Donald Trump lashed out at several Fox News anchors Sunday, writing in a tweet they “should be working” at CNN.
In a day packed with Twitter missives, Trump’s latest attack takes aim at Shepard Smith, a weekday anchor, and Leland Vittert and Arthel Neville, both weekend anchors at the president’s favorite network.
“Were @FoxNews weekend anchors, @ArthelNeville and @LelandVittert, trained by CNN prior to their ratings collapse?” Trump wrote. “In any event, that’s where they should be working, along with their lowest rated anchor, Shepard Smith!”
Were @FoxNews [1] weekend anchors, @ArthelNeville [2] and @LelandVittert [3], trained by CNN prior to their ratings collapse? In any event, that’s where they should be working, along with their lowest rated anchor, Shepard Smith!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2019 [4]
Trump’s attack on the hard news side of Fox News comes hours after he called for Jeanine Pirro — the opinion host suspended by the network for suggesting a congresswoman’s hijab meant she was anti-American — to be brought back on air.
Smith, who anchors “Shepard Smith Reporting” on weekdays at 3 p.m., has gone viral multiple times during the Trump administration for pushing back against the president’s inaccurate claims and for a brief spat with the network’s opinion hosts, including Trump confidant Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.
Trump’s penchant for watching Fox News is well known. He frequently tweets out quotes from various network programming, most regularly “Fox & Friends.”
Twitter shot back:
I worked with @ArthelNeville [2] as an intern in 2012. Fox people in general treat each other like family, but she stood out: she was one of the kindest anchors that I interacted with.
Be extra kind to her today, Twitter people, because she's about to face an avalanche of hate. https://t.co/atEtxBrvgD [5]
— Marcus DiPaola (@marcusdipaola) March 17, 2019 [6]
So far on St. Patrick's Day: Three tweets backing Jeanine Pirro/attacking Fox, church, one tweet bashing McCain, one targeting a union leader, one lambasting a SNL re-run, two attacking dossier, one alleging NBC colludes w/Russia, one tweet mocking a trio of Fox afternoon hosts. https://t.co/B4hgDxsglW [7]
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) March 17, 2019 [8]
Wow, "own the libs" became "own Fox News" much faster than anticipated https://t.co/0ZoEfATYR1 [9]
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) March 17, 2019 [10]
Lordy, for a president who thinks so highly of himself & his sub-moron-level abilities, @realDonaldTrump [11] has to be the most insecure man on the face of the earth. Of course that goes hand-in-hand w/pathological narcissism, but still–this is embarrassing. https://t.co/KzkBoZT4aZ [12]
— MyTooSense (@Gittelrock) March 17, 2019 [13]
This is mystifying. This reminds me of when I'd stay weekdays with my great-grandmother, and something would pre-empt Days of our Lives and Another World, and she'd rant at the TV because it wasn't showing her stories. https://t.co/FETJNhBkZC [14]
— FormerGregSamsa (@MJaMitchell) March 17, 2019 [15]