Donald Trump’s Chris Wallace problem is bigger than you think

When Fox News Sunday morning host Chris Wallace dared to do his job properly this morning, Donald Trump once again lashed out at him for it on Twitter. We’re used to this by now. Wallace is the only real journalist on Fox, and it gives the other hosts cover to be as sleazy as they want, so Wallace can do anything he wants and Fox can’t touch him – and everyone involved knows it.

But for Donald Trump, this has become a bigger problem than just Chris Wallace, who is usually only on the air one morning a week anyway. Yesterday Trump angrily lashed out at a daytime weekend Fox News show, because it was also covering him negatively. These weekend filler shows on Fox are going to angle their coverage based on whatever they think will deliver the most viewers, so it’s notable that they’re turning incrementally negative against Trump.

The cold hard reality is that while plenty of Trump supporters will stick with him to the bitter end, there are plenty of other Fox-watching conservatives who are seeing that he’s botching this pandemic in catastrophic fashion, and they’re expecting Fox to acknowledge as much.

We’re still seeing the most Trump-friendly hosts on Fox News praising Trump as dishonestly as ever. That’s not surprising, as people like Hannity and Judge Jeanine have crafted their entire brands and audience around Trump cult worship. But when middling Saturday afternoon Fox hosts are starting to hedge their bets against Trump, it suggests that Trump is losing his grasp on the center of the Fox News base – and with his terrible polling numbers, he can’t afford to lose anyone from the Fox News base.