Biden’s hidden advantage
A lot of people are under the impression that Fox News just makes up whatever lies it wants, and that its viewers just automatically swallow those lies. In reality it’s not that simple. While Fox News does lie constantly, and its viewers are right wing zombies who are preconditioned to accept a certain kind of messaging, there’s still a needle that has to be threaded.
Here’s the guiding metaphor: while Fox might be able to get away with convincing its audience that the sun is at risk of not coming up tomorrow and that it’ll all be Joe Biden’s fault, Fox can’t tell its audience that it’s currently dark out while it’s currently light out. After all, if they happen to have their curtains open and the sunlight is coming in, that shatters the illusion for them. Fox viewers may want to believe that the sun imploded and it’s Biden’s fault, but they can’t do it if the sun is staring right at them.
How does this apply to real world political narratives? For instance when the Biden economy was a mixed bag a couple years ago, fairly strong and growing but also plagued by post-COVID inflation, Fox News was able to spin the Biden economy as a disaster. All it had to do was talk about rising grocery and gas prices, and it could get away with ignoring the strong employment numbers and strong stock market.
But now that’s changed. The inflation crisis is over. Prices have been stable for awhile. And it’s allowed average Americans, whether they’re on the left or the right, to see that this is simply a booming economy. We know this, because the consumer confidence index – the percentage of Americans who believe the economy is good – is now through the roof. Most Americans, including most Fox News viewers, now consider the economy to be strong.
This means that in order to retain relative “credibility” with its viewers, in order to keep the overall illusion intact, Fox News has to admit that the economy is booming. Fox can keep making up other kinds of lies and phony scandals about Biden. Fox can claim that the economy would be even better under a Republican. But Fox has to admit that, right now, while Biden is President, the economy is indeed very strong. And Fox is indeed admitting this on air, over and over again.
This works overwhelmingly in Biden’s favor. It doesn’t mean Fox News viewers on the whole are going to stop hating him, or suddenly support him. But as we keep seeing in Republican primary voting, a large percentage of the conservative Fox News audience thinks Trump is washed up. And the constant reminder of the strong Biden economy should be enough to goad a fraction of them into staying home on election day instead of going out to vote Republican.
Remember, while Trump’s base will dutifully turn out for him, his base appears to only be about one-third to one-half of Republican primary voters. It’s the other voters, in the Republican realm but outside Trump’s base, that he has to worry about convincing to turn out for him. And now they’re being reminded daily, by their own precious Fox News, that the Biden economy is strong. It’s almost a secret weapon.
