President Donald Trump slammed Fox News after Fox White House correspondent Peter Doocy interviewed Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly about the government shutdown and healthcare, telling the conservative network to "get on board, or get off board, NOW."
The federal government shut down last week after the White House and Congress failed to reach an agreement on federal spending. While Senate Democrats are in the minority, they hold enough seats to filibuster and are insisting that Republicans agree to extend federal subsidies for people insured under the Affordable Care Act.
The shutdown has now entered its sixth day and Doocy had Kelly on to discuss the shutdown's impacts, which Kelly illustrated through the reality of one of his constituents.
Kelly said:
"Nobody wants to see the government shut down. We know what happens when people don't get their paychecks. We get that. Let me tell you a story about a woman in Arizona, in Prescott. Her name's Robin. I spoke to her last week."
"She's on a fixed income, she's 60 years old, she's a fifth-generation American. She says to me, 'Why are they making this about immigrants? This isn't about immigrants, this is about me."
"She pays $250 a month on the exchange for her healthcare but she gets about $9,000 in those premium tax credits. She is expecting us to not act on this and for that to go away and she will not be able to afford healthcare anymore."
"So this, Peter, this is about real people who are going to see the price of healthcare skyrocket."
You can hear Kelly's remarks below.
A furious Trump later lashed out at Fox for airing the interview, handing down an ultimatum for a network that typically presents fawning and deferential coverage about the Trump administration:
“Why is Fox News and Peter Doocy putting on Democrat Senator Mark Kelly to talk about, totally unabated or challenged, healthcare? The FAKE SPIN is so bad for Republicans that it is hard to believe that we WIN. It will be very unfair, in the future, when they don't have "Trump" to fight for them."
"Therefore, we should fix it, NOW! I'm watching this Interview. It just doesn't end. Fox should either get on board, or get off board, NOW, but at this point, it just doesn't make any difference to me. They suck up the ratings because of us, and then spin them in the Democrats' direction."
"They refuse to put up polls that correctly show me at 65% in popularity, a Republican RECORD, but if I have fake bad "poll," many of which are done by Fox (one of the worst "Pollsters" out there is the FoxNews Poll), they put them up immediately and with gusto."
“Republicans are so tired of this fight with Fox always trying to be so "politically correct!" Thank you for your attention to this matter."
You can see Trump's post below.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
Many have called out Trump for making clear he wants Fox to be an arm of the federal government with coverage explicitly designed to back his policy goals.
When asked by reporters in the Oval Office, Trump claimed "we’re talking to Democrats" and that "I’m a Republican, but I want to see healthcare much more so than the Democrats."
Sure doesn't seem like it.
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