Fox News carried only the opening minutes of Vice President JD Vance’s speech at a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, then abandoned the coverage permanently roughly eight minutes in.
“America Reports” co-anchor Sandra Smith made the cutaway just after 1 p.m., and the broadcast pivoted to the United Nations General Assembly. “Alright, you have been listening to Vice President Vance talking to voters ahead of the midterms in battleground North Carolina. He’s in Greensboro this afternoon. We will bring you right back to this rally if he starts to make news,” Smith said.
Vance had just begun a riff on Democratic congressional candidates when Smith interrupted the feed. The vice president was mid-sentence when Fox dropped the audio, at the words: “This November, the Democrat Party is running candidates for Congress who—”
The network never returned to the rally. The speech ran roughly 30 minutes, and Fox viewers saw only the first eight. C-SPAN stuck with the full address.
The clip ricocheted around social media within hours. Journalist Aaron Rupar posted the cutaway to X on Sept. 21, and it spread quickly. One user joked that to “make news,” Vance would first have to say something President Donald Trump hadn’t already said 900 times. Another user marveled that a Republican vice president had effectively been given a shrug.
Trump’s decision to bar three news organizations from the White House drew in a number of commenters, who speculated that the abrupt exit had been Fox’s quiet signal to the administration about it. That remains speculation.
Cutaways from live political events are routine television. Smith’s phrasing struck many viewers as a verdict on Vance’s newsworthiness rather than a scheduling decision.
As of Tuesday, Sept. 22, Vance had not publicly addressed the cutaway or the online reaction to it.
Fox viewers also missed the rest of the speech. Later in the address, Vance told the crowd he had accidentally said “fart left” instead of “far left,” and he preemptively warned that the “fake news” would accuse him of bad language. He urged voters to give Republicans “another chance” and another couple of years to keep working. The U.S. Senate, he said, needs a fighter in it — not somebody who bends the knee to the far left.
Navarro Calls for Fox Boycott
Trump adviser Peter Navarro appeared on Wednesday, Sept. 23, on former White House strategist Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast and called on the administration to stop supplying guests to Fox News. Smith’s comment drew a specific mention from Navarro, as did the network’s decision not to air Vance’s Greensboro speech in its entirety.
Navarro said the network had “revealed itself to be essentially undermining the Trump administration.” He asked: “Why are we feeding them talent anymore? Why do we let anybody in this administration go on their network?”
“They are unchained right now,” Navarro said of the network on “War Room,” adding, “Fox News is much more dangerous to MAGA, much more dangerous to the Republican Party, because they wear our colors when they’re in fact helping the other side undermine the president.”
Navarro had also written a Washington Times opinion piece, published Sept. 22. “Fox is not real news. It is CNN with better lighting, a fake slogan and a flag graphic,” he wrote, urging readers: “Stop watching its dangerous drivel.” The op-ed pointed to Fox News’ decision to part ways with journalist Maria Bartiromo as evidence the network has “Trump derangement syndrome.”
The call went unheeded at the top, and administration figures kept appearing on the network. First Lady Melania Trump sat for a lengthy interview that “Fox & Friends” aired on Wednesday, Sept. 23; she praised her husband’s work ethic and said he was “doing the best that he can.”
A Thin Crowd in Greensboro
The Koury Convention Center, which can hold as many as 3,000 people, hosted Vance, 42, before a crowd of about 300. Attendees were photographed in clusters scrolling their phones while the vice president spoke, in a roundup published Sept. 22.
Michael Whatley, the Republican Senate nominee in North Carolina and a former Republican National Committee chairman, was the reason Vance made the trip. Facing Whatley on the ballot is Roy Cooper, the Democratic candidate and former North Carolina governor. Sen. Thom Tillis, a Trump critic, holds the seat; he announced his retirement in June 2025 after clashing with Trump.
Cooper led Whatley in polling as of Sept. 21; a Carolina Journal poll released Sept. 17 put his lead at 15 points. The party’s slim Senate majority could hinge on the outcome, which is why Republicans have called the contest especially critical. Trump, 80, had traveled to North Carolina to campaign for Whatley less than a week before Vance’s appearance, speaking to reporters on arrival at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Press Fight in the Background
Trump declared on Friday, Sept. 18, that CNN, Politico and MS NOW would be shut out of the White House. Journalists working for the three outlets had their credentials revoked and were turned away from the building on Saturday, Sept. 19.
Television networks announced on Monday, Sept. 21, that the White House TV pool would suspend its coverage of the president. ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC refused to provide replacement crews when CNN’s turn to lead the pool came around. No one recorded the announcement Trump made at the White House that Monday afternoon, and even friendly outlets such as Newsmax had nothing to air.
The three outlets filed their suit on Monday, Sept. 21. “This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,” CNN, MS NOW and Politico said in a joint statement.
A federal judge, calling the ban likely unconstitutional, ordered Trump in the early hours of Thursday, Sept. 24, to temporarily restore White House access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico while their lawsuit proceeds.
Journalists from those outlets said they were turned away from the White House that Thursday morning, Sept. 24. After the outlets filed a request for an emergency hearing, the White House appeared to restore their access.
On Monday, Sept. 28, the outlets asked U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly to turn his temporary order, which expires Oct. 8, into a preliminary injunction, saying the White House had kept CNN out of the Air Force One press pool on Sept. 27.
Progressives Keep Winning Nominations
Progressive Democrats have kept winning nominations around the country. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed won the party’s Senate nomination over U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens. In Massachusetts, Sen. Ed Markey turned back the more moderate Seth Moulton, about 65 percent to 35 percent.