Trump friend: ‘Bizarre’ Fox News so ‘closely aligned’ with Trump

A friend of President Trump, who also heads a rival conservative news outlet, said it was “bizarre” that Fox News decided to become so closely aligned with the president.

“Newsmax is very supportive of the president, but we also will publish things that are critical of him time to time,” Chris Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax and a noted longtime pal of Trump, told Politico.

“Fox seems to have decided to become very closely aligned, which seems unnatural, and it doesn’t seem consistent.”

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He added: “It’s just bizarre, and I think they lose their credibility as a news organization.”

A report earlier this month said Newsmax TV was in talks with former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly for a show on the network.

Trump, who often rails against news organizations and reporters, has in the past praised Fox for its reporting. He often retweets posts shared by the morning show “Fox & Friends” and has appeared for multiple interviews on Fox, while largely avoiding other networks. Meanwhile, the president has a number of very vocal supporters on the network, such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham. 

Fox News faced some backlash for its limited coverage Tuesday of the Democratic victories across the country.

The network also recently canceled ads purchased by Democratic mega-donor Tom Steyer that called for Trump’s impeachment. 

“Due to the strong negative reaction to their ad by our viewers, we could not in good conscience take their money,” Fox News told CNN’s Brian Stelter earlier this week.