viewers (down 23 per cent).
CNN ranked seventh among total viewers across all basic cable networks for 2025 and tenth (down from sixth) in the demo. For total day, the network remained in fourth place for total viewers and dropped from sixth to seventh in the demo chart.
As for programming, Fox News made up 14 of the 15 spots of the most-watched cable shows of the year. The Five took the top spot with 4.046 million viewers and 377,000 demo viewers.
The only non-Fox News show in the Top 15 was MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show, which placed at No. 13 with 1.864 million viewers and No. 14 in the demo chart with 172,000 viewers.
Conversation87 Comments
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G
MSNOW and CNN need to move off the left leaning misinformation.
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G
So you want them lye like FOX.FOX was found guilty on many charges of lying to the public and relaying false information. They are the problem.
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M
Lye? That says it all
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B
Charges?
"lye"
Wow... that explains so much about you.
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M
Fox needs to stop making people stupid
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B
Too late. Idiocracy has become reality.
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P
Lol CNN is the most watched Real News in the World, not the USA, CNN has a panel of Republicans and Democrats, what does Fox News have ... Propaganda for the crazy .
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B
Fox ratings are up because of the shit show the gop has become. Scare tactics work I guess.
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S
Nobody trusts the mainstream media as they assert themselves as the propaganda arm of the DNC and anti American leftists
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P
45 Maga zombies with no life but lots of Swag made in China up voted on this post lol .
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C
Silent majority in control
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K
TV is now for the elderly, young adults have social media as their primary source of news. No surprises about these ratings. At all
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D
Lol, ok, im glad you get your news from tik tok dances and social media influencers.
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T
Hi there I am from Europe and have been horrified by everything currently going on with America with a particular concern with everything surrounding Greenland. Having watched news coverage from multiple countries I am astounded by the lies that were on the fox news report of the situation. Particularly its claim Greenland ears what to be apart of America. In a recent vote in Greenland 6% said yes to American involvement 9%were undecided and 85% said no. This is not what fox reported at all. I cannot comment on if any other mainstream news channels in America such as ABC are unbiased because most likely they are also unreliable. But I am slightly supprised it's legal for news channels to lie in a way I just saw fox news doing. It was quite eye opening and alarming 😳
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J
You are completely out of touch and I can relate as I used to be like this as well. CNN gets pushed heavily outside of the US and most international news follow suit as it’s much easier to lie and appease than tell the truth and potentially offend. When you live in the US you have the option to get your news from any source. FOX is unmatched in its coverage and professionalism hence they are on top. You probably also believe Fauci and their rhetoric was real and I can’t blame you, like I said I was once there myself. The US will be a massive blessing for the people of Greenland. Look at the current state of the EU. They can’t even protect their own borders and admittedly need the US for security (Davos). What do you think the Chinese and Russians will do to Greenland. Stop for a moment and Use your own mind!
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S
China and Russia will do nothing to Greenland as long as Trump follows thru with our nato commitments? No you are getting fed all propaganda as that is all Fox News is! Yes you have an option and choice of News in U.S but what is crazy is you chose the news that is State Run by Trump and turn your back on any of the free press??
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P
Fox is not licensed as a news program. It licensed as entertainment so it can tell lies, short of lible pf a personal, knowing lie of an average US citizen, who is not a public or entertainment person. That liable falls under a more sticker definition.
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T
Seriously? You edited that post, and it’s STILL unintelligible….??! :^o
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R
What is CNN and MSNOW’s excuse for inaccurate information? They lie , twist , distort the truth .
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K
I could be one of those people making their ratings higher. I watch local and national news, then would surf through CNN, MS Now and Fox to see that they were saying. This year I have been turning more to Fox, trying to understand what people are watching that makes them like what it happening. I realize it is because Fox News is only telling them part of each story. Example- Did they show the part of the video of Renee Good where they refused to let the doctor at the scene render aid or when the ambulance showed up they didn't open up the street to let them down and they had to carry her for about a 1/2 a block and lay her on the ground to give her CPR.
