Fox News Scrambles as Trump's War Strategy Backfires

Summary

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Fox News Scrambles as Trump's War Strategy Backfires
Date: July 13, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett & Jordy Meiselas

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Episode Overview

In this episode, the Meiselas brothers dissect Fox News's coverage—and deflection—of Donald Trump’s escalating war in Iran. The hosts argue that Fox is engaging in propaganda, ignoring serious national issues, and instead focusing on distractions and culture wars. With their signature brotherly banter and incisive critique, they expose contradictions, misinformation, and hypocrisy within Fox’s programming, highlighting the disconnect between right-wing media narratives and the urgent realities facing the country under Trump’s second term.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fox News’s Shifting Focus Amid Catastrophe

• The brothers mock Fox News for avoiding coverage of Trump’s deepening crisis in Iran.
• Instead, Fox’s anchors spend time highlighting “massive medical fraud” and triggering new culture war discussions.
• Quote (Independent Political Commentator, 02:05):

  “Five months ago, Fox said that Donald Trump was about to make the biggest deal, the best deal. It was so amazing. They've lied, they've lied. Donald Trump has now further escalated this war. Gas prices are going up. America is on the brink of full on catastrophe. That's how most Americans feel right now anyway.”

• Timestamp: 02:05–03:25

2. Distracting with Culture War Narratives

• Fox guests focus on stories like Caitlin Clark’s prominence in women’s basketball, veering into divisive conversations about race and attacks on Kamala Harris.
• The Meidas hosts point out the absurdity of this focus during a major international conflict.
• Quote (Political Analyst, 04:22):

  “Have they considered that the one reason that we care about Caitlin Clark and her safety isn't because she's white, isn't because she's straight, but it's because she's good at basketball. Because she's a generational talent who has revolutionized not just the sport of women's basketball, but women's sports as a whole.”

• Timestamp: 04:22–04:44

3. Religious Overtones and Political Absurdity

• Fox brings on religious figures like Franklin Graham to discuss the spiritual legacy of Lindsey Graham, drifting into theological territory.
• The Meidas brothers criticize this pivot as irrelevant and manipulative—using religion to dodge the uncomfortable reality of war.
• Quote (Franklin Graham, 05:53):

  “There's no person that's going to escape death. And it's coming... And the only way God will receive us is if we come to him accepting his son, Jesus Christ and following him and making him the Lord of our life and surrendering our lives to him.”

• Timestamp: 05:53–06:42

4. Push for Voter Suppression Legislation as ‘Tribute’

• Senator Mike Lee discusses honoring Lindsey Graham’s legacy by passing Trump-backed voter suppression bills, conflating democratic setbacks with patriotism.
• The hosts deride this as an obvious political ruse, highlighting Graham’s controversial stances.
• Quote (Senator Mike Lee, 07:20):

  “One of the best ways we could honor Lindsey Graham's legacy would be to take this up and pass it this month.”

• Timestamp: 07:20–08:19

5. War Narrative Manipulations and Fact-Checking Fox

• As the Iran situation worsens, Fox is forced to acknowledge renewed U.S. strikes, downplaying the severity and misleading viewers about the Strait of Hormuz.
• The hosts accuse Fox of promoting “fan fiction,” ignoring open-source evidence that paints a much darker picture.
• Quote (Independent Political Commentator, 10:04):

  “They literally create a fan fiction, a cosplay, fake reality that doesn't exist. We know the Strait of Hormuz is closed. We can see the Marine traffic data...”

• Timestamp: 10:04–11:26

6. Rewriting Lindsey Graham’s Legacy

• Fox features prominent guests, including Benjamin Netanyahu, to present Lindsey Graham as a peace-seeking patriot rather than a warmonger.
• The hosts mock this, noting contradictions and highlighting Graham’s actual record.
• Quote (Benjamin Netanyahu, 13:54):

  “He would tell me, no, I'm going to go over your head to the Senate because I think you need more on missile defense or whatever.”

• Timestamp: 13:54–14:19

7. Gas Price Spin and Economic Misinformation

• MAGA Senator Jim Banks and Fox anchors falsely claim that gas prices have improved under Trump, despite evidence to the contrary.
• The Meiselas brothers call out the gaslighting, reminding listeners of factual economic trends.
• Quote (Independent Political Commentator, 15:45):

  “It's not cheaper. That was cheaper when Biden left office. Biden had to deal with the crap that Donald Trump handed him after the first term. And then Biden brought down inflation, brought down prices. Now inflation's much higher than it was under former President Biden. Gas prices are higher. Gas prices are going up. This War is escalating. It's worse than ever right now. What are you, what are these people talking? What reality is this? What reality? It's a fake.”

