Megyn Kelly has a very complicated role in the history of American news anchors. She’s no Walter Cronkite, to say the least. She has been on the forefront of pushing partisan agendas that she still hasn’t fully acknowledged, but now she says she is no longer going to do that — starting by vowing to not “cheerlead” another war.
These days, Kelly has a podcast and is no longer one of the marquee names at Fox News. She now hosts an eponymous podcast show where she does her best imitation of Candace Owens by going after her newfound nemesis: whoever is considered establishment. Be it fellow political commentators like Ben Shapiro — whom Kelly constantly mocks for being anti–free speech — or even her former boss Rupert Murdoch.
Kelly didn’t have great things to say about her time at Fox. “I spent 14 years of Fox News cheerleading these wars. I mean cheerleading them. … We accepted all the administration’s bulls*** that was being shoved down our throats about Iraq and Afghanistan.” She continued, “It’s now since come out that they just lied about Afghanistan and the alleged successes there for years, for years. And, I refuse to be a part of that.”
Kelly now vows to be a bastion of truth — much like she once framed herself during her Fox days — but this time she wants every single one of her followers to know that it’s for real. She now criticizes Senator Lindsey Graham’s calls for U.S. Marines to seize Iran’s Kharg Island, even going as far as calling Graham “reckless” and a “historical revisionist.”
But on the matter of “historical revisionism,” one would scoff at Kelly passing that accusation on to others while claiming it was the administration that pushed her narratives. Kelly is right about Graham because she was once him. When Barack Obama’s administration was in office and questioning Afghanistan, Kelly accused Obama of “not having faith in the troops,” up until Gen. Wesley Clark had to directly confront her.
What Kelly is doing right now is simply pivoting to a new platform — one where having the inside scoop is losing value as the Donald Trump administration becomes less truthful. The audiences of Tucker Carlson, Professor Jiang Xueqin, and Joe Rogan want conspiracy-adjacent independence, and that’s exactly what Kelly is willing to perform for them — with just enough plausibility to keep things respectable.
According to Newsweek, Murdoch has been privately urging Trump to strike Iran — something Kelly brushed off by pointing to the 95-year-old’s age, saying, “He’ll be dead soon. He won’t have to live with the consequences.” Subtle, as always.
Kelly says she’s comfortable in her new role because she can finally give her “unvarnished view.” She added, “You will not find that when you tune in to CNN or Fox. … Do you really think you’re going to get objective analysis now over there? Of course not.”
Kelly is very clearly telling her audience that her opinion is now “independent” — which, in media terms, can sometimes just mean in between jobs. And just because it’s not convenient to align herself with power now doesn’t mean that won’t change later. If the audience she built at Fox feels betrayed, that’s understandable. But if they see her as a path to reawakened political clarity… they might want to keep the receipt.
Published: Mar 24, 2026 10:57 am