Donald Trump posted a furious message on Truth Social, attacking Fox News anchor Jacqui Heinrich by name. He claimed she did not push back hard enough on Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna during an interview. The outburst is surprising given that Fox News is widely seen as a conservative-leaning network.
The incident started when Khanna, a Democrat from California, appeared on Fox News’s morning show, The Sunday Briefing, to talk about the economy. He brought up the high cost of gas and food, the ongoing war in Iran, and Trump’s falling popularity. He also mentioned the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which he sponsored and which led to the release of millions of pages of documents, creating trouble for Trump, according to The Daily Beast.
Khanna also talked about the steel industry, saying he had seen Chinese steel at the Port of Cleveland and that it left him “horrified.” He introduced The Modern Steel Act in 2024 to help grow the domestic steel industry and build new iron and steel sites in the US. Trump responded by calling Khanna “SCUM” and said Fox News’s idea of “Fair and Balanced” news had been destroyed by “professional Liars, Conmen, and Liberal, Crooked Politicians.”
Trump’s repeated attacks on Fox News anchors show a growing tension with the network
Trump said Khanna should not be allowed on Fox News unless there was an anchor ready to challenge his claims and shut down his “FAKE” narrative. He directly blamed Heinrich for not doing enough during the interview. This kind of outburst is not new, Trump has a pattern of threatening and attacking on Truth Social whenever he feels the media is not on his side.
This was not the first time Trump went after a female journalist at Fox News. Last month, he posted about liberal panelist Jessica Tarlov, who appears on Fox’s The Five, calling her “one of the Least Attractive and Talented People on all of Television” and saying her voice was “so grating and terrible” that he had to turn her off.
After Trump’s Truth Social post, Khanna responded on X, defending his decision to appear on the network. He wrote, “This is why I go on Fox. This is why I talk about an economic agenda to build steel, ship & battery plants in hollowed out communities. This is why I talk to everyone, including Trump voters, without hurling insults. This is how Democrats will win & unite the country.”
On the issue of steel, Khanna and fellow congressman Chris Deluzio have argued that the US needs to hold China accountable for breaking trade rules, reports CBS News. They have called for measures like quotas and negotiated trade deals to compete fairly. “We have to compete fairly, right?” Deluzio said. “Communist China, they are subsidizing their industries. They don’t treat their workers with any modicum of respect.”
The US still has a long way to go before it can match China’s steel output, as China currently produces more than half of the world’s steel. Meanwhile, Khanna’s mention of the Iran war during the interview has drawn attention, especially since Trump’s own claims about Iran being defeated have been repeatedly contradicted by US intelligence assessments. Their push comes at a time when domestic manufacturing has become a major political issue for both parties.
Published: May 11, 2026 01:09 pm