• Timestamp: 15:45–16:39

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Fox's avoidance:
  “Let’s ignore what Donald Trump is doing in Iran right now. Let’s ignore the disastrous economy... And let's talk about Caitlin Clark and Kamala Harris.”
  — Independent Political Commentator, 04:44
• On media propaganda:
  “They literally create a fan fiction, a cosplay, fake reality that doesn't exist.”
  — Independent Political Commentator, 10:04
• On Graham’s legacy (Netanyahu):
  “I said, okay, this is what we need. We don't need any more. He said, yes, you do... Lindsey, we don't need any more. And he would tell me, no, I'm going to go over your head to the Senate because I think you need more on missile defense or whatever.”
  — Benjamin Netanyahu, 13:54

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Important Timestamps

• 02:05: Fox News’s shift from war coverage to “medical fraud”
• 04:22: Caitlin Clark culture war distraction
• 05:53: Franklin Graham’s religious lecture
• 07:20: Mike Lee touts Trump’s voter suppression bill
• 10:04: Fox’s inaccurate coverage of the Strait of Hormuz
• 13:54: Netanyahu rewrites Lindsey Graham’s legacy
• 15:45: Gas price misinformation and economic spin

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Tone & Takeaways

With a mix of sharp wit and biting satire, the Meiselas brothers lay bare Fox News’s pattern of distraction, misinformation, and denial at a critical moment for American democracy and global stability. Their analysis underscores the dangers of unchecked propaganda and the need for vigilant, honest journalism.

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For those who missed the episode:
This installment pulls no punches, exposing the growing gap between Fox News narratives and on-the-ground realities in Trump’s America, offering both a warning and a call to action for democracy-minded listeners.

Transcript

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[Independent Political Commentator]

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[Joey Jones]

Hello, everybody. I'm Joey Jones along with Tommy Lahrend, Riley Gaines and Joe Concha. And welcome to the big weekend show. The big story tonight is massive medical fraud. Independent journalist Nick Shirley is teaming up with Medicare Administrator Dr. Oz to continue his crusade against fraud.

[Independent Political Commentator]

The pair then they bring on Riley Gaines and she says, you know what? The other big story that America need to be talking about, have you considered that one reason we care about Caitlin Clark is because of her safety and it's not because she's white? Yeah, that's what we care about. What are you talking about? And Caitlin Clark doesn't want to be brought in to these culture war issues that you're trying to do on FOX before the midterm. What are you even talking about? There's real issues that the American people want to hear about and learn about, not this crap where you just try to divide people. Here, play this clip.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Have they considered that the one reason that we care about Caitlin Clark and her safety isn't because she's white, isn't because she's straight, but it's because she's good at basketball.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Because she's a generational talent who has revolutionized not just the sport of women's basketball, but women's sports as a whole. What she's, what she's done. Have they considered that? No, I don't think so.

[Independent Political Commentator]

And then somehow Riley Gaines turns this Caitlin Clark story into a way to attack Kamala Harris. Yeah, attack Kamala Harris. Let's ignore what Donald Trump is doing in Iran right now. Let's ignore the disastrous economy. Let's ignore that Donald Trump has lied about all of his promises and that Donald Trump has used the White House in fraud and quid pro quos to enrich himself to the tune of billions of dollars. And let's talk about Caitlin Clark and Kamala Harris. Something here. Play this clip.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

And I hadn't yet seen that video of Kamal Harris speaking to those players, but was there any outrage like there was when Cash Patel was in the men's locker room after the Olympic team won a gold medal at the Olympics? No, I don't think so, so here's what.

[Independent Political Commentator]

Then they bring on Franklin Graham, who says the only way God will receive you is that you must accept his son, Jesus Christ. So then they get all like, religious on you.

[Joey Jones]

Odd.

[Independent Political Commentator]

Here, play this clip.

[Guest Speaker/Religious Figure]

It comes for all of us and we need to be prepared. There's no person that's going to escape death. And it's coming. The Bible says it's appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment. We're going to have to stand before God. And the only way God will receive us is if we come to him accepting his son, Jesus Christ and following him and making him the Lord of our life and surrendering our lives to him. That's the only way we're going to make it. Presence of God. And Lindsey Graham was a great American, and I know that he had a strong faith and I just will miss him. And I enjoyed working with him the few times I worked with him on some issues. And he was just a great American. And America's lost a statesman and he's going to be hard to replace.

