AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
In his first two months back in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump has been able to count on the support of the conservative press. But now with consumer confidence plunging and investors dumping stock, even some corners of right-wing media are starting to push back against the president. Joining us to discuss the change in tone is NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. Welcome to the program.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Thanks.
RASCOE: Where are we starting to see some of this pushback?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, let's set aside the never-Trumper right. Let's start with the most important part of the conservative press, and that's the Murdoch media. There are really four big parts of that. There's the Wall Street Journal news section, the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and, of course, biggest of all, Fox News.
All in various ways - some of it quite gentle, some of it less so - are pushing back on Trump on this, reflecting - in the terms of the Wall Street Journal's, I think, rigorously reported news pages - reflecting their own coverage but also, in the other elements, filling their brand promise to various constituencies they're trying to take care of, and also reflecting what Rupert Murdoch really wants, which is to kind of gently ease Trump into what he thinks is the right thing - predictable, stable markets and not trade wars.
RASCOE: So what are they saying?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, you've seen these big headlines of Wall Street Journal reporting, you know, particularly on fears about chief executives and finance chiefs and real concerns about how consumers are hurting up and down the household income levels and how they're accelerating fears about what they can do.
Take the New York Post's front page last week - you saw this huge cartoon of Trump plunging straight down the incline of a roller coaster, headlined "Buckle Up: Markets Plunge." You saw the Wall Street Journal's editorial page talking about tariffs. They called his moves on Canada and Mexico the dumbest trade war in history a few weeks ago and sort of doubled up a few days ago, repeating the line again.
And then there's a very gentle explainer by Fox News anchor Bret Baier explaining why tariffs don't really work the way the president claims, that they actually end up really hitting the American consumer. And even Fox host Maria Bartiromo, a true Trump loyalist - here's what it sounded like when she mixed it up recently with Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MARIA BARTIROMO: I know you said you're not expecting a recession, but investors are on edge over the possibility of a recession this year after the Atlanta Federal Reserve said that it's predicting a 2.4% contraction in the first quarter. And, of course, President Trump would not make...
HOWARD LUTNICK: Well, why - wait, wait, wait.
BARTIROMO: Yep.
LUTNICK: Say that again. A what? A what?
BARTIROMO: The Atlanta Federal Reserve...
LUTNICK: Two-point-four percent contraction?
BARTIROMO: Correct.
FOLKENFLIK: And that's somebody who goes out of her way to frame things in the best possible way for Trump most of the time. She just got an appointment from Trump to the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.
RASCOE: And how have other pro-Trump outlets covered this moment?
FOLKENFLIK: I think you look at the four Ds - defend, deflect, deny, disregard. You've seen that in a bunch of right-wing and pro-Trump outlets. Take Newsmax's Rob Finnerty. He recently debated Ontario Premier Doug Ford about Canada's reaction to Trump's tariff moves.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROB FINNERTY: How is that fair? I think that Donald Trump just wants to get the best deal for the American consumer, even if that means some pain in the short-term.
FOLKENFLIK: There are other right-wing and pro-Trump sites that simply are focusing the blame on former President Joe Biden for whatever's going wrong now or might in the future.
RASCOE: What do you think the impact of this coverage will be?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think these things are both a leading and a lagging indicator. They tell you where these outlets think their audiences are and, in the case of Fox, where they hope to get the president to because they know few people are watching Fox and the media more closely than he does.
RASCOE: That's NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. David, thanks so much for joining us.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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