President Donald Trump is ending 2020 like he spent it: Insulting Fox News while still posting clips from the highly-rated network.
“Watching @FoxNews is almost as bad as watching Fake News @CNN. New alternatives are developing!” he tweeted on Wednesday.
Tuesday night, he posted a full video from the network, where he did his first and only interview at the end of November.
Some observers on Twitter immediately questioned if his reference to “developing” alternatives to the channel was related to reports that he’s been considering setting up a digital media outlet.
“Don’t tell me you are going to make your own news channel,” responded prominent Trump critic Eugene Gu. “Trump News Network. Fake News 24/7. Tune in to TNN!”
Others responded that they were “here for” a Trump-led network.
In November, Axios reported Trump wants to start a subscription-based digital media outlet to “wreck” Fox News and steal its audience. (A subscription-based digital outlet would actually compete more directly with Fox Nation, the media giant’s streaming service.)
Though he hasn’t confirmed those plans, Trump has been marshaling his followers away from Fox News and encouraging them to tune into Newsmax or One America News Network. Fox News, like the other networks, called the race for President-elect Joe Biden Nov. 7. Trump has yet to accept the results or concede and some of his supporters have lashed out at Fox News.
In the event Trump was to create his own digital site, it would also compete directly with Newsmax and OANN, which are significantly smaller than Fox News. On Wednesday, however, the official Newsmax account capitalized on Trump’s tweet by replying with a link to its local listing.