NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck was all over conservative media late Wednesday and early Thursday as he joined Newsmax’s Eric Bolling: The Balance and the Fox News Channel’s Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher to highlight the latest MRC time counts into the liberal broadcast network coverage of recent Biden family scandals as well as attempts by said networks to downplay and explain away both.
Gallagher led off his time with Houck by citing new Fox polling showing only 33 percent of Americans approve of how President Biden’s handled the economy with 65 percent disapproving. With numbers like that, Gallagher said Team Biden running their 2024 bid on the economy would be like “running on Afghanistan.”
Houck explained the Biden regime feels that way “is because they have a complicit news media” and that Americans who don’t watch Fox News who “less likely to know about high inflation” and other economic indicators.
If they do buy the White House spin, Houck said, they’d feel like MSNBC host/NBC correspondent Stephanie Ruhle did back in 2021 when she argued Americans can and should shoulder high inflation just fine.
“[I]t’s just a complete fantasyland and this is why the network, you know, the networks, they didn’t do what Fox News did during Biden’s speech today which is fact-check him and provide rolling numbers about credit card debt and all sorts of other economic indicators that have been way down over the last three years,” he added.
On Biden’s Wednesday gaffes insisting Russian dictator Vladimir Putin was losing a war in Iraq and forgot the last name of his Supreme Court justice pick (Ketanji Brown Jackson), Houck noted neither fetched time on ABC, CBS, and NBC.
And, when it came up on MSNBC, Houck said the defense was such gaffes happen when someone “does a lot of talking for a living”.
Moving lastly to the IRS whistleblower and the now-infamous WhatsApp messages allegedly from Hunter Biden, Houck shared the network coverage through Wednesday night:
[T]he WhatsApp stuff has been absolutely incriminating. The interviews with Bret Baier on this network, and on CBS News, five minutes and 53 seconds thus far, dating back to last week. So, you know, that — compared to 510 minutes that we have on the Trump indictment so far on the broadcast networks? That’s a huge disparity.
A few hours earlier on Newsmax, Houck appeared alongside New York Post columnist and 2023 MRC Bulldog Award winner Karol Markowicz, who remarked that, regarding the Biden family corruption claims, “I don’t know that this all catches up with him only because the media is so in the tank for him in general”.
For his part, Houck credited Markowicz’s colleague Steven Nelson for pressing Biden on the infamous WhatsApp messages and cited the MRC numbers (prior to the Wednesday night network newscasts) before adding:
[I]f you can’t get the coverage, it’s not really in the minds of the American people, especially people who aren’t watching Newsmax and reading, you know, outlets like NewsBusters or the New York Post. So, if it’s not really in the bloodstream of the, you know, electorate, then I think the White House says we don’t really need to talk about this.
Asked by Bolling whether the smatterings of coverage on Hunter Biden are proof the left will throw Biden overboard for 2024, both Houck and Markowicz said there’s no proof to that or worth exploring with Houck noting how, if that were true, you’d see “way more coverage of these Biden scandals.”
To see the relevant transcripts from June 28 and 29, click “expand.”
Newsmax’s Eric Bolling The Balance
June 28, 2023
8:51 p.m. EasternERIC BOLLING: Yep, another day, another denial. This morning Joe Biden was asked by a reporter if he had an involvement with his son Hunter’s Chinese business dealings.
STEVEN NELSON: President Biden, how involved — President Biden, how involved were you in your son’s “Chinese shakedown” text message? Were you sitting there? Were you involved? Were you involved?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No, I wasn’t and I don’t —
NELSON: Were you?
BIDEN: No!
BOLLING: Well, joining me now columnist for the New York Post, Karol Markowitz and managing editor for News Busters, Curtis Houck. Karol, 100 times — man’s a pathological liar — 100 times he said I had nothing to do with — I didn’t even talk to Hunter Biden about his business dealings. If you notice yesterday, KJP in the briefing said, oh, the president has never been in business with Hunter. It feels like they’re moving the goalpost a bit, Karol.
