Latest news with #MarkLevin
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
How Fox News helped champion Trump's attacks on Iran: ‘I agree with the president'
The US bombing of Iran last weekend prompted sober reporting from the mainstream US media, along with considered discussion of whether the US had violated international law in attacking a foreign country. Fox News, however, took a different tack, championing a war that, according to reports, it had helped convince Donald Trump to start. 'This will go down in history as one of the greatest military victories,' roared Sean Hannity, arguably Fox News's best known host, on Saturday night. After the right-wing network aired Trump's White House address which hailed the strikes as a success, Hannity continued in the same vein. 'I agree with the president,' he said. 'This is one of the most skilled, important, imperative peacekeeping, peace-through-strength-keeping operations in the last 40 years, and certainly the reign of terror in Iran, whether they know it or not, is coming to a quick end.' Hannity, who said he had spoken to Trump before going on air, then brought on Mark Levin, a conservative talkshow host who reportedly urged Trump to allow Israel to attack Iran during a private lunch in early June. Levin was not impartial. 'You're looking at a historic figure,' Levin said of Trump. 'We just kicked their ass.' His voice rising, Levin added: 'These Islamo-Nazis were building nuclear weapons to attack us too, with intercontinental ballistic missiles. Guess what? You can go to bed peacefully tonight and know that's not gonna happen. 'This mission was never going to fail under this commander in chief,' Levin said, before concluding: 'This is historic, he is historic, the United States military is historic.' It made sense that Fox News would cheer the strikes. It had spent days appearing to support the idea. On 17 June, host Brian Kilmeade pulled up a map of all the places Iran might attack – a map which included Germany, Italy and parts of the Middle East. He then showed off some photos of all the rockets Iran has, as Mark Dubowitz, from the pro-Israel thinktank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, speculated that Iran could deliver a 'nuclear payload'. 'Do you think we should help [Israel] finish the job at Fordo?' Kilmeade asked Dubowitz. 'We gotta help them finish the job,' Dubowitz said. 'Only we can slice through the concrete, slice through the mountain under which the nuclear site is buried.' Kilmeade concluded: 'President Trump's got some big decisions.' And it wasn't just Kilmeade. 'Iran wants to hold the world hostage,' a chyron blared during Jesse Watters show on 19 June. Later the chyron switched: 'An unarmed Iran would give US leverage', after Watters said 'there's risks to action and there's risks in inaction' before comparing the situation to a person undergoing 'life-saving surgery'. Trump, a known cable news watcher, was paying attention, according to the New York Times. 'The president was closely monitoring Fox News, which was airing wall-to-wall praise of Israel's military operation and featuring guests urging Mr Trump to get more involved,' the Times reported. It added that some of Trump's aides 'lamented' that Tucker Carlson, who has emerged as an anti-interventionist voice, was no longer on the network. That split between right-wing media has been stark. Many non-conservatives found themselves in the novel position of agreeing with Carlson, as he repeatedly stated in the days ahead of the attacks that the US should not get involved. On 18 June, Carlson confronted Republican senator Ted Cruz, shouting: 'You don't know anything about Iran!' in a memorable exchange. But Fox News had the president's ear, and it was awash with fawning praise after the attacks, as a series of guests, many of whom had vested interests in Iran being attacked, lined up to champion Trump. Among those was Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general who has proposed forcibly relocating Palestinians to Egypt. 'This was an excellent opportunity to end the war which was led by president Trump and the Israeli people thank him for his leadership.' Avivi said, adding that Trump had created a 'global deterrence'. Still, in the Maga world, even the most sycophantic media organizations can never be absolutely certain of their footing. Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, went on a performative rant at the Pentagon on Thursday, lashing out on specific journalists he accused of not having been Pravda enough in their reporting of the strikes. 'Jennifer, you've been about the worst,' Hegseth said to Jennifer Griffin, a Fox News reporter, when she asked if the government was certain that highly enriched uranium had now been removed from Fordow. Continuing to experiment with grammar, Hegseth told Griffin she had also been: 'The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.' Could this be a rift between the administration and its most ardent supporter? No. Griffin offered a light pushback to Hegseth before agreeing with him that the Iran mission was 'absolutely' the most successful she had witnessed during her time reporting at the Pentagon. That seemed to do the trick. 'I appreciate that,' Hegseth said.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
