Fox News started last week predicting a massive U.S. military campaign that would crush Iran and end Trump’s gamble in the Middle East. Within 24 hours Trump declared another pause in the conflict which forced Fox News to pivot to more mundane topics.

By mid-week the war wasn’t even a major story. The network’s highest rated show The Five didn’t even include a single segment about the war for the entire week.

Fox News still hasn’t found its footing on how to sell or promote this deeply unpopular conflict in the Middle East.

President Trump wasn’t helping as he held extended press conferences at the construction site of his beloved ballroom, rambled on about his reflecting pool project and exaggerated or fabricated his many perceived accomplishments in his second term.

It seems Trump would rather obsess about his building projects and legacy than do much of anything to help the American public.

Desperate for something to rev up its viewers Fox News demonized Democrats all over the country. The network had a field day with the botched DNC autopsy on its many failures surrounding the 2024 presidential election.

Fox News downplayed a court settlement between Trump and the IRS that would dole out nearly $1.8 billion of taxpayer money in an Anti-Weaponization Fund to anyone who felt they were legally victimized by the previous administration. This could include violent rioters who beat law enforcement officers, terrorized lawmakers and damaged property at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Jesse Watters dedicated a lot of airtime on recently released and declassified Pentagon files about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) commonly referred to as UFO’s. The network also ramped up and expanded its coverage of fraud cases in Minnesota to include multiple Democratically run states it called ‘The Fraud Files.’

The network also found creative ways to promote former reality star Spencer Pratt’s campaign for mayor of Los Angeles. During breaking news segments about a wildfire in California Fox would include Pratt’s social media posts about the disaster while leaving out the mayor’s office response.

Fox News also celebrated wins by Trump endorsed candidates in Republican primaries in multiple states.

Anyone tuning into Fox News last week might think the channel had converted to a home shopping network that sold only one product - the glorious leader himself Donald J. Trump.

The president was treated like an overpriced trinket. “Look at how he stands next to Xi Jinping. Observe how his tiny makeup covered hands touch the Chinese leader’s! Such majesty!”

It wouldn’t have surprised me if Fox shifted to a sales pitch while discussing the president, “If you call right now, you too will get our exclusive offer and pay for your own Glorious Leader replicate in four easy to pay installments of $19.99!”

There were no definitive trade deals to crow about, no negotiations with Iran, and no relief in sight for sky-high gas prices.

Trump dined with and stood next to the Chinese president while a small group of billionaire business owners followed them around like dutiful ducklings.

China is known for making promises it doesn’t keep, stealing intellectual property, threatening its neighbors, committing human rights abuses, cheating on trade agreements, suppressing freedom of speech, crushing dissent, and violating international embargoes and sanctions.

None of this seemed to bother Trump. If Xi Jinping promised to buy more U.S. soybeans, then that was good enough for the president even if the country has still not matched its prior commitments to U.S. farmers.

It was a lot of pageantry with very little substance, another distraction for Trump’s disastrous war in the Middle East and failed domestic policies.

Other topics on the network included the ongoing war with Iran, an attack on Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the network’s aggressive promotion of Spencer Pratt, a former reality television star, for Los Angeles mayor.

Fox News continues to stumble and bluff its way through an incoherent sales pitch for Trump’s poorly planned war with Iran. Sean Hannity along with some of the last remaining neocons also promoted the worst idea in the world - sending weapons to the Iranian people.

It was 1979 again in the absolute worst way possible.

Normally the network forms a united front about any given topic, narrows in on its target and repeatedly pummels it. Fox News hosts will often use the exact same phrasing, slogans, catch phrases, and battle cries across multiple programs.

Since the war started Fox has been a disorganized mess.

At the start of the week Project Freedom, Trump’s plan to open the Strait of Hormuz, was sold as a brilliant strategic move that would bring a quick end to the war. When it collapsed almost immediately after it was implemented the folks on Fox splintered.

Hosts on Fox & Friends shared their doubts about the war, Jesse Watters made excuses for the president, Sean Hannity sold it as a checkmate move and the folks on The Five stopped talking about the war entirely.

Fox News knows how to whip its audience into a frenzy about urban crime, dangerous migrants, woke blue-haired teenagers, eminent communist revolutions, anti-white DEI schemes and shifty transgender athletes but it can’t seem to figure out how to sell the idea of another protracted war in the Middle East or soften the blow around high gas prices.

Sean Hannity thought it was a good idea to recycle some of the worst foreign policy ideas of decades past. He also got so desperate last week he included extended segments about former president Barack Obama even repeating talking points from 2008.

If he could have found a way to bring up Hillary Clinton’s emails, bleach bit servers, Hunter Biden’s laptop and Bill Clinton’s sock drawer he would have.

The network also shifted its focus to topics it knows well - trashing Democrats and endorsing long-shot Republican candidates in California.