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R
That is just idiotic. You have been brainwashed by the left. What a stupid thing to say. She got what she deserved-period
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S
OMG -- in your wildest dreams-- what u smokin- these daze
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P
Ever heard waste of Skin, that would be you.
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I
Go read a book
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N
How old are you? Because I figured out in my early twenties that in order to get the full picture, I couldn't just watch ABC, CBS, NBC, because they only told a partial side, to go full circle I had to include Fox for good reason. That was when I watched legacy media on a regular basis, I don't anymore.
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J
BS
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C
I hope you realize that CNN, MSNOW is only giving you part of the story... they share the left side of a story where FOX leans right...
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B
Right, and msnever showed the videos that clearly show him being struck by the car. Oh, wait. No, they didn't.
All you've done is admit your bias while pretending you don't have one.
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P
News is News , not left not right but Real and delivered by real Journalists with degrees!! Lol go play your banjo
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B
Lol! Yawn. Remind me again what journalism school did Benjamin Franklin attend?? Durrrr.
The msm is completely owned by mega-corps that care more about advertising than they do news. Obviously. You're just another parrot and puppet. Did you want a cracker or not, Polly??
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B
She was shot in the head. A Dr was not going to help. They treated it like a crime scene and didn't need some person from a hostile crowd claiming to be a Dr. approach. Would you?
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N
The brainwashed watch. The rest of us mix in a sitcom.
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P
Get some education , seriously you and cult are the problem!!!
Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company’s lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.
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D
You do know this was 2 years ago right? Were they lies? Im not so sure considering whats come out since then.
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M
We parent block CNN and MSNBC changing the doesn’t help that fake news stuff . I couldn’t take 2 minutes of Maddow .Love the 5 all the shows on Fox .
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P
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E
Kms, it’s an accessible EVERY WHERE. SEARCH FOR IT.
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K
I have to pay extra to watch CNN or MS NOW where Fox is provided for free.
Once Comcast put those channels in a higher tier you need to upgrade to watch. Probably a good reason for the decline in viewership. Even for free, I will never watch fox. National or local.
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M
Comcast is pure left . They just know where their bread is buttered ! I have Comcast and all 3 are part of basic
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T
- -when you sell 'fake news' people just won't buy it: that's why CNN and CNBC are lagging behind FOX News in viewership.
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K
Those who think Fox and Newsmax are real news organizations will never watch anything else. They consume right-wing propaganda as if it were heroin. The more they consume, the more they crave. Perfect model to increase right-wing media ratings...tell them what they want to hear.
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P
Cult like
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B
Legacy media is dead. It's all owned by mega-corps and the mega-corps aren't doing so good. Advertisers now determine what is and isn't "newsworthy" because the mega-corps can't afford to lose thier business.
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K
It's only the elderly who sit across recliner couches and beds to watch news on TV all day, nowadays.
I wish they expounded further on the demographics of the viewers in the survey. I don't remember seeing anyone below 40 watching FOX, MS Now or CNN. Social media has changed the dynamics of news sourcing. Personally, I don't trust any mainstream legacy media. They are puppets of mind control
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I
But you trust YouTubers to provide you with the news. Here is a tip. Forget all news outlets and go outside your home. That is how you learn what is going on in your community. Not by sitting with your phone 3 inches from your face scrolling for 3 hours on the same subject. Read a book or something sheesh
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S
Just how would a person sit across a recliner couch and beds Kiwam? I know people would lay down on a recliner couch or lay down on a bed. Just want to try and understand what you mean or what Country you come from where you sit across a recliner or bed.
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J
Ive noticed that cnn increasingly depends on commercials because the do noot report mews rather they talk to other liberal reporters for their OPED...dude your going away becsause thats not journalism
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G
They? You mean the jackboot thugs who murdered here treated it like a crime scene? No they didn't. All the DHS murderers were ordered to skedaddle and they did. No justice here. Only obedience.
