Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

GOP pollster lays bare how MAGA caught Fox News in a 'triangle of doom'

rawstory.com · 23h · first reportShare

Republican strategist-turned-anti-MAGA commentator Sarah Longwell described the self-reinforcing mechanism that she said forced Fox News to cave to Donald Trump's stolen-election lie. Longwell's new book "How to Eat an Elephant" draws on a decade of swing-voter focus groups, and she told CNN's "Inside Politics" how Trump, right-wing media and Republican voters and politicians all reinforce one another in a closed loop. "Donald Trump sets the Republican triangle of doom in motion," Longwell said. "He says this is stolen. Those right-wing media outlets run to bless the lie ... which means that voters come to demand other outlets bless the lie." She said she has heard swing voters describe Fox News as "a left-wing rag" simply because it accurately called the 2020 election for Joe Biden — pressure that pushed Fox and other outlets further right to avoid losing audience to Newsmax, OANN and right-wing podcasters. Politicians then follow the same current, she said, pointing to how "semi-norm