NEW STUDY: Two years of Trump's Fox live-tweeting obsession, by the numbers

Trump live-tweeted Fox 1,146 times from September 2018 through August 2020 -- 7.5% of his total tweets https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/study-two-years-trumps-live-tweeting-obsession-numbers

This is the culmination of quite a lot of toil dating back to when I started chronicling Trump’s live-tweets in October 2017, so I hope you’ll indulge my long thread; if not, feel free to mute this.

First, why Trump’s Fox obsession matters: It dictates policy outcomes.

Here are 15 ways that happened over the two years of the study, from military strikes to impeachment to the coronavirus to racial justice protests to pardons to personnel and more. https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/15-examples-fox-news-unrivaled-federal-influence-over-last-two-years

Now to the data. Trump live-tweeted all major news networks a collective 1,206 times from September 2018 through August 2020, an average of 1.7 per day.

Of those, 984 tweets responded to segments on Fox News and 162 to Fox Business.

Trump averaged 50 live tweets per month, ranging from a low of 23 to a high of 102.

That spike came in Dec. 2019, when he was fighting off impeachment charges by live-tweeting Fox’s coverage.

Daily peak: 12 Fox live tweets on January 23, Day 3 of the Senate impeachment trial.

Trump has live-tweeted at least 42 different Fox shows, with Fox & Friends receiving by far the most attention -- a whopping 355 live tweets over the two-year span, plus 99 more from its weekend edition.

The rest of the top-ten list shows Trump is largely engaged on weekday morning shows, plus those of Fox Cabinet members Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, and Laura Ingraham.

Something I didn’t expect -- the top evening weekend show for Trump live-tweets wasn’t Jeanine Pirro’s or Mark Levin’s -- it was Steve Hilton’s Sunday night program The Next Revolution, which garnered 20.

I also broke down Trump’s live tweets by topic, as you can see from the chart he covered a variety of subjects, with his focus shifting over time.

Subjects Trump sent the most Fox live-tweets about over the two-year period of the study:
Ukraine scandal: 231 Fox live tweets
Russia probe: 190
Economy: 147
2020 Elections: 103
Foreign Policy: 102
Immigration: 93
Coronavirus: 69
Protests: 53
2018 Elections: 20
Clemency: 12

Fox points out enemies for Trump to attack. He sent 381 Fox live tweets attacking Democrats and 134 attacking the press, including some of his most bigoted and unhinged comments. https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1150387522612207616

He also regularly tweets about books whose authors he’s just seen on the network saying nice things about him -- 17 times over the study. And of course, he regularly tweets obsequious quotes he sees from Fox hosts like Lou Dobbs. https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1080105113224691712

Perhaps most of all, Fox distracts him. When the stakes are highest, he is sitting in front of his television tweeting about his favorite shows. https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1244647172601188352

There's much, much more in the study, and the associated piece on the feedback loop's impact. Check out both pieces. #end https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/study-two-years-trumps-live-tweeting-obsession-numbers https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/15-examples-fox-news-unrivaled-federal-influence-over-last-two-years