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J
Then why did they allow their own medic to apply CPR? You didn't know about that because you watch Fox.
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B
You're cool with remaining ignorant? O ris everything that doesn't conform to your cognitive bias considered "fake news"
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O
To heck with all of them. I still watch Bassmasters and NASCAR. There’s just something about that (stability) and recognition of old programming I like.
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D
One thing I don't understand about the MSNOW "rebrand" .. if NBC could get their name off this turkey, why couldn't Microsoft?
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M
I could be mistaken, but it seems more and more people - especially adults under the age of 50 - are consuming their news through other media, especially YouTube, which I didn't believe are included in these ratings. Most people who watch live news these days seem to skew older, which, unfortunately, is Fox's bread and butter. Much easier to scare with their rhetoric.
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G
100% correct. I haven't watched legacy garbage in twenty five years.
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P
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J
Most of the news on utube is false
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B
If you think Foxnews spews any more rhetoric than the other two, you're too simple to have an opinion that matters...
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M
FOX has picked up the bad habit of lying also. But they are still better than CNN or MSNOW! CNN and MSNOW tell NOTHING but lies. IF they were the only 2 news shows on TV I would never watch them. We mostly watch NewsMax and streaming.
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E
Maybe it is a matter of where you live and where I live, but I get all those you mentioned in their base offering. No upgrade necessary.
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B
If you want a honest fresh perspective on world geographical news, etc, especially the Iran situation. Watch TousiTv. Found it a couple weeks ago, impressed.
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R
I will try to be brief.
It amazes me how so many y people are so quick to accept BS from anyone anywhere especially when what is said / claimed is or can be easily .antiquated and or lied about for whatever reason.
Why do overeducated brain dead people just believe anything they hear as truth without thinking because it fits their dreams and without any real thought process or investigation.
A moron should know rich people will say the economy is great it doesn't affect them while common people will say the opposite because it does affect them !
So think who I stating the economy is good. / a bilionaire lying idiot who wants to control peabrained followers who don't think for his benefit / not yours!
Grow up/ find some real couge and the try real individual thinking and not following the idiot pack! It's free and it feels good to b your own person!
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L
Besides your belief in "great" programming, Fox continuously lies. What happened to the Hillary sold our uranium story? Benghazi? The ACA Death Panels, and a thousand others? Otherwise, Fox does not push back on Trump's lies. Did you believe him when he claimed to have "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear program, when many experts said that was not possible? Now, Trump wants to negotiate with Iran about its nuclear program that had been "completely obliterated."
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B
Both CNN and MSNBC (MSNOW) no longer have any credibility whatsoever and have successfully awakened the majority of viewers to the decades of the un-American and corruption of the democrats!!! Good-Riddance!!
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R
Legacy media is doomed ,more adds and less content will not get it. They love murder coverage no matter where it takes place , just outrageous.
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R
Respectfully, anyone who watches cable news is a moron. Every story is viewed through a pair of goggles that prevents you from seeing reality. The only perspective given on cable news is the pro-war pro-division topic of the day leaving out vast amounts of context. Theyve lied about everything from Trump being a russian spy to covid to the hunter biden laptop, Joe's cognitive decline, the "unprovoked" invasion of Ukraine etc. Absolutely pathetic. People are moving to a more unbiased and decentralized media landscape on the internet. Everyone else is just old dinosaurs who view the world through cable news propaganda goggles.
