Is Fox News's love affair with Donald Trump on the rocks?

‘He’s a demonic force, a destroyer. But he’s not going to destroy us …

- David Smith WASHINGTON

We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait … I hate him passionately.”

These were not the text messages of a liberal journalist feeling their spirit crushed by the Donald Trump era. They were, according to US court papers, the words of Tucker Carlson, one of the former US president’s biggest cheerleaders on the rightwing Fox News network.

A $1.6bn defamation lawsuit, brought by a voting machine maker that claims it was maligned, has pulled back the curtain on one of the most consequential relationships in modern political history: Trump and Fox News.

The private venting of Fox News’s stars, expressing contempt for Trump and his election lies even as they told viewers the opposite, has fuelled perceptions that the aff air between the 45th president and most watched cable news network is on the rocks.

However, a glance at Fox News’s output last week suggests that, like love, it’s complicated. While Carlson and other hosts may quietly be rooting for the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, to beat Trump to the 2024 Republican nomination, they are dropping hints about a readiness to jump back onboard the Trump train.