In a jaw-dropping display that has been described as the on-air collapse of “state regime media,” Fox News is facing a firestorm of criticism for its recent coverage, which critics are labeling as a sociopathic attempt to normalize a nation in chaos. As the country grapples with a crippling government shutdown and crippling economic hardship, the network’s hosts have been seen defending everything from the literal “desecration” of the White House to the president posting disturbing AI-generated videos of himself defecating on his perceived enemies.

The disconnect between the reality of American life and the propaganda being broadcast was laid bare in a stunningly tone-deaf segment. As the network’s hosts casually discussed the “big comeback” of Hamburger Helper, they noted it was because “consumers tighten their wallets.” The segment was presented as a quirky lifestyle trend, completely detached from the crippling grocery prices that, critics argue, are a direct result of the administration’s policies. While Americans are forced to turn to processed meal kits, the president’s allies are busy defending his “sociopathic” behavior.

This behavior was most vividly captured by host Jesse Waters, who was tasked with spinning one of the most bizarre presidential acts in modern history: Donald Trump’s repeated posting of AI videos depicting him “strafing feces over everybody.” Instead of questioning the sanity or decorum of such an act, Waters dismissed it with a laugh. “Trump’s a meme lord,” Waters declared, as if the president of the United States posting scatological attack videos was the equivalent of a harmless internet joke.

The segment was a horrifying window into a media ecosystem that has lost all bearings, where the commander-in-chief can digitally “take shits on people,” and the nation’s leading cable news network will shrug and call him “a meme lord.”

But the normalization of the bizarre did not end there. The network has gone into overdrive to defend what critics are calling the “desecration” of the White House. Trump, in an unprecedented move, has ordered the “bulldozing of the entire east wing” to make way for a “big beautiful ballroom.”

While critics like Gavin Newsom stated Trump is “ripping apart the White House just like he’s ripping apart the Constitution,” Fox hosts immediately scrambled to provide cover. They equated this massive, unilateral “demolition” of a historic landmark to Barack Obama building a basketball court or Richard Nixon installing a bowling alley. This, the video’s narrator argues, is a blatant lie. Past renovations, such as the addition of the West Wing or a swimming pool, were projects that involved Congress, preservation commissions, and historical oversight.

Trump’s project, by contrast, is being executed with “zero transparency” and, according to reports, is being privately funded by corporations like Google and Palantir, who are seeking “favorable treatment” and “big contracts.” It is, critics allege, a “quid pro quo” playing out in plain sight, a dictator “desecrating” the people’s house for his own vanity.

As the network dedicated its airtime to defending feces memes and historic demolition, it was left to one host, Jessica Tarlov, to inject a dose of reality. Tarlov, described as the “only good host on Fox,” attempted to steer the conversation away from the “monstrosity” of the ballroom and toward the actual stories “hurting everyday Americans.”

The first and most pressing, she noted, is the government shutdown. Tarlov revealed that the Republican caucus from New Jersey is in a full-blown panic, writing to House Speaker Mike Johnson that their constituents “cannot handle” the consequences, such as ACA premium hikes.

More damning, however, is the administration’s betrayal of its own base. Tarlov pointed out that while Fox News spins fantasies, “our farmers are losing their businesses” and “our cattle ranchers” are in revolt. The National Cattleman’s Beef Association, a powerful conservative lobby, issued a stunning rebuke, stating they “cannot stand behind President Trump” as he “undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers by importing Argentinian beef.” This is the real-world consequence of the chaos, a story of profound betrayal that the “state regime media” refuses to cover.

Instead, they move the goalposts. After Trump promised to fix the economy on “day one,” his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessant, is now on air telling Americans that the “great years” won’t arrive until “maybe 2026 or actually 2027.”

The propaganda effort has become a grotesque circus. One segment featured hosts earnestly defending MAGA figure JD Vance from rumors that he “had sex with a couch.” In another, Senator Markwayne Mullin compared the deployment of the National Guard into American cities to “protect ICE agents” to the heroic federal actions taken during the Civil Rights Act—a comparison so vile it was labeled “sociopathic.”

The network’s war on its own viewers has also escalated, with a full-scale assault on healthcare. Senator Tommy Tuberville appeared on air to declare the Affordable Care Act a “disaster” and that the healthcare system is “on the verge of collapse.” Congresswoman Claudia Tenny echoed this, calling Obamacare a triumphant failure. Critics note the one thing these Republicans never offer is a replacement plan. Their goal is not to fix healthcare, but to “rip health care away from people and kill them,” leaving them with the pre-Obamacare “plan” where insurance companies could discriminate based on pre-existing conditions and prescription drugs were unaffordable.

The entire “collapse” of Fox News as a media entity was perfectly encapsulated in its most brazen segment of all: an interview with Senator Rick Scott of Florida. Scott, the man who oversaw “the biggest Medicare fraud criminal fraud in US history”—a $1.7 billion scandal where his company pled guilty and he invoked the fifth 75 times—was brought on air as an expert. This man, who got rich off a criminal enterprise, was given a platform to look into the camera and say, “I’m the one to fix it… I’m going to fix Obamacare.”

It is, critics conclude, the ultimate con: a network of “dumb,” “vile,” and “sociopathic human beings” propping up a corrupt administration, selling a fantasy to an audience they are actively harming. This is not news. It is a propaganda machine collapsing under the weight of its own audacity.