News that Senate Republicans have decided to delay a vote on Trumpcare until after the July 4 recess broke ahead of 2 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. But Fox News readers might have had a hard time finding that out.
As the health care news broke and for hours afterward, Fox News’ homepage was dominated by a story headlined, “LAP OF LUXURY: Obamas’ lavish globetrotting vacations raise Democrats’ eyebrows.”
Citing unnamed sources, the story claims that “[t]he Democratic base is growing increasingly frustrated with former President Barack Obama’s actions after leaving office, including a seemingly endless tour of millionaire and billionaire luxury retreats.”
The only Democrat quoted by name in the piece is Pat Caddell, who in 2010 called on Obama to not seek a second term in office. Another “left-wing activist” quoted in the article is a member of the Houston Socialist Movement.
Though coverage of the Trumpcare setback was eventually elevated to a place on Fox News’ homepage just below the Obama smear piece, at first it was difficult to locate at all.
It's like Where's Waldo but for the biggest political news of the day pic.twitter.com/NA2YXzhwPi
— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) June 27, 2017
Other outlets, by contrast, featured the health care news front and center.
Lead story on homepage
MSNBC: Health bill delayed
CNN: Time not on GOP's side
Fox News: Obamas take vacations pic.twitter.com/qqGeWov40u— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) June 27, 2017
The approach Fox News has taken to covering Trump during the five months since his inauguration was evidence on Tuesday’s edition of the president’s favorite show, Fox & Friends. The show’s discussion of the Senate health care bill was dismissive of the Congressional Budget Office’s dire analysis that the Senate version of Trumpcare would result in 22 million Americans losing their health insurance. Instead, hosts focused on the bill’s deficit savings, overlooking the fact they come at the price of ending subsidies that tens of millions of people use to purchase health insurance.
On Sunday, Fox News broadcast an interview with Trump — the first he’s done since one with NBC in May where he may have written his own articles of impeachment. Suffice it to say Trump didn’t face many hard-hitting questions.
The questions from the Fox and Friends exclusive with Trump are so soft I want to put them in a pillowcase. pic.twitter.com/AKnTHV7rvo
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) June 25, 2017
While Fox & Friends was on the air Tuesday morning, Trump — reacting to CNN’s retraction of a story about his Russia connections — posted a tweet blasting the non-Fox networks and major national newspapers.
So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017
Fox News wasn’t the only Trump-friendly site to bury news of the Trumpcare setback, however. Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz documented how the Drudge Report and Breitbart did the same thing.
The Obama hit-piece was a throwback of sorts for Fox News. Over the years the network has insinuated that the former president identifies with Islamic extremists, falsely claimed his reelection in 2012 triggered a wave of layoffs across the country, edited out applause during his speeches, and fed into the delusional notion that Obama wasn’t actually born in the United States — a theory that first brought Trump to political prominence.