Is Fox To Blame For Trump's Claims On Thanksgiving Name Change?

First, it was said liberals were bent on waging a "War on Christmas." Now, Fox News is claiming liberals are waging a "War on Thanksgiving," and president Donald Trump is spreading this to his base.

At his Tuesday night campaign rally in Sunrise, Florida, Trump bellowed “some people” want to change the name of Thanksgiving and “don’t want to use the term Thanksgiving.” He compared this to the debunked War on Christmas that was a talking point of right-wing supporters a few years ago.

“And that was true with Christmas," said Trump. "Now everybody is using Christmas again. Remember, I said that?" He again made the claim Americans stopped telling each other "Merry Christmas" until he was elected.

"Now, we're going to have to do a little work on Thanksgiving. People have different ideas why it shouldn't be called Thanksgiving," he said, without revealing the identities of Thanksgiving's enemies.

"But everybody in this room I know loves the name Thanksgiving and we're not changing it," he yelled.

Fox News took Trump's claim and ran with it on its next broadcasts. Fox News had previously aired numerous segments insisting liberals and progressives want to “cancel” Thanksgiving and fight a “War on Thanksgiving," noted The Daily Beast. Trump may have taken this and ran with it.

Fact checkers, however, say the network's assertions about liberals wanting to cancel Thanksgiving Day may have been triggered by a HuffPost opinion piece about the environmental impact of Thanksgiving dinners. The story never called Thanksgiving to be abolished or for Americans to stop celebrating it.

Wednesday morning’s broadcast of "Fox & Friends" talked about Trump's claim. The network also published a story under the headline, “Trump vows not to change the name of Thanksgiving despite cries from the ‘radical left.’” Temporary co-host Emily Compagno said Trump is right in saying there's a concerted effort to change the name of Thanksgiving.

“I think the issue that a lot of people have to -- with potentially changing that name -- is the fact that in that name we’re expressing gratitude and whatever historical connotations we can acknowledge,” she said. “It still doesn’t take away from the fact that this is the day that we are to give thanks and gratitude for our loved ones and blessings.”

"The Five" also blasted liberals for their alleged War on Thanksgiving.

"They want to fight a war on Thanksgiving? They lost the war on Christmas. They want to fight again?" asked Jesse Watters on the November 6 episode of "The Five."

"Liberals are coming for your Thanksgiving turkey," said Greg Gutfeld.