On The Weeknight, Angelo Carusone discusses right-wing media's reaction to Trump's weaponization fund
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From the May 28, 2026, edition of MS Now's The Weeknight
ALICIA MENENDEZ (CO-HOST): Your organization, Media Matters, has pointed out that Fox has ignored the Carroll probe. I want to ask about how they're treating a different story. You had a bunch of former judges come out yesterday slamming Trump's IRS slush fund deal, writing the court was deceived, the 24 page motion reads, adding that the settlement commandeers the contrived sum of $1.776 billion from the United States Treasury to be handed out to recipients chosen by a commission effectively controlled by the president. I should note these judges, they were appointed by Democratic presidents, Republican presidents. How is this playing on conservative media?
ANGELO CARUSONE (GUEST): They're doing -- so the similar thing, a lot of them are not going to carry a ton of water for it. You know, there's not a huge amount of enthusiasm in sort of the large part of conservative media. There are pieces out there that are, you know, a little bit enthusiastic, but that's not the defining characteristic. It's what you said at the intro is that when they have a really bad thing that they don't know how to polish up, they ignore it. And that's largely how they're dealing with that fund. They're just letting it sort of be sort of an online troll thing and not something they're trying to carry a ton of water for, and that tells you how toxic it is, right, which we're seeing play out in sort of the larger Republican circles where there's some real anxiety and panic. I don't want to give too much credit there because they're willing to tolerate that for all kinds of things, but that's how they're dealing with it.