The servile response that Fox News’ evening propagandists offered Donald Trump’s new abortion statement on Monday night provides a prime illustration of how the network functions — not as a conservative news outlet promoting an ideological message, but as a Trump propaganda outlet trying to bolster his chance to win in November.

Fox’s stars assured their viewers that the position Trump laid out is “exactly right,” represents “democracy,” and was “the only thing, really, he could do at this point without committing political suicide.” They also provided a platform for Trump boosters who cited their own anti-abortion bona fides while rallying behind his remarks.

Stopping abortion is theoretically an issue of profound moral importance on the right. Conservative movement leaders like House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have called abortion a “holocaust.” The text of the Republican Party’s most recent platform claims that “the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed” and calls for a constitutional amendment that would ban all abortions. The Heritage Foundation, a prominent right-wing think tank taking the lead in developing a future Trump administration’s agenda and staffing, states that “the first freedom” is “the right to life” and lays out a series of policies to achieve “the pro-life movement’s goal” of banning abortion “from the moment of conception.”

Trump’s vague Monday statement that abortion “will” be left to the states in no way precludes him from enacting those policies if elected. But his unwillingness to forthrightly endorse them for explicitly political reasons — after holding myriad positions on abortion but appointing the conservative Supreme Court justices who ultimately rescinded Roe v. Wade’s constitutional protection for abortion rights — drew criticism from anti-abortion activists and from some right-wing media figures. 

“President Trump's retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, wrote on X.

That internal debate is not playing out on Fox News, the most popular and influential organ on the right. Instead, Fox’s leading pro-Trump shills used Monday night’s broadcasts to stress to their viewers that Trump is doing what he needs to do to win the presidency. 

Sean Hannity, a Republican Party operative who uses his show to help Trump and other GOP leaders win elections, has been urging the party to adopt a more palatable abortion position to prevent further defeats like the ones Republicans suffered in 2022 and 2023. On Monday night, after warming up his audience with attacks on President Joe Biden, he offered a full-throated endorsement of Trump’s statement, which he falsely claimed had taken a national abortion ban off the table.

“President Trump announced his position on abortion and he rightly believes, if you believe in the Constitution, that it should be left up to the states and for the people in every state to decide,” Hannity said. “That is called, oh, democracy. That is called states’ rights, for example. It's something Democrats claim to love and revere — not true. Trump emphasized that as president, he will respect every state's decision.”

Hannity subsequently brought on Fox contributor Newt Gingrich, Fox host and former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and OutKick host Tomi Lahren to tout the statement.

“My advice is to listen to Donald Trump,” Gingrich offered. “Trump has laid out a perfectly rational strategy.”

“I thought what he did, his statement was exactly right,” Gingrich added, before going on to say that he is “very deeply committed to life” and “would like to have the fewest possible abortions, period.”

Lahren said that Republican unity on Trump’s abortion message is crucial to achieving political victory. 

“Republicans need to have a cohesive message on this,” Lahren declared. “They need to come out and say there's not going to be a national ban on abortion because logistically, that's not going to happen anyway. And if they're able to do that and they're able to come together and unify on that issue, no matter where they stand personally, we can win in November.”

“I remind those folks that are passionately pro-life, and I love those folks, but if we do not win in November, none of your agenda when it comes to pro-life issues or anything else is going to happen if we continue to lose elections,” Lahren added, after attacking Pence’s pushback. “We do not get this issue right, we will lose elections from here on out.”

Fox host Jesse Watters similarly stressed the importance of Republicans adopting a less politically toxic public stance on abortion.

“Two years ago, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sending the issue of abortion back to the states,” Watters said. “Then the red wave didn't happen and we realized how powerful the abortion issue was and continues to be.”

He went on to cite poll numbers showing that “a majority of Americans think abortion should be legal,” and claimed that speaking “politically, a state that allows abortion in the first three months of pregnancy, that's where the American people are. Anything more restrictive than that is politically challenging, I’ll say, for Republicans.” He then praised Trump’s statement.

“Trump is asking Republican politicians to follow their hearts, but show wisdom,” Watters said. “The country can't be saved if Republicans lose power over the abortion issue.”

Watters subsequently asked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a reported candidate for Trump’s VP pick, for her reaction to Trump’s abortion statement. 

“Well, the president is exactly right,” she replied. “I’m personally pro-life, but every state will look different, and it is about the will of the people.”

Fox host Laura Ingraham also touted Trump’s remarks on her program.

“All the Democrats have is Trump bad and abortion good,” she said. “Well, today Trump hit the issue on Truth Social and took the air out of the tires on their training wheels.”

Ingraham then brought on Washington Examiner editor Kaylee McGhee White and Fox contributor Byron York to praise Trump’s statement.

“Kaylee, I know that you're the daughter of a pastor and a pro-life advocate, but you're saying that Trump is doing the right thing here,” Ingraham asked White. “Explain this.”

After saying that “this cause is very dear to my heart” and that she had been an anti-abortion activist since she was in high school, White replied that she thinks “Trump is right on this because I'm also a pragmatist who realizes that it would be far better for the pro-life movement to elect literally any Republican than it would be to elect a Democrat who will not hesitate to codify a radical abortion regime that would make even socialist Europe blush.”

“Republicans fought for 50 years to get Roe overturned, and courtesy of Trump, they finally succeeded,” Ingraham told York. “But didn't he do the thing, the only thing, really, he could do at this point without committing political suicide and ensuring that more pro-abortion activists get nominated to the federal courts?”

“Yeah, I think he did,” York responded. “Especially after having wrapped up the Republican nomination, I think he felt a responsibility to lead the party on this.”

Fox has repeatedly shielded its viewers from divisive debates within the right as the network ramps up its effort to return Trump to the White House. That’s apparently what it takes to secure actual Trump priorities like massive tax cuts for rich people and deportation camps for migrants.