Trump says he watches 7 hours of TV a day — after saying he doesn't 'watch very much'

Donald Trump on Thursday said he had watched more than seven hours of Fox News programming since Wednesday night, listing off the prime-time shows he tuned in to on the right-wing propaganda network.

“I watched Liz MacDonald — she’s fantastic. I watched Fox Business. I watched Lou Dobbs last night, Sean Hannity last night, Tucker last night, Laura. I watched ‘Fox & Friends’ in the morning,” Trump said at a news conference from the White House, referencing Fox’s prime-time line-up as well as its three-hour-long morning show.

Trump’s constant watching of Fox News — and repeating of its talking points — is well known.

He often tweets about things he sees on the cable network, and the network often parrots Trump’s messaging.

For example, Trump and his campaign have continued to falsely claim Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has been hiding in his basement, a claim various personalities on Fox News made 322 times in the span of just two months.

However, Trump has publicly said numerous times that he doesn’t watch a lot of television because he doesn’t have time.

“Believe it or not, even when I’m in Washington or New York, I do not watch much television,” Trump said in November 2017. “People that don’t know me, they like to say I watch television — people with fake sources. You know, fake reporters, fake sources.”

In December 2017, Trump tweeted: “Another false story, this time in the Failing @nytimes, that I watch 4-8 hours of television a day – Wrong! Also, I seldom, if ever, watch CNN or MSNBC, both of which I consider Fake News. I never watch Don Lemon, who I once called the ‘dumbest man on television!’ Bad Reporting.”

He made the claim that he doesn’t really watch TV in an interview with the New York Times in July.

“I don’t watch very much TV. Nobody knows what I do,” Trump said. “I work very long hours, actually, very long hours, probably longer than just about anybody. And I think more importantly, I think I work effectively.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.