• Ben Shapiro: “When the president said deport all the illegal immigrants, I never thought that he meant that literally.”
• After Fox News’ pollsters found that Trump’s job approval had plummeted to some of his worst numbers ever, the network’s on-air talent buried the result while puffing up the president with sycophantic praise.

President Donald Trump has spent the last four months trying to tamp down MAGA dissent over his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, only to finally fold to congressional demands for more federal records. According to some of his most sycophantic supporters on right-wing TV, everything is going according to plan. 

After Trump folded on the Epstein disclosures, Fox News host Laura Ingraham said “Trump’s calling their bluff on the Epstein files.” Fox’s Jesse Watters said “Trump’s not hiding anything. He just said he’ll release everything the government has on Epstein.” Newsmax host Carl Higbie asked, “Did Trump just pull like a UNO reverse on Democrats over the Epstein files?” He went on to say that “Democrats just got played” by the president. 

Media Matters’ Matt Gertz sums up the situation: 

If you’re following: Trump didn’t want the Epstein files released; Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and the Democrats did; Johnson failed to stop House Republicans from supporting the disclosure bill; Trump was about the lose, so he caved; now the records are on track to be released; and according to Ingraham, Watters, and Higbie, that adds up to a win for…Trump? 

Trump’s decision is elsewhere being cast as a “capitulation” and a “debacle.” But within much of the MAGA bubble, every Trump move has to be a brilliant victory.

• A Fox News guest said, “We’re in a cost of living crisis, Dana. I think everybody knows it.” 
• Fox contributor Guy Benson said Trump reversing course on tariffs to lower prices “seems like something of an admission.” 
• Podcaster Benny Johnson on Speaker Mike Johnson: “Dude lied to my face.” 
• Fox News’ Kimberley Strassel criticized a peace plan developed by the U.S. and Russia: “Where is Ukraine in this?”

When calls were renewed for the Trump administration to release the full trove of Jeffrey Epstein files earlier this year, War Room host Steve Bannon was among the voices pushing for their release. But since the newest batch of Epstein documents released by the House Oversight Committee exposed his close dealings with Epstein, Bannon has chosen to stay silent on the topic. 

Media Matters reviewed episodes of Bannon’s War Room aired between November 12 and the morning of November 20 and found only a handful of brief Epstein mentions by guests and one clip from a cold open. We found no references to the release of the new documents or the impending release of the full files. 

As we explained last week, Bannon reportedly recorded “12 to 15 hours” of interview footage with Epstein in 2019 for an unreleased documentary. Those tapes, and the fact that he hasn’t released them, have prompted attacks by other figures in right-wing media. The batch of documents made public on November 12 suggested that Bannon would use the footage to help rehabilitate Epstein’s image. When pressed in July, Bannon agreed to release the footage in 2026. 

Given Bannon’s earlier calls for the Department of Justice to release files related to Epstein, his current silence on the disclosures is deafening.

• Trump administration officials have repeatedly denied reporting from national media about U.S. citizens being arrested or detained by the Department of Homeland Security in immigration raids across the country. However, local Chicago news outlets have steadily reported on U.S. citizens subjected to aggressive behavior from federal immigration agents. 
• Newsmax host Carl Higbie told Catholic bishops who criticized Trump’s immigration policies: “Stay in your lane, guys.” 
• After six Democratic lawmakers released a video encouraging active members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders” — which they are required by law to do — many right-wing media figures claimed that they are committing “treason,” fomenting “sedition or insurrection,” and trying to “trigger a military coup.” 
• A handful of right-wing and right-leaning influencers have been given repeated access to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and ride-alongs. 
• Podcaster Benny Johnson: “Every single thing you hate about your life right now or American culture is caused by mass immigration and criminal immigration.”

Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier and Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, who scored invitations for Tuesday night’s lavish White House banquet honoring Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, both passed on criticizing Donald Trump for his pathetic excuse-making about the crown prince ordering the brutal murder of the U.S.-based dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

Khashaggi was an outspoken critic of the crown prince who wrote columns for The Washington Post. In October 2018, he was reportedly lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, killed by Saudi operatives, and dismembered with a bone saw. This generated an international scandal. Fox spent the weeks after Khashoggi’s murder running cover for both Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed. 

At the time of Khashoggi’s murder, Trump offered little interest in the reporter’s fate. On Tuesday he became enraged when ABC News’ chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce dared to ask the crown prince a question about Khashoggi’s murder during their joint Oval Office appearance. Trump’s repeated defenses of a foreign tyrant’s murder of a U.S.-based journalist drew immediate attention from news outlets and harsh criticism from many journalists. But Baier and Bartiromo ignored the issue. 

Meanwhile on Newsmax, host Rob Finnerty defended Trump’s decision to host the crown prince despite the country’s alleged role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Finnerty said “Trump is transactional, and 9/11 was almost 25 years ago.” However, just two weeks earlier, Finnerty attacked then-New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani for airing an ad in Arabic “just 24 years after Islamic terrorists flew commercial airplanes into the twin towers,” calling the language “the native tongue of the terrorists.”