Quotes from Brian Stelter

In this war on truth we are all living in, 'hoax' is a potent, malicious, ugly little word and Trump has been using it more every year. So has Fox.

Looking back, Mr. Trump's exploitation of the term 'fake news' to smear journalists was the single most consequential thing he did during the transition period. He built the scaffolding for his supporters to reject any and all information that wasn't Trump-approved.

What I always tell people about Trump, or Kellyanne Conway, or Sarah Sanders, is that when you are interviewing these people, it is really more about the interviewer than the interviewee. What I mean by that is that the interviewer has to be ready to interrupt, fact-check, challenge, rebut.

The New York Times' coverage of Trump's taxes is an emperor-has-no-clothes moment.

Well I think I'm of the view that Fox has a monopoly position... I think Fox has tremendous power from that point of view, but there's also the sense of fearing their audience.

I suppose my attitude is what's most important is that we surround the president's misleading information with accurate information and help people know what is true 'cause I think the biggest trend of the Trump years is that people are increasingly confused about what is real and what is made-up.

You can convince yourself of just about anything when you want to believe a conspiracy theory.

To be sure, every White House tries to limit its exposure to difficult and distracting questions. The Obama administration was scrutinized for its use of late night shows and YouTube chats to get the president's message across in low-risk situations.

When Trump lifers are calling for troops in the streets because they lost an election, that's radicalization. When they start speculating about breaking off and creating their own country, that is radicalization. All of this election denialism talk is radical. And yet, it is infesting the airwaves. It's everywhere in the pro-Trump media.

I think it's clear that Trump is usually in a reactive mode, reacting to what he sees and hears on Fox.

It is hard to tell where Fox ends and Trump begins. But if I had to choose one side of this, I would say Fox drives Trump more than Trump drives Fox.

Everyone at Fox could see that the way to get attention, to get promoted, to get ahead was to hitch a ride with Trump and never look back.

During the Trump years, many people felt that his antics were impossible to ignore.

Trump lies a whole lot more than Joe Biden or any other Democratic politician.

With regards to Trump's treatment of Putin and Russia, national security experts and journalists have been citing the fact pattern and saying there's something strange going on.

Donald Trump has shouted 'hoax' hundreds of times, about everything from climate change to Supreme Court rulings to impeachment.

Trump forces us to ask questions we didn't used to ask.

Glenn Beck and others were pretty outrageous and extremely conspiratorial in the pre-Trump years. I don't mean to totally gloss over some of the nuttiness that was airing on Fox pre-Trump, but I do see a distinction between those years and the Trump years.

It's not as if Trump is addicted to the best-researched, most in-depth, meticulously sourced material in the world. If he were, we'd all be better off, right?

Trump prides himself on being an intimidator.

Trump's words do have power. Power to inspire and influence. Also power to intimidate and incite fear.

Trump granted pardons because of Fox... He raged against migrant 'caravans' because of Fox. He accused public servants of treason because of Fox. And he got the facts wrong again and again because of mistakes and misreporting by the network.

There is a feedback loop between Trump and TV that is both good and bad.

One way to solve a mystery is by asking the right questions until answers start to emerge.