Former White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and press secretary Sean Spicer conspired to get President Trump to swear off MSNBC and CNN and stick to Fox News, according to a new report.
Their motive, early on in the Trump administration, was to keep the president from reacting angrily on Twitter to reports he saw on networks that tended to have less favorable coverage on him.
“It got to the point that they were just like, ‘We need to get him off these channels and onto Fox & Friends or else we’re going to be chasing down this crazy-train bullshit from MSNBC and CNN all day,’” a former White House official told New York magazine.
The effort to push Trump towards sticking to Fox News worked, but only when the pair pushed the network’s high ratings and value to his base.
“Trump’s someone who loves praise more than he likes hate-watching Morning Joe,” the White House source added, referring to an MSNBC show.
Spicer resigned last July and Priebus followed him out the door a week later when he was replaced by John Kelly.
