Yeah, the Russians had an impact. Sure, Wikileaks was a factor. And absolutely, we need to rein in the rampant spread of fake news on Facebook. But none of these factors come close to the consistent impact of Fox News. And no network has ever worked as closely with a president of the United States. Former Fox employees have key White House positions (White House communications director Bill Shine is currently on the payroll of both organizations). Sean Hannity is effectively a part of the administration. “It’s the closest we’ve come to having state TV.” And the relationship between Rupert and Don goes way back. “Trump became famous, in no small part, because of Rupert Murdoch. After Murdoch bought the New York Post, in 1976, he was introduced to Trump through a mutual acquaintance, Roy Cohn, the infamous legal fixer, who, as a young man, was Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel. Cohn saw the potential for tabloid synergy: Trump could attain celebrity in the pages of the Post as a playboy mogul, and Murdoch could sell papers by chronicling Trump’s exploits.” The excellent Jane Mayer in The New Yorker: The Making of the Fox News White House.

+ Related: “The president averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day in his first year in office. He hit nearly 16.5 a day in his second year. So far in 2019, he’s averaging nearly 22 claims a day.” WaPo: President Trump has made 9,014 false or misleading claims over 773 days.