KAROL MARKOWICZ: Yeah. The line is absolutely changing from I have nothing to do with this to I specifically do not have any business to do with this. I don’t know. I think that a lot of what we’re seeing is the President trying to brush this off. The laughing, the making sure that Hunter’s still invited to White House events. I don’t know that this all catches up with him only because the media is so in the tank for him in general, that it’s very, very hard to pin him on this without the help of at least some part of the left media and I’m not sure that they’re willing to do that. I don’t know. You know, I know a lot of people talk about subbing in a different Democrat for the next election, but I really don’t see who they have that they could sub in. If they had that person, they might have subbed them in in 2020.
BOLLING: So what do you think, Curtis? You know, I’ve never spoken to Hunter about business in China. Now, it’s I’ve never been in business with Hunter in China or anywhere else.
CURTIS HOUCK: Well, first credit to Steven Nelson, Karol’s New York Post colleague. He was the one who asked the question there, and he’s asked many of those questions in the White House press briefing, much to the chagrin of K JP, Olivia Dalton, the fill-in that we had yesterday, and the rest of the press corps. But you know, but, Eric, you look at the Whatsapp coverage, five minutes and three seconds on the broadcast networks from Thursday through Saturday, so we haven’t had any coverage of that since. And we’ve had about eight minutes just on CBS and NBC over the last two days on the whistleblower interviews, Mr Chapley there, um, between CBS and NBC. Again, no — nothing on ABC. So yeah, you’re not really getting the coverage at all. So if you can’t get the coverage, it’s not really in the minds of the American people, especially people who aren’t watching Newsmax and reading, you know, outlets like NewsBusters or the New York Post. So, if it’s not really in the bloodstream of the, you know, electorate, then I think the White House says we don’t really need to talk about this.
BOLLING: Well, let’s talk very quickly. I have about 30 — 30 seconds each. You know, it’s — Joe Biden’s not going to decide not to run for president.
MARKOWICZ: Right.
BOLLING: It won’t be his decision. It’s going to come from the donor class and — and the high level Democrat class. Karol, your thoughts. Will — will — is this a slow process to — I don’t know — exit Biden stage left.
MARKOWICZ: I say no way. I mean, I’m willing to be wrong on this, but I’ve been on the record that it’s going to be Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee again. They didn’t have anybody in 2020 to fill the gap to stop Bernie other than Joe Biden. It’s not going to be Kamala. You know, I don’t see how Gavin Newsom gets Kamala out of the way in order to run. It’s going to be Joe Biden and that’s you know, my opinion on that.
BOLLING: What do you think, Curtis? I — about — Newsome — Barrett — Mayor Pete wants it.
HOUCK: Totally — totally agree. I think it’s counterproductive, Eric, you know, I mean, the — if you’re a Republican, conservative, no matter which campaign you’re on, in terms of the Democrats, you need to be focused on Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their scandals. You see that, how the media are covering up. There’d be way more coverage of these Biden scandals if they were looking to throw Joe Biden overboard.
MARKOWICZ: Yeah, that’s right.
BOLLING: Final though, Karol, go ahead.
MARKOWICZ: No, I — I fully agree. I think that the media is trying to prop him up and drag him across that finish line. I think that they want Joe Biden to be the nominee.
BOLLING: Prop up like weekend at Bernie’s prop him up, perhaps. I — listen, I’m for one am looking forward to Joe Biden —
MARKOWICZ: You said it, not me.
BOLLING: — I — well, listen, I — I’m looking forward to Joe Biden on a debate stage because the guy today, thought, for some reason, Putin was fighting a war in Iraq today. I mean, if it’s not written on a teleprompter, he is absolutely lost. Karol Markowicz, Curtis Houck. Thank you both so much.
HOUCK: Thanks, Eric.
MARKOWICZ: Thanks so very much.