[Independent Political Commentator]

Then they bring on maga, Republican Senator Mike Lee. And Mike Lee says, if you really want to honor Lindsey Graham, you got to pass Donald Trump's voter suppression bill. That's the main way that you can say to Lindsey Graham, thank you, Lindsey. By the way, who the hell's saying thank you, Lindsey? Lindsey Graham, the warmonger Lindsey Graham, the Donald Trump bootlicker sycophant Lindsey Graham, who once pretended that he cared about John McCain and Biden and then turned on them and turned on our democracy. And now you're tying that to the Voter Suppression Act. What are you talking about? Here, play this clip.

[Senator Mike Lee]

This is something that Senator Lindsey Graham spent a lot of time with. Like me, he had a lot of enthusiasm for this bill, which I introduced in the Senate about two and a half years ago. I believe, Maria, that there are multiple paths ahead by which we could pass this. Maybe that involves attaching it to another must pass vehicle. Maybe it involves bringing up one on the floor and debating it until it passes, something that I've long advocated. Maybe it involves picking out pieces of it that could be implemented through creative uses of budget reconciliation. I'm not terribly partial to any of these three. I personally prefer the second. I think that would give us our best chance. But I will take any opportunity to debate this, any opportunity to cause it to become law, because the American people deserve it. The American people want it. Voters overwhelmingly support it to the tune of about 80%. That's Democrats and Republicans alike. One of the best ways we could honor Lindsey Graham's legacy would be to take this up and pass it this month.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Well, I mean, can you give us a little color?

[Independent Political Commentator]

So then they bring on Sean Hannity in order to brainwash their audience on Fox. And Hannity's like. Critics would often say that Lindsey Graham loved war and that he wanted war, but no, he believed that war was how you get peace. That's the truth about Lindsey Graham. Here, play this clip.

[Senator Mike Lee]

And. But, you know, the one narrative that I think that was always false about Lindsey and his critics would often throw at him is that that he was. He wanted war. It was just the opposite, I would say, in the conversations that we would have, that would go deep into the night, especially about, you know, these hot spots like Ukraine. And again, he just. He just got back from Ukraine. He'd been to Ukraine.

[Independent Political Commentator]

And then as state regime media was talking about Lindsey Graham, they then had to break into their coverage and be like, actually, now even that we didn't want to talk about the war. Yeah, the war starting again. So I guess we'll have to mention it for a second here. Play this clip.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Since his 40s, so.

[Guest Speaker/Religious Figure]

Oh, wow.

[Senator Mike Lee]

Yeah.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Yeah. Well, more to be uncovered on that. But in the meantime, we have a Fox News alert. CENTCOM says that US Forces have begun launching more strikes against Iran just moments ago. The strikes are meant to stop Iran's attacks on commercial shipping vessels. All right, Joey, going back to you on that, you know, talking about Lindsey Graham and of course, his stance on the war with Iran or the. The endeavor in Iran, I guess we will call it. And then now to this, to more strikes. We probably knew this was coming, but what's your reaction to, I guess, the building intensity here?

[Joey Jones]

Yeah, I think I'm probably sounding more like Lindsey Graham every day. So call that what you want.

[Independent Political Commentator]

And then as state regime media talks about that, then they bring on Mike Walls, the US Ambassador to the United nations, and Maria Bartiroma is like, all right, Mike, I got a question for you. So straight of Hormuz, is it open or is it close? And he's like, oh, it's open. And Pete Hegseth and our war fighters, they've really done an incredible job. All the ships are leaving the Strait of Hormuz. Everything is going amazing right now. They literally create a fan fiction, a cosplay, fake reality that doesn't exist. We know the Strait of Hormuz is closed. We can see the Marine traffic data. We know that there's a war taking place right now. That's escalating rapidly. Rapidly. Which is almost as bad right now as it was when it first started. Infrastructure is being targeted. A ground invasion may be imminent. So two ships, two tankers were hit yesterday. No ships are leaving the Strait of Hormuz. But you know, centcom, which has now basically become another Donald Trump propaganda arm. This guy Mike Wall is the ambassador to the UN it's like everything's going amazing. This is how we want it. Our war fighters, all the ships are going through. They're not total lie. Here, play this clip.

[Joey Jones]

The President Trump has hit back. He's hit back proportionally. But at the end of the day, Iran is going to pay the price.

[Kiana (Shopify Testimonial)]

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[Political Analyst/Commentator]

And the President is threatening consequences should the Strait of Hormuz not be open. There seems to be a struggle over the Strait of Hormuz becoming the number one flashpoint here. Is it open or not?

[Joey Jones]

Oh, it's open, as Central Command has said. And most of the targets that we've hit the last several nights have been directly aimed at Iran's radars, sensors, drones and missile batteries right there on the strait to eliminate and degrade their ability to attack the global economy. So we're going to take that leverage off the table. Our great military and Pete Hegseth continue to do that. But at the same time, let's not forget we have more talks going on in Lebanon. We're taking that off the table too. For, for the first time perhaps ever, the Israeli government, the Lebanese government are working together to eliminate and disarm Iran's proxy Hezbollah. We've completely flipped the script there. We're taking the leverage off the table in terms of the Straits of Hormuz. The negotiations are continuing on the nuclear program. And oh, by the way, Maria, oil prices are the same as they were pre war. Our energy.

