February 6, 2021

Fox News Canceled Lou Dobbs Just One Day After a Voting Machine Company Sued for $2.7 Billion

The longtime host was one of the loudest—and most fawning—pro-Trump voices in the Fox orbit.

Lou Dobbs, with Fox News, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, in Oxon Hill, Md. AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Fox News Media abruptly canceled Lou Dobbs’ nightly show on Friday, putting an end to its business channel’s most popular show—and to one of the most Donald Trump-friendly voices on national television. 

Dobbs was one of the loudest and most aggressive proponents in the national media of the idea that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, and in particular the various theories that voting machines were rigged against Trump. Dobbs frequently hosted Trump’s attorney Sidney Powell and other guests who pushed the unfounded conspiracies—and raged against guests who weren’t sufficiently on board with the falsehoods.

On Thursday, voting technology company Smartmatic, which Dobbs and others in his circle have falsely accused of helping rig the election, filed a $2.7 billion lawsuit against Dobbs, several other Fox News hosts, and the channel itself. According to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the news of Dobbs’ cancellation, the decision was not related to the lawsuit, but part of a planned overhaul of the channel’s lineups. However, the decision to immediately pull the plug on Dobbs after last night’s show seems an abrupt way to end the run of Fox Business’ top-rated show.

Dobbs has long been known as a strong conservative voice, railing against high immigration and helping stoke birtherism conspiracy theories, but since Trump’s election, his commentary became increasingly fawning and often bizarre. For example, on the day legendary journalist Bob Woodward released taped phone calls with Trump, revealing that the then-president knew how deadly the COVID-19 pandemic was—while simultaneously downplaying its danger—Dobbs seemed to be broadcasting from a different universe. 

The fawning did seem to pay off for Dobbs, who not only got ratings, but had the ear of the president himself, earning him trips to the White House to consult on policy. He reportedly sometimes spoke to the president multiple times a day to offer advice. 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with The Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate