President Donald Trump has made a habit of publicly pressuring Fox News to remove on-air personalities who fail to meet his standards of loyalty — and the network’s track record suggests those demands carry real weight. From the cancellation of Howard Kurtz’s long-running MediaBuzz last September to Trump’s latest attacks on Shannon Bream and Jessica Tarlov in April 2026, the pattern is impossible to ignore.
The Howard Kurtz Precedent
In May 2025, Trump took to Truth Social to publicly demand that MediaBuzz host Howard Kurtz retire. The trigger was a specific episode in which commentators debated the ousting of then-National Security Adviser Mike Waltz. Trump was furious that he was only “weakly defended” during the segment, writing: “It is time for Howie Kurtz to retire!” He added that the case Kurtz made on his behalf was “so pathetic that it would be a lot better if he didn’t say anything.”
Four months later, Fox News officially cancelled MediaBuzz. The network replaced Kurtz’s Sunday morning media affairs program with The Sunday Briefing, a White House-focused show hosted by correspondents Jacqui Heinrich and Peter Doocy. Fox framed the move as a weekend lineup overhaul, but the timing was hard to dismiss as a coincidence.
Kurtz, who had hosted the program for more than 12 years, signed off on Sept. 14, 2025. In his final broadcast, he said he was proud the show had been No. 1 every week for a dozen years and thanked Fox for giving him “extraordinary independence.” He remained at the network as a contributor and political analyst.
The End of Media Criticism on Cable News
MediaBuzz’s cancellation carried consequences beyond one host’s career. The show was the last regular media criticism program on any major national cable news outlet. CNN had already cancelled Reliable Sources in 2022 as part of broader cost-cutting under Warner Bros. Discovery. With MediaBuzz gone, no major TV news network maintains a dedicated program examining media coverage and accountability.
Whether Fox executives cancelled the show because of Trump’s pressure or despite it, the outcome aligned perfectly with what the president demanded. And that dynamic has only intensified in the months since.
Trump’s Latest Targets: Bream and Tarlov
On April 6, 2026, Trump escalated his pattern of targeting Fox News personalities, this time going after Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream and The Five co-host Jessica Tarlov. In a Truth Social post, Trump criticized Bream for failing to “correct” Democratic Rep. Jake Auchincloss during an interview in which the congressman accused Trump of having no strategy to end the conflict with Iran.
But Trump reserved his most pointed language for Tarlov, writing in a message he addressed “for Fox executives only”: “Take Jessica Tarlov off the air. She is, from her voice, to her lies, and everything else about her, one of the worst personalities on television, a real loser! People cannot stand watching her.”
The demand was not new. Just weeks earlier, during a March 26 phone call into The Five while Tarlov was absent, Trump told the hosts he “wasn’t a fan” and accused her of using “fake numbers.” Social media users pushed back on the attacks, with one writing on X: “She lives rent free in his head.”
The Fox-Trump Revolving Door
Understanding Trump’s influence over Fox News requires looking at the deep personnel pipeline between the network and the White House. As of Inauguration Day 2025, Trump had selected at least 19 former Fox News hosts, journalists, and commentators for senior positions in his second term, with seven of those individuals still actively working at Fox when they were tapped. By mid-2025, the count had risen to over 20 — matching the total number of Fox-affiliated appointees across Trump’s entire first four-year term.
Former Fox host Eric Bolling explained the dynamic plainly: “With Fox talent, Trump can simply watch clips for proof of loyalty.” As for Trump’s occasional attacks on the network, Bolling called it a management strategy: “He does that to course correct them. And it tends to work.”
What Happens Next
Fox News has not publicly responded to Trump’s demand to remove Tarlov. The network’s silence on the matter leaves open the question of whether the Kurtz playbook will repeat itself — public presidential pressure followed by quiet network compliance months later.
What’s clear is the power dynamic at play. Trump publicly rewards loyalty with administration appointments and punishes perceived disloyalty with social media campaigns aimed at ending careers. For Fox News personalities who value independent journalism — or even just the occasional tough question — the message from the White House is unmistakable: fall in line, or become the next name on Trump’s list.
