During his rally on Wednesday evening in Fargo, President Trump gave a lengthy promo for MyPillow, a Minnesota-based company that does extensive business with Fox News and is owned by a staunch Trump supporter.
“You ever see this guy with the pillows on Fox? MyPillow guy, Mike Lindell, where is Mike? He is the greatest. I have never seen so many ads for so long and you know what, I think he gets them for like peanuts,” Trump said. “First of all, he does make a great product, great pillows. I actually use them, believe it or not. But he’s been, he’s been a supporter from day one, and I said, ‘you know, I want you to be my ad buyer’, because I guarantee he makes great deals. So I haven’t asked him yet — will you be my ad buyer, please Mike?”
“The MyPillow guy, and he’s been with us right from the beginning,” Trump added.
As Trump alluded to, MyPillow is perhaps Fox News’ most loyal advertiser. This spring, while other advertisers severed relationships with The Ingraham Angle after host Laura Ingraham mocked school shooting survivor-turned-gun control activist David Hogg for being rejected from college, Lindell proudly announced he would continue to do business with the program.
I did not take my advertising down from @IngrahamAngle and @FoxNews, nor do I intend to. @seanhannity
— Mike Lindell (@realMikeLindell) April 2, 2018
As Media Matters president Angelo Carusone noted following Trump’s plug for MyPillow in Fargo, the president’s comments, whether he intended to or not, bolstered two primetime Fox News shows that relentlessly support him and have been the target of recent advertiser boycott campaigns.
Trump talking about MyPillow commercials. You know why? Because Hannity and Ingraham have lost so so so many advertisers that MyPillow ads practically run on a loop during those programs.
— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) June 28, 2018
Indeed, just hours after Trump’s rally ended, a half-hour MyPillow informercial ran on Fox Business Network.
The symbiotic relationship between Trump and Fox News was also on display on Thursday morning, as Trump live-tweeted his favorite morning show, Fox & Friends.