Donald Trump doesn’t have a loyal bone in his body. He’s been consistently disloyal to every woman at his side, he tosses former associates, toadies, and collaborators under the bus without a second thought — hell, he’d even turn the dogs loose on his own children if he thought it would win him more power and prominence.
That disloyalty has, over the years, spread to the hordes of Trump supporters still clinging to the idea that this man should be president, and never is that disloyalty more clear than when someone close to the former president fumbles. The latest on the chopping block are the typically-beloved Fox & Friends hosts, who made enemies of the MAGA horde when they invited on to the show former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson
It’s a process that has repeated itself dozens of times over the years. When then-Vice President Mike Pence refused to overturn democracy at Trump’s demand? He was thrown to the wolves, as chants for his death resounded across the nation’s capitol. When his longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, ran for the hills? He became one of the most hated people on the political right.
That same treatment is delivered to anyone — former ally or no — who dares to speak up against Trump. Kamala Harris is the actual antichrist, John Kelly, his former White House Chief of Staff, is a “total degenerate,” Hillary Clinton should be behind bars — it goes on and on. Every single person who doesn’t agree with Trump is immediately labeled a democracy-hating monster, and not even the toadies over at Fox News are safe.
That much was made clear in late October after Johnson joined Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, Brian Kilmeade, and Lawrence Jones to chat about the state of our nation. The Fox & Friends hosts welcomed the former White House employee to discuss the Trump and Harris campaigns, but made accidental enemies of their own viewers when they failed to push back on Johnson’s claim that Harris would be “tougher on the border” than current President Joe Biden.
“I believe she’d be tougher on border security,” he said, to little argument from the hosts. They did respond with criticism of the Biden administration’s approach to border security, but failed to fully refute Johnson’s claims. To be fair, a big part of that is due to Johnson’s dominance of the conversation — the man’s tenure in politics is clear — and the accuracy of his statement. He’s right, Harris likely will be tougher on the border than Biden, and he spares no breath for their attempts to pin Biden’s decisions on Harris.
This prompted an outcry from Fox News viewers, who rushed to social media to blast the hosts for “wasting” viewer time with an unwelcome guest. They slammed Johnson for “destroying his credibility” by supporting Harris, and for being a “typical lying democrat.” The Fox & Friends hosts felt the heat the most, however, as criticism rained down from furious viewers, who dubbed them “morons” and “embarrassing” for failing to push back on Johnson.
Fox & Friends won’t be on MAGA’s blacklist for long, of course — they’re among the only news-adjacent option left to most Trump supporters. They’ll come in with something nice and scathing, tossed carelessly into a segment about Harris, and they’ll be forgiven in full. But the situation serves as a nice reminder that no one is safe in Donald Trump’s circles, not his friends, not his allies, and not even his fans.