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Fox News defends Trump’s domestic crackdown after previously describing DEI and the metric system as tyrannical

Written by Helena Hind, Isabella Corrao & Jane Lee

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From the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, Fox News has defended and whitewashed the president’s abuses of power, domestic crackdowns, and authoritarian tendencies.

But over the years, Fox News personalities have been quick to call out tyranny and dictatorial behavior where they saw it — in things like Planned Parenthood, the metric system, pandemic safety measures, and regulations on gas stoves in new buildings. They have asserted that permitted and standard actions of Democrat leaders, such as issuing executive orders, exemplified their "dictatorial powers,” and amounted to “a serious crime.”

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  • Things Fox News personalities have designated as tyrannical and dictatorial

    • Michelle Malkin claimed that Marco Rubio was “serving the agenda of a tyrant” by supporting immigration reform during former President Barack Obama’s second term. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 8/15/13]
    • On her podcast, Fox News host Laura Ingraham likened Obama's actions to the “homegrown tyranny” of a “king.” [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 11/20/14]
    • In a “Shut Up & Blog” post on her website, Ingraham repeatedly called Obama a “tyrant” and “would-be dictator,” and instructed Congress to restrict his power using “traditional instruments of Congressional authority.” Ingraham wrote, “Stop yielding more and more power to a man who evidently feels that there are no legal constraints on his authority to rewrite our laws and our Constitution.” [Lauraingraham.com via archive.org, 11/19/14, accessed 1/20/26]
    • On Special Report, Andrew Napolitano claimed the Supreme Court used “almost tyrannical power” to uphold the Affordable Care Act. [Fox News, Special Report, 6/25/15]
    • Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson: “Almost every nation on Earth has fallen under the yoke of tyranny — the metric system.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 6/5/19]
    • Greg Gutfeld suggested that former President Joe Biden is a “tyrant” for proposing a mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Co-host Jesse Waters asked another co-host, “Do you think this is tyrannical?” [Fox News, The Five, 8/13/20]
    • Mollie Hemingway accused Trump’s critics of “tyrannizing the American people” by bringing up funding issues with the Postal Service ahead of the 2020 election, repeatedly calling it a “conspiracy theory.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 8/18/20]
    • Will Cain said that the Biden administration’s push for COVID-19 boosters was an example of “anti-science tyranny,” claiming that “the push for a third shot is not science. It is proclamation. It is an edict by experts.” Both the chyron and Cain put quotes around “experts.” [Fox News, Fox News Primetime, 8/18/21]
    • Carlson said people were forced to buy fake vaccination cards because “tyrants” mandated the COVID-19 vaccine. Carlson said, “It's not even close to a serious crime. Buying a fake vaccination card is an act of desperation by decent, law-abiding Americans who have been forced into a corner by tyrants. You know what's a serious crime? Forcing Americans to take drugs they don't need or want. That's a very serious crime. And let's hope, in the end, someone is punished for it, severely.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 9/2/21]
    • Mark Levin said Biden had “perfected the ability to rule like a dictator” by signing a historic number of executive orders, critiquing Biden for having “more executive orders than any modern president.” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 9/23/22]
    • Ingraham argued that “just like the other murderous tyrants of the 20th century,” Planned Parenthood “manipulate[s] language to shape the debate.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 12/1/22]
    • Carlson suggested “mass disobedience in the face of tyranny” in response to a ban on gas stoves. [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1/10/23]
    • Carlson: “Canada under Justin Trudeau has become effectively a dictatorship.” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 2/1/23]
    • Levin ranted about Biden’s use of executive orders: “He signs executive orders left and right. And of course, he's cheered by the Marxists in the country, whether they be historians or media types or nut jobs in Congress. They hate the Constitution to begin with. But then they claim the Constitution gives a president these kinds of dictatorial powers.” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 2/28/23]
    • During a segment attacking DEI policies in education, Ingraham decried “the tyrannical grip of the racial spoils system that's poisoned so much of American society.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 1/2/24]