How Fox News helped champion Trump's attacks on Iran: ‘I agree with the president'
The US bombing of Iran last weekend prompted sober reporting from the mainstream US media, along with considered discussion of whether the US had violated international law in attacking a foreign country. Fox News, however, took a different tack, championing a war that, according to reports, it had helped convince Donald Trump to start. 'This will go down in history as one of the greatest military victories,' roared Sean Hannity, arguably Fox News's best known host, on Saturday night. After the right-wing network aired Trump's White House address which hailed the strikes as a success, Hannity continued in the same vein. 'I agree with the president,' he said. 'This is one of the most skilled, important, imperative peacekeeping, peace-through-strength-keeping operations in the last 40 years, and certainly the reign of terror in Iran, whether they know it or not, is coming to a quick end.' Hannity, who said he had spoken to Trump before going on air, then brought on Mark Levin, a conservative talkshow host who reportedly urged Trump to allow Israel to attack Iran during a private lunch in early June. Levin was not impartial. 'You're looking at a historic figure,' Levin said of Trump. 'We just kicked their ass.' His voice rising, Levin added: 'These Islamo-Nazis were building nuclear weapons to attack us too, with intercontinental ballistic missiles. Guess what? You can go to bed peacefully tonight and know that's not gonna happen. 'This mission was never going to fail under this commander in chief,' Levin said, before concluding: 'This is historic, he is historic, the United States military is historic.' It made sense that Fox News would cheer the strikes. It had spent days appearing to support the idea. On 17 June, host Brian Kilmeade pulled up a map of all the places Iran might attack – a map which included Germany, Italy and parts of the Middle East. He then showed off some photos of all the rockets Iran has, as Mark Dubowitz, from the pro-Israel thinktank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, speculated that Iran could deliver a 'nuclear payload'. 'Do you think we should help [Israel] finish the job at Fordo?' Kilmeade asked Dubowitz. 'We gotta help them finish the job,' Dubowitz said. 'Only we can slice through the concrete, slice through the mountain under which the nuclear site is buried.' Kilmeade concluded: 'President Trump's got some big decisions.' And it wasn't just Kilmeade. 'Iran wants to hold the world hostage,' a chyron blared during Jesse Watters show on 19 June. Later the chyron switched: 'An unarmed Iran would give US leverage', after Watters said 'there's risks to action and there's risks in inaction' before comparing the situation to a person undergoing 'life-saving surgery'. Trump, a known cable news watcher, was paying attention, according to the New York Times. 'The president was closely monitoring Fox News, which was airing wall-to-wall praise of Israel's military operation and featuring guests urging Mr Trump to get more involved,' the Times reported. It added that some of Trump's aides 'lamented' that Tucker Carlson, who has emerged as an anti-interventionist voice, was no longer on the network. That split between right-wing media has been stark. Many non-conservatives found themselves in the novel position of agreeing with Carlson, as he repeatedly stated in the days ahead of the attacks that the US should not get involved. On 18 June, Carlson confronted Republican senator Ted Cruz, shouting: 'You don't know anything about Iran!' in a memorable exchange. But Fox News had the president's ear, and it was awash with fawning praise after the attacks, as a series of guests, many of whom had vested interests in Iran being attacked, lined up to champion Trump. Among those was Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general who has proposed forcibly relocating Palestinians to Egypt. 'This was an excellent opportunity to end the war which was led by president Trump and the Israeli people thank him for his leadership.' Avivi said, adding that Trump had created a 'global deterrence'. Still, in the Maga world, even the most sycophantic media organizations can never be absolutely certain of their footing. Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, went on a performative rant at the Pentagon on Thursday, lashing out on specific journalists he accused of not having been Pravda enough in their reporting of the strikes. 'Jennifer, you've been about the worst,' Hegseth said to Jennifer Griffin, a Fox News reporter, when she asked if the government was certain that highly enriched uranium had now been removed from Fordow. Continuing to experiment with grammar, Hegseth told Griffin she had also been: 'The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.' Could this be a rift between the administration and its most ardent supporter? No. Griffin offered a light pushback to Hegseth before agreeing with him that the Iran mission was 'absolutely' the most successful she had witnessed during her time reporting at the Pentagon. That seemed to do the trick. 'I appreciate that,' Hegseth said.
