CNN's Chris Cillizza says 'Fox News viewers are occupying a different (and less fact-based) reality than' people who watch, say, CNN and MSNBC

Sarah D | 1:14 PM on January 24, 2020

Few journalists embody the term “liberal hack” better than CNN’s Chris Cillizza, who actually had the chutzpah to not only conceive a take like this but also share it with the world:

It's not too much to say that Fox News viewers are occupying a different (and less fact-based) reality than the people who seek out other sources for their news.https://t.co/1uAMdDsFA9

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) January 24, 2020

Cillizza’s “analysis” concludes:

If you only trust one news outlet and that news outlet is telling a very different — and factually challenged — version of current events, a massive disconnect is created. It’s not too much to say that Fox News viewers are occupying a different (and less fact-based) reality than the people who seek out other sources for their news.

And it is into that disconnect, that information void, that Trump has leaped — and now resides. What Trump has done and is doing is use his own massive social media following to amplify the messages on national news offered by Fox News. Trump regularly tweets and retweets Fox News segments to his 71+ million Twitter followers. He often directly quotes from Fox personalities. He works to create a totally closed information ecosystem for his supporters — and largely succeeds.

That so many Republicans believe a) Fox is the only network to be trusted and b) trust in Trump despite his demonstrated lack of concern for telling the truth allows both the network and Trump to succeed. But their success comes at a price. A big one. And one that we will continue to pay for years and years to come.