President Donald Trump reportedly spends hours binge-watching cable news, allegedly influencing the president to take dramatic actions based on skewed information and a desire to look tough on TV, according to alarmed current and former advisers.
Figures in Trump’s circle told Zeteo that this feedback loop has influenced highly consequential White House moves including the decision to send troops to Portland and Chicago, as well as the June decision to bomb Iran.
Evidence of this alleged dynamic appeared last month as the president was carrying out his now-stalled plan to send National Guard troops to Portland. The president has described using the military over the objection of local leaders as necessary to combat a city in fiery rebellion, a picture of conditions state and city officials have said is inaccurate.
“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said at the time of a conversation with Oregon’s Governor Tina Kotek. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking, and there are fires all over the place … It looks like terrible.”
The comments came the same month Fox News reportedly broadcast a segment on the extent of anti-immigration protests in the city which allegedly mixed present-day video with footage from the more chaotic 2020 Black Lives Matter-related protests in Portland.
Elsewhere, the president was reportedly peeved about widespread coverage of Illinois officials vigorously opposing a similar plan to send troops to Chicago, pushback that appeared to temporarily give the White House pause about deploying the military despite days of threats.
Two sources told Zeteo the president obsessively tracked coverage of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson during this time, fearing that the clash looked like a “win” for these Democrats.
The president ultimately ordered the Guard into Illinois earlier this month, a move that’s also been held up in court.
Even the president’s military strategy has allegedly been touched by TV considerations, according to the report, with Trump reportedly showing more enthusiasm about bombing Iran this summer after watching pro-regime change commentators and footage of Israeli airstrikes on Fox.
Trump insiders said this obsession with TV was nothing new.
“It’s scary how much it would affect not just his mood, but his decision-making on really important things,”a first-term Trump official told Zeteo. “It’s not OK.”
Reached for comment by The Independent, a White House official said the president’s plan to send troops to Portland was based on real threats to federal authority, including protests that have led to federal charges against at least 26 people for crimes including arson and assaulting a police officer.
“President Trump is taking lawful action to protect federal law enforcement officers and address the out-of-control violence that local residents have complained about and Democrat leaders have failed to stop,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.
The Independent has contacted Fox News for comment.
The president has long enjoyed a close relationship with the conservative media world, with Fox News anchor Jesse Watters joking last week Trump was basically a “Fox News producer” after hosting a group of right-wing journalists at The White House to talk about antifa.
The president has also pulled Fox talent from the network to staff his administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro.
