Fox News reacts

It started with “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade, who called Trump “ridiculous” for his pre-meeting tweet claiming that “U.S. foolishness and stupidity” were to blame for the two countries’ deteriorating relationship.

“That’s by far the most ridiculous tweet of late,” Kilmeade said, “and that is insulting to past administrations. He can’t be saying that going into the Russian summit.”

  HuffPo

Apparently, he can.

Neil Cavuto of Fox Business called the performance “disgusting.”

“It’s not a right or left thing to me ― it’s just wrong,” he said. “A U.S. president on foreign soil talking to our biggest enemy ... is essentially letting the guy get away with this. And not even offering a mild criticism.”

Cavuto later tempered his criticism somewhat, saying he thinks the president deserves “the benefit of the doubt.” Even though Trump has been in Europe for nearly a week, Cavuto speculated that his poor performance came down to “maybe jet lag and time differences.”

Jesus, Neil. You almost showed a little self-respect.

Fox & Friends Weekend host Abby Huntsman—daughter of Jon Huntsman, Trump’s ambassador to Russia— [“No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus,” she wrote in a forceful tweet following the presser.

[...]

White House correspondent Kevin Corke, who has previously flirted with alt-right politics, conceded on-air that Trump “did miss an opportunity,” while national correspondent Ed Henry said the president’s refusal to side with U.S. intelligence agencies was “really going to backfire on him.”

[...]

On Fox News’ daytime talk show Outnumbered, host Kennedy said she doubted that Trump actually believed Putin’s denial of interference, but acknowledged that she “would like to see the president be more forceful.”

[...]

Brit Hume, a former anchor turned correspondent, wrote on Twitter that Trump’s “vague and rambling” answer on whether he believes Russia interfered in 2016 was a “lame response, to say the least.”

  The Daily Beast

And leave it to you guys to say the least.

Co-host Melissa Francis, however, maintained that it was possible Trump was more forceful during the private meeting with Putin. “You have to view what he's saying outside the room as a PR campaign by the president to send a message to Vladimir Putin,” she said. “We don’t know what happened inside the room, we don't know how tough he was there."

Oh yes we do, Melissa. Maybe you don't, but the rest of the world does.

Meanwhile, Fox News’ resident right-leaning media critic Howard Kurtz criticized the president’s “troubling” performance, but then—as is his wont—found a way to make it about the trouble with liberal media.

“It’s troubling that Trump wouldn't embrace his own intel agencies’ findings on Russian meddling against the ‘strong & powerful’ Putin denials,” Kurtz tweeted. “Liberal commentators denouncing him as Neville Chamberlain, calling for censure & impeachment, also going over the top against Trump.”

[...]

Fellow Fox host Stuart Varney, who routinely boosts Trump’s policies, bashed the president for what was “not a very forceful presentation.”

That's not a bash.

“He outmaneuvered our president,” FBN business reporter Ashley Webster said. “I was very surprised. I thought Trump was going to push hard.”

And surprise is what happens when you have your head up your ass too long before you finally pull it out.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE:  h/t Daniel Dale





Because you've been asleep for the past two years?