There are increasingly few people on this Earth that Donald Trump trusts. The list of people he’s had falling outs with gets lengthier each day, as the likes of Mike Pence, Melania Trump, and now even Fox News land on the former president’s blacklist.
The first two aren’t overly surprising, after the one-term VP refused to abandon democracy in favor of a dictatorship and the distant former First Lady put a cold shoulder and entire states between herself and her disgraced husband. The latter is a massive surprise, however, given the so-called “news” agency’s devotion to Trump — something that is apparently no longer enough to curry his favor.
Fox News may support Trump, and with an embarrassing dismissal of logic or fact at that, but unless it follows the 77-year-old’s every order to a T, it is no longer trustworthy in his eyes. He informed his followers of such in another rambling post to Truth Social, in which he railed against the media franchise’s decision to maintain its connections with former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.
Ryan departed his position in Congress in 2019, and soon after became a member of the Fox Corporation’s board of directors. He’s been in the position for a half-decade now, but his recent dismissal of Trump isn’t sitting well with the notorious man-child. Ryan noted in early May that he does not plan to vote for Trump, and instead aims to write in another Republican candidate. Anything but breathless, unabashed support is seen as treachery in Trump’s eyes, and Ryan’s admission was full-blown treasonous in the former president’s twisted narrative.
Trump went so far as to advise Fox News executives Lachlan and Rupert Murdoch to “get that dog off your Board,” before boldly proclaiming that “You don’t need him. ALL YOU NEED IS TRUMP.”
In Trump’s mind, he is the only qualified person to exist on planet Earth. He may see the use in other people as followers, fall guys, and base-level employees, but no one comes close to the messiah-like status of Trump. As such, he’d be perfectly happy if Fox News and its fellow MAGA echo chambers employed no one other than red hat-wearing sycophants and those chosen specifically by Trump. Since Ryan isn’t on that list, he’s fast losing popularity among the glassy-eyed masses that call themselves Trump supporters.
For his part, Ryan’s minor act in rejecting Trump provides him with the first glimmer of respectability he’s seen in years. He’s done plenty during his time as a politician to be ashamed of, but this one act shows that a few Republicans — far, far too few — still have the hazy memory of a spine, and they’re using it to stand up to Trump. Now it’s just a waiting game to see if it will be enough to keep him from gaining another term in office.