Fox News Host Refutes Claim By Trump Campaign Spokesperson That US Is Better Now Than Four Years Ago

Brian Kilmeade, one of the hosts on the Fox News program “Fox & Friends,” rebuked remarks from President Trump's campaign spokesperson Hogan Gidley on Wednesday, after Gidley claimed that life in the U.S. is now “undoubtedly” better than four years ago.

“Listen, the president wants to go in there and talk about all the accomplishments he's done in his first term and how he's made people's lives better,” Gidley said on the program. “It answers the age-old question — are you better off now than you were before? And the answer, undoubtedly, is yes.”

Kilmeade swiftly pushed back against the claim, citing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the current economic downturn.

“With the pandemic, now you know the growth is not there,” Kilmeade said. “You know the unemployment [rate] is still 11%. So you can't really say you're better off than you were three years ago because of, at the very least, the pandemic. So you can't really say that, right?”

Gidley responded that "this global pandemic hit all of us, not just here in this country but across the world," and claimed Trump’s response has saved millions of lives. The U.S. has the most coronavirus cases in the world, with over 3 million cases, as well as over 131,000 deaths.

Kilmeade has frequently made statements in favor of Trump and has interviewed him on his radio show. Kilmeade has sometimes questioned Trump’s tactics, however, slamming Trump when he openly mocked Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony during a rally in 2018. Ford had accused Trump-appointed Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault when they were both in high school and testified about the allegations during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2018.

Kilmeade isn't the only Fox News host to challenge Trump and his administration. Fox Business News host Neil Cavuto pushed back against Trump’s claims in May that anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine was effective against COVID-19. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace has called the Trump campaign “silly” for playing down the lack of attendance at the President’s Tulsa rally in June.

In recent weeks, Trump has grown increasingly dismissive of Fox News' content. In late June, he told the Christian Broadcasting Network that he is “not happy” with Fox and said the outlet "wants to be politically correct all of a sudden." He has also accused Fox of putting out “phony suppression polls” that show him losing the upcoming general election.

Trump has recently given more attention to One America News Network, a right-wing outlet that frequently broadcasts conspiracy theories, as an alternative to Fox.