CNN
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Tucker Carlson's podcast surges up the charts amid MAGA rift over Israel-Iran conflict
Tucker Carlson's podcast surged up the YouTube and Spotify charts last week, buoyed by his confrontational interview with Senator Ted Cruz and his feud with fellow MAGA media stars over the Israel-Iran conflict. According to the latest available data, 'The Tucker Carlson Show' jumped to No. 5 on YouTube's weekly podcast rankings — a significant leap from his No. 18 ranking upon YouTube's chart launch last month, and No. 14 just a few weeks ago. Carlson's program also landed at No. 2 on Spotify's podcast chart and No. 14 on Apple's Top Shows for last week. Get Reliable Sources newsletter Sign up here to receive Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in your inbox. The podcast's boost in viewership coincided with Carlson's ongoing feud with fellow MAGA media personalities over US strikes in Iran. Hawkish conservatives like Fox host Mark Levin, with whom Carlson publicly exchanged heated words, want US-led regime change; Carlson wants the US to stay out of the conflict, militarily. Both sides claim to represent the true 'America First' MAGA movement. Amid that rift, Carlson repeatedly made headlines as he attacked Levin, Sean Hannity, and the Fox News empire for their pro-war stance, and as clips from his combative interview with Senator Cruz went viral, further boosting his viewership when the full two-hour conversation was released on various platforms. A single X clip teasing the Cruz interview garnered 39.9 million views on its own. Carlson's surge last week was most visible in his YouTube viewership tallies. Throughout June, Carlson has averaged 1.06 million views on his podcast episodes, with five of them surpassing the million-viewer mark. His interview with Cruz garnered 3.5 million views. In contrast, Carlson averaged 651,000 views per episode last month, with his most-viewed episode receiving 1.9 million views — just one of only two episodes to break the seven-figure mark. Carlson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump-aligned media veteran launched his independent internet show in 2023 shortly after he was fired by Fox News, a week after the network settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over Fox's election lies. Carlson initially launched the show on Elon Musk's X, looking to harness his millions of followers in the fallout of his prime time TV ouster. In late 2023, he launched the Tucker Carlson Network, creating his own distribution channel to supplement his social media-first strategy. Last week was not the first time Carlson's podcast entered the upper echelon of Spotify's charts. In July 2024, Carlson briefly dethroned the perennial podcast king Joe Rogan, only to be toppled by Alex Cooper's 'Call Her Daddy.'
CNN
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNN
Tucker Carlson's podcast surges up the charts amid MAGA rift over Israel-Iran conflict
Tucker Carlson's podcast surged up the YouTube and Spotify charts last week, buoyed by his confrontational interview with Senator Ted Cruz and his feud with fellow MAGA media stars over the Israel-Iran conflict. According to the latest available data, 'The Tucker Carlson Show' jumped to No. 5 on YouTube's weekly podcast rankings — a significant leap from his No. 18 ranking upon YouTube's chart launch last month, and No. 14 just a few weeks ago. Carlson's program also landed at No. 2 on Spotify's podcast chart and No. 14 on Apple's Top Shows for last week. Get Reliable Sources newsletter Sign up here to receive Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in your inbox. The podcast's boost in viewership coincided with Carlson's ongoing feud with fellow MAGA media personalities over US strikes in Iran. Hawkish conservatives like Fox host Mark Levin, with whom Carlson publicly exchanged heated words, want US-led regime change; Carlson wants the US to stay out of the conflict, militarily. Both sides claim to represent the true 'America First' MAGA movement. Amid that rift, Carlson repeatedly made headlines as he attacked Levin, Sean Hannity, and the Fox News empire for their pro-war stance, and as clips from his combative interview with Senator Cruz went viral, further boosting his viewership when the full two-hour conversation was released on various platforms. A single X clip teasing the Cruz interview garnered 39.9 million views on its own. Carlson's surge last week was most visible in his YouTube viewership tallies. Throughout June, Carlson has averaged 1.06 million views on his podcast episodes, with five of them surpassing the million-viewer mark. His interview with Cruz garnered 3.5 million views. In contrast, Carlson averaged 651,000 views per episode last month, with his most-viewed episode receiving 1.9 million views — just one of only two episodes to break the seven-figure mark. Carlson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump-aligned media veteran launched his independent internet show in 2023 shortly after he was fired by Fox News, a week after the network settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over Fox's election lies. Carlson initially launched the show on Elon Musk's X, looking to harness his millions of followers in the fallout of his prime time TV ouster. In late 2023, he launched the Tucker Carlson Network, creating his own distribution channel to supplement his social media-first strategy. Last week was not the first time Carlson's podcast entered the upper echelon of Spotify's charts. In July 2024, Carlson briefly dethroned the perennial podcast king Joe Rogan, only to be toppled by Alex Cooper's 'Call Her Daddy.'
Washington Post
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
With Iran coverage, Fox hosts gave Trump advice, support and platform
When Fox News anchor Bret Baier broke into another show's discussion of political tattoo trends at 7:52 p.m. on Saturday to announce that the United States had bombed nuclear sites in Iran, the network's viewers were ready. In the week leading up to the strikes, several of Fox's conservative hosts and commentators had forcefully made a case for such an action. The most strident — and animated — supporter of U.S. involvement was weekend host Mark Levin, who said on Fox that Trump should 'put an end to this thing' and 'help Israel help us take out a nuclear site so these primitives don't have a missile that can hit Detroit and Los Angeles.' He also called for the 'elimination' of Iran's leadership ('It's time to get rid of them!') and questioned the patriotism of those who opposed President Trump.
