Member-only story
No! America Doesn’t Have Lots of Friends Around the World
Unless You Count the Dictatorships
At the Planet Fitness I’m a member of, there is a row of televisions that users of various machines can watch and plug into for volume while they get their workout. When you turn it on, the default is Fox News, which occupies two of the ten slots. CNN has two spots, ESPN has two, HGTV has one, along with ABC, and two local stations. I watch some Fox News segments from time to time to see what they are saying on the other side.
One morning recently, Fox host Harris Faulkner hosted a panel to discuss Donald Trump’s First 100 Days in office. The group was composed of three Democrats, three Republicans, and three Independents. Faulkner controlled the flow and the questions. I could point out how one-sided things were, but it was Fox News; that was a given.
One of the Democrats responded to a question about Trump’s term thus far, and he criticized Trump’s tariffs and said America had lost all of its friends around the world. Faulkner couldn’t let that stand, correcting the man’s opinion by saying America had many friends, pointing to its continued participation in the G-7 and G-20. She called out one country as an example, saying, “Mexico is our friend!”