[Independent Political Commentator]

And then of course, Fox really says, you know, let's show you how Lindsey Graham was not a warmonger. Let's bring in Benjamin Netanyahu and let's have Benjamin Netanyahu tell us about how great Lindsey Graham is. And Netanyahu is like, yes, he's not a warmonger. I'd ask him for weapons and he would say, bibi, can we give you more weapons? More weapons? Like, okay, okay. Well, you have Netanyahu, a genocidal maniac, talking about Lindsey Graham was a warmonger. Horrific bitch. Here, play this clip with Trump. Sort of a 10 year MOU memorandum of understanding where America gives Israel much valued support. Now, I, when I did this, when I negotiated this. I said, okay, this is what we need. We don't need any more. He said, yes, you do. I said, lindsey, we don't need any more. And he would tell me, no, I'm going to go over your head to the Senate because I think you need more on missile defense or whatever.

[Guest Speaker/Religious Figure]

Okay.

[Independent Political Commentator]

And I think once or twice he got his way. More from Netanyahu goes, and Lindsey Graham, he's a patriot. He's a true patriot. Here, play this clip.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Appreciate you joining us.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yes, Prime Minister, thank you for joining us. And actually, if I could just one last quick 10 second question.

[Independent Political Commentator]

If you had one word to remember your friend Lindsey Graham, what would it be?

[Guest Speaker/Religious Figure]

Patriot.

[Independent Political Commentator]

Big, big American patriot.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

All right, well, now let's.

[Guest Speaker/Religious Figure]

Thank you.

[Interviewer/Host]

Thank you very much.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Let's bring in Alex Hogan to shout out.

[Independent Political Commentator]

And then state regime media thought it would be a good idea to show Lindsey Graham clips during Brett Kavanaugh, during Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing. Remember when the Trump, the first Trump regime deep six, like a lot of the evidence and information and investigation file into Brett Kavanaugh and accusations against Brett Kavanaugh, and then they like, attack the victim and they attack the survivors. And then Lindsey Graham, you know, like, went on this, like, lunatic tirade. Fox is like, that's Lindsey Graham at his best here. Let's play this clip.

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If you wanted an FBI investigation, you could have come to us. What you want to do is destroy this guy's life, hold this seat open and hope you win in 2020. You said that, not me. You've got nothing to apologize for. When you see Sotomayor and Kagan, tell them that Lindsey said hollow because I voted for them. I would never do to them what you've done to this guy. This is the most unethical sham since I've been in politics. And if you really wanted to know the truth, you sure as hell wouldn't have done what you've done to this guy.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

You know, Sean.

[Independent Political Commentator]

And then finally they bring in MAGA Republican Senator Jim Banks who's like, look, gas prices are coming down right, right now they're cheaper than before the war started. Right now they're cheaper than Biden. They just lie about everything. It's not cheaper. That was cheaper when Biden left office. Biden had to deal with the crap that Donald Trump handed him after the first term. And then Biden brought down inflation, brought down prices. Now inflation's much higher than it was under former President Biden. Gas prices are higher. Gas prices are going up. This War is escalating. It's worse than ever right now. What are you, what are these people talking? What reality is this? What reality? It's a fake. Just some weird Trump moral log. I mean, maybe for these MAGA people because they're all oligarchs and they're all so rich and so whatever, but like, is that how Americans are feeling here?

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Play this clip where Senator and all this is politics, right? Is the midterms as the result of this conflict spiraling? The average price of a gallon of gas today is $3.88 nationwide. That is a lot better than $5, $6, but it is still a high enough number that it could cost your party the midterms.

[Interviewer/Host]

Well, look, President Trump has brought gas prices down. Democrats for four years under Joe Biden fought to permanently increase the cost of a gallon of gas. And President Trump did, took immediate actions at the beginning of this second term to bring down gas prices. They have ticked up in the last week. But we know as soon as Iran can come to the table and understand that they have no other choice but to do what it takes to sign an agreement with the United States of America that they will never have a nuclear weapon, that they can't control the strait, that they can no longer funnel money to terrorist proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah law, that they can no longer get away with that. Then gas prices will, will come back down to where we want them to be.

[Independent Political Commentator]

But anyway, there you have it, folks. Let me know what you think. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching everybody. Love this video. Support independent media and unlock exclusive content, ad free videos and custom emojis by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.