Behind Trump and his aides’ meltdown after Fox News declared Arizona for Biden

Fox News' decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden shook the shoes of supporters in Donald Trump's circle.

Nov 6, 2020

As his re-election prospects seem to be slipping away, reports are emerging about how President Donald Trump responded to what seems to be a pending loss.

The New York Times is reporting that it was the decision Tuesday night by his beloved Fox News network to project former Vice President Joe Biden as the winner in Arizona that set off a sense of despondency inside the White House.

President Donald Trump speaks in the White House briefing room Thursday. Votes are still being counted days after the presidential election as incumbent Trump is in a close race against Democratic hopeful Joe Biden, which is too close to call. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The announcement, at 11:20 p.m., is said to have set Trump off, and he reportedly went on a tirade, calling Republican governors and advisers. The frustration at his loss of the state’s support, which would imperil his re-election, prompted the president to make an ill-advised late-night news briefing, where he made his first pronouncement that the election was illegitimate and being stolen.

He would make another of these announcements on Thursday, Nov. 5.

The Times report says that before the announcement by Fox and later Associated Press, the president and hundreds of his supporters were jubilant and dining on sliders and french fries.

The newspaper reports that after a Biden victory in Arizona was proclaimed, Jason Miller, an adviser to the Trump campaign, called in to the network and demanded they retract the announcement.

Instead, they write, “the decision desk at Fox News doubled down on its call, putting Arnon Mishkin, the head of the desk, on-air to defend the call.”

“@FoxNews is a complete outlier in calling Arizona, and other media outlets should not follow suit,” Miller tweeted.

“There are still 1M+ Election Day votes out there waiting to be counted – we pushed our people to vote on Election Day, but now Fox News is trying to invalidate their votes!” he maintained.

“We only need 61% of the outstanding, uncounted Election Day votes in Arizona to win,” Miller continued. “These votes are coming from ‘our counties,’ and the 61% figure is very doable based on what our other Election Day votes are looking like. @FoxNews should retract their call immediately.”

But the network did not retract that call.

And while the ballot count is dragging on into the fourth day, Biden remains ahead in Arizona.

Have you subscribed to theGrio’s “Dear Culture” podcast? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire and Roku. Download theGrio.com today!