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W
'YOUNGUNS" (AS US "OLD FOLKS" SAY),DO NOT WATCH TV OR CABLE..THEY STREAM OR THEY U TUBE OR THEY PODCAST OR THEY GET INFORMATION AND NEWS FROM THE CELL PHONE PERMENENTLY ATTACHED TO THEIR EARS..RATINGS DONT MEAN A THING,BECAUSE IT HAS ALREADY BEEN SHOWN WHAT AGES AND WHO WATCHES WHAT..A RELATIVE WAS IN A NURSING HOME WITH MANY BEDRIDDEN,AND,EVEN IN THE OPEN AREAS,ANYWHERE THERE WAS A TV IT WAS ON FOX..,AS TO THE TRUTHFULNESS OF MAJOR NETWORKS,DIDNT A FEW JUST "CAVE" TO TRUMP AND GIVE HIM BIG BUCKS FOR REPORTING THAT WAS TRUTHFUL,BUT THEY DIDNT WANT TO HAVE LICENSES SUSPENDED SO THEY DIDNT FIGHT??THATS WHAT WE HAVE COME TO...
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M
Didn't you see where it says generated by AI which makes mistakes? In other words LIES
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M
AI Rubbish
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T
When you use your platform,as an ego trip,you should be smart enough to know that people are not stupid.You are the stupid and we dont want to watch your stupid ego on display
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G
I watch the Fox News channel.They have their faults but they are the best but I think if they are reporting a nuclear bomb was coming our way they would break for a damn commercial.
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G
This survey is totally flawed for neglecting to show Internet viewership. Older and more conservative people who hardly touch a computer of course would gravitate to FOX news. They don't know an operating system from a sewing machine. All the big news distribution is in the Internet now. By excluding all internet viewership this article only discusses how antiquated traditional news distribution has become. This is a web page right here. Found by using a search engine. In the background I am listening to The Damage Report, one of hundreds of news and editorial channels that I frequent. Analyzing the trends of traditional news media is misleading at best and disingenuous as hell.
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L
Okay, then, Maddow and the others on MS Now are pundits, but they deal with facts. What happened to the Hillary sold our uranium story? Or that she sold weapons to ISIS? Death Panels? Obama was going to confiscate guns from homes? And a thousand others?
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M
None of that is as bad as the phony Russia Collusion hoax.
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H
If you watch Fox you are part of a cult and seeing propaganda. Fox isn’t even considered a news network. They are classified as an entertainment network in Europe because they lie. Literally a law suit about it.
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B
And the thumbs up vs down here is 5 to 1.
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S
I'm tired and bored of reading about protestesters. I would like to her more about personal experiences from everyday people.
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P
Typical Faux News viewer, with the IQ below 25.
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B
Every hotel I have stayed in over the last 20 years always has the CNN on all their tv(s) and I would change the channel when eating breakfast. THAT’S WHY THEIR RATINGS ARE WHAT THEY ARE!
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P
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Z
CNN and MS never couldn't tell the truth, if their commie lives depended on it. Fox likes to leave out details for their agenda.
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M
Covering up Trumps stupidity and incompetence is a Fox specialty
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S
Can you specifically point out news stories where fox is covering for Trump?
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P
Fox News agreed Tuesday to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company’s lawsuit that would have exposed how the network promoted lies about the 2020 presidential election.
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L
Yes, but it is a constant cover-up. For instance, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as Trump damaged decades-long international relationships, Fox lauded him as a champion of American strength on the global stage. Here's another rather important news item and change in government toward authoritarianism that Fox did not report: An internal ICE memo states immigration officers can forcibly enter people’s homes without a judge’s warrant. Remember how Fox allowed Trump to lie for years about Obama's birth certificate?
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T
Yeah sure, that's why Fox's ratings are higher than the other lying media networks, it looks like you fit right in with their continuing decline, no surprise that you would think that way. Clown.
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J
People openly criticize Trump and his policies and actions quite often in the Fox shows I watch. Particularly Gutfeld! Kat Timpf the co host... She won't blindly defend any politicians.
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P
Anyone watching Faux News which isn't news, needs their head examined, but kinda explains why the Country is where it is, watching the #1 source of Misinformation of any network....just Crazy.
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