It isn’t what it appears.
The “it” here is a reference to Fox coverage of those iconic Trump rallies. Here’s a sample headline from the not-Trump-friendly CNN:
Fox News is tuning out Trump’s rallies. Here’s what that means
The report, from CNN’s Brian Stelter, goes on to say:
President Donald Trump keeps holding midterm election rallies, and Fox News keeps choosing not to air the rallies live.
This programming decision has huge political and cultural significance. Fox News, America’s most-watched cable channel, has been one of Trump’s top ways to reach voters for more than a decade.
Trump is perturbed about it. But Fox evidently doesn’t think his speeches are worth showing in full right now, which speaks volumes about this political moment.
The implication: Fox agrees with the Republican candidates and strategists who are privately fretting about Trump hurting their chances in the midterms.
Fox’s response is to basically turn him off.
Suffice to say, the end of the world is not at hand. Stelter used to lament that Fox wasn't running live coverage of primetime hearings of the House January 6 Committee (even as they ran on Fox Business). You could find them on any other "news" channel.
President Trump is sui generis. For those who skipped Latin class, the definition of “sui generis” - this one per Wikipedia- “is a Latin phrase that means ‘of its/their own kind’ or ‘in a class by itself’, therefore ‘unique.’”
Suffice to say, the President, as Americans have come to know him, is very much in a class by himself. Unique.
Previous American presidents generally have at least one thing in common. That would be a past with a political career. Whether elected to a state legislature, a governorship, or Congress, presidents have almost all held elective office along their road to the White House. There are exceptions, of course. A handful of chief executives have never held elective office before being elected President but rather had serious military careers, like a U.S. Grant or a Dwight Eisenhower.
But Trump is, in fact, the first and only President who arrived at the White House straight from a career in a private sector business. And in Trump’s case, a seriously successful, major league business career.
It is no exaggeration to say that in today’s world Trump repeatedly succeeds in drawing thousands to his political rallies. And notably, those thousands flock to these Trump rallies whether Fox televises them or not.
Which is to say, if, in fact, the Fox hierarchy has made a decision not to cover Trump rallies, those rallies will go on - Fox coverage or not.
What’s refreshing in this alleged Fox-Trump dustup is the knowledge that the American people are more than capable of showing up by the room-bursting thousands whether Fox - or for that matter, any other network - is covering them at all.
The Trump rallies are truly a phenomenon - whether Fox is covering them or not.
Trump is, famously, a seriously media-savvy guy. He has been dealing with the media and its handling of his various career moves for his entire adult life. My personal favorite of Trump headlines was a New York Post headline back from February, 1990. The days when a then-single Trump was dating a young woman named Marla Maples. As seen here - thoughtfully preserved by Wikipedia - the Post put Trump’s grinning face on its front page. The headline, replete with capital letters, read:
“Marla boasts to her pals about Donald: ‘BEST SEX I’VE EVER HAD’
Suffice to say, Trump’s career was not only not ruined. The opposite was true, as the headline added to the emerging story of the glamorous young real estate billionaire.
Fox, one suspects, has jumped into a somewhat precarious situation. The President is still popular among Republicans. Which is to say, he is popular with millions who have grown accustomed to watching him on Fox. And if, as is apparently the case, Fox executives are hitting the Trump blackout button, it would not be surprising in the least that many in the Fox audience would simply turn the dial to others in conservative media - a Newsmax or Real America's Voice, for example - to watch what Fox is denying them.
Time will tell. The 2026 midterm elections are rapidly coming to a close. But in fact the results of 2026 will no sooner be in then the countdown to the 2028 presidential race will begin.
And for the media that means covering the race to see who on the GOP side will be carrying the MAGA flag into the 2028 election. Who, indeed, will be making themselves the quite visible Trump heir?
If, in fact, Fox’s alleged hostility to Trump continues, there is no rocket science in seeing that other televised venues will focus on the race to be the Trump heir-apparent. And that means being willing to carry Trump’s surely on-going rallies.
All of which is to say, the apparent Fox decision on its Trump rally coverage will - one way or another, one suspects - make its mark as the 2026 election is settled and the race for 2028 begins in earnest.
One suspects the Trump rallies, Fox coverage or not, will not disappear. In spite of the fact that Trump will not be running.
In short? Stock up on popcorn and settle in to watch the media battle over the 2028 presidential election media coverage.
