While Fox News finds itself under fire from both former Republican President Donald Trump and his MAGA minions for a recent lack of unwavering devotion, they still appear willing to make excuses for his behavior.
After testimony by a former White House aide before the House Select Committee investigating the events of the January 6 Capitol riot, some Fox News personalities expressed shock over Trump's childish tantrums.
Cassidy Hutchinson—an aide to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows—testifed about the President's behavior on and around January 6.
However Fox host Martha MacCallum tried to downplay the incidents Hutchinson described.
You can see her commentary here:
Fox News anchor John Roberts said to MacCallum:
"Martha, John Dean, who we remember from the Nixon era and the Watergate hearings, tweeted this morning about this: 'Better be a big deal'—because he was reflecting back on the one surprise witness and the hearing in the Watergate hearings back in 1973."
"Back then, that witness was Alex Butterfield, who testified to the existence of Nixon's secret taping system, which blew the whole thing wide open. Do we have anything that even approaches that from this witness?"
MacCallum responded:
"So I would say, John, you know, I'd agree with what you all have just been talking about. But I would say that we had sort of the basic parameters of what happened with regard to this. We had heard before that the President wanted to go to the Capitol and that there was pushback against that."
"So what we're getting today are a lot of details and fill in into just how dramatic that whole situation was. I think that [Cassidy Hutchinson] comes across very credible. She has a good memory for all of these different conversations that were being had."
"And clearly, the description of what happened in the Beast, which is the President's vehicle, of course, of him wanting to lunge toward the steering wheel, according to this account from Bobby, who was the security—Secret Service person who was in the vehicle who she says was very shaken up afterwards."
She added:
"The question is, you know, all of this is obviously riveting. It's—it's very dramatic. It was clearly a very difficult day for her and for those who were involved and for everybody who witnessed it, I would add."
"But the question is, in terms of the Department of Justice, does it move the ball at all on any legal action that they could pursue? Or is it sort of an overall filling in the gaps, filling in the story that has an impact on whether or not the former President decides to run again and whether or not any of these details impact people's feelings about that all around."
Fox anchor Sandra Smith interjected:
"Just a sort of an amazing turn there right at the end when the former aide to [White House Chief of Staff Mark] Meadows, the witness there, described the President smashing his lunch against the wall, ketchup on the walls after reading Barr's AP interview [ststing there was no evidence of widespread election fraud]."
After pointing out Trump used the word "peacefully" when he told the angry mob to march on the Capitol to deliver a message to Vice President Mike Pence and Congress, Smith concluded:
"Nonetheless, Martha, we are learning a whole lot more. And to your point about her memory and the details that we're now getting around the basic framework we already had, John and I were talking about this this morning.
"[Hutchinson] was also known to be a very good note-taker. So clearly, she's providing a lot of detail for the committee and for the country today."
MacCallum replied:
"Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I'm not sure that it really shocks anybody that the President just, you know, knowing what we've seen, observing him over the years, if he got angry that he might throw his lunch, I'm not sure—it's obviously a very dramatic detail."
"And the way that she describes it is but I'm not sure that any of this is—is wholly out of character with the Donald Trump and the President Trump that people came to know over the years."
But not everyone agreed a man in his 70s—claiming to have no cognitive impairments—flinging food at the wall because his Attorney General wouldn't support his lies was normal or acceptable behavior.
While others pointed out the President throwing things in a fit of rage isn't the most important revelation from the January 6 hearings, it is still an indication of his character and emotional maturity.