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FNC’s Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher
June 29, 2023
12:42 a.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: ‘Bidenomics’, Gaffes And New Hunter Revelation
TRACE GALLAGHER: Meantime, speaking of the President, plenty more to talk about tonight regarding his economic message, his gaffes and his latest revelations about the DOJ investigation into his son’s financial dealings. Let’s bring in NewsBusters Managing Editor, Curtis Houck. Curtis, great to have you. Here’s the President touting Bidenomics. Watch.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Biden Says Term ‘Bidenomics’ Invented by Press]
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: This vision is a fundamental break from the economic theory that has failed America’s middle class for decades now. It’s called trickle-down economics. [SCREEN WIPE] And guess what? Bidenomics is working.
GALLAGHER: Well, it’s not working for most Americans. Let me put this on the screen, Curtis, and I’ll get your take on this. This is a Fox News poll. Biden on the economy. Now, do you approve? 33 percent approve, 65 percent disapprove. That is down two points from even April. It’s kind of like him running on Afghanistan, right? I mean we did a great job. Let’s run on that. The economy is not a good thing, I don’t think, for this administration to run on.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: President Biden Touts New Term ‘Bidenomics’]
CURTIS HOUCK: Yeah, I think Trace, the reason that they feel like they can run on the economy is because they have a complicit news media. You know we found that the American people, you know, that don’t watch Fox News — they’re not listening, they don’t know — they’re less likely to know about high inflation and all of that. They have a complicit media that’s willing to tout. you know. these facts. You know, these other alternative facts. Stephanie Ruhle did this a few years ago saying that, you know, inflation is something the American people have prepared for. They should have saved over COVID.
GALLAGHER: Yeah.
GALLAGHER: I mean it’s just a complete fantasyland and this is why the network, you know, the networks, they didn’t do what Fox News did during Biden’s speech today which is fact-check him and provide rolling numbers about credit card debt and all sorts of other economic indicators that have been way down over the last three years.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Biden Mistakenly Refers to Ukraine as “Iraq”]
GALLAGHER: A couple of other things the media’s not really covering is some more of the President’s gaffes. Watch.
STEVE HOLLAND [TO BIDEN]: Has Vladimir Putin been weakened by recent events?
BIDEN: It’s hard to tell, but he’s clearly losing the war in Iraq. [SCREEN WIPE] We’ve appointed more African-American women to the — to the — to the federal bench and any other or every other president combined and we got the first — [APPLAUSE] and brightest — [SCREEN WIPE] Justice Ketanji Brown.
GALLAGHER: So, he forgot the Supreme Court Justice’s last name, he forgot the country, the bench. Anyway, your thoughts.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Discussing President Biden’s Latest Verbal Gaffes]
HOUCK: None of this was covered on the broadcast networks tonight, Trace, ABC, CBS, NBC.
GALLAGHER: Nope.
HOUCK: I can report that, you know, MSNBC brought it up earlier today, but they touted the spin that, you know, the President does a lot of talking Trace. So, when you do a lot of talking for a living, you’re bound to make mistakes like this, and the President is old. So, when they do cover certain things like gaffes or scandals —
GALLAGHER: Mmhmm.
HOUCK: — you get that kind of spin. And you know, you look at it and say, yeah, no wonder some voters are in the dark or have a warped sense of reality.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Rpt: Media Ignoring News on Hunter Biden Probe]
GALLAGHER: Yeah. In fact, I’ve got 30 seconds left for you. Hunter Biden, this whole thing, is also not being covered. I mean, I’ve got samples, but I don’t have time to — to play them for you. I just want your final take on the — on the Hunter Biden thing, especially now we’re getting big evidence.
HOUCK: Yeah, I was going to say the WhatsApp stuff has been absolutely incriminating. The interviews with Bret Baier on this network, and on CBS News, five minutes and 53 seconds thus far, dating back to last week. So, you know, that — compared to 510 minutes that we have on the Trump indictment so far on the broadcast networks? That’s a huge disparity.
GALLAGHER: Yeah. Curtis Houck, good to see you as always, thank you.
HOUCK: Thanks, Trace.
