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Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth Social

Trump announced he was switching away from Fox News and said he would watch the midterm results with allies in the White House East Room.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth Social

What this story says

  • Trump posted on Truth Social calling Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock.”
  • He said he would switch off Fox News while the pre‑election results aired.
  • Sources told CNN he will watch the midterm results with allies in the East Room.
  • Right‑leaning digest reports the insult as “dumb as a cork,” not “rock.”

Who covered it

Left 59%(13)Centre 27%(6)Right 14%(3)

Percentages are shares of the 22 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 7 of the 29 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

78/100

Craft

67/100

Hype

28/100

29 sources · methodology

Thin on the right so far

Only 3 of the 22 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

On election night, President Donald Trump used his Truth Social platform to complain about Fox News commentator Jessica Tarlov. He wrote that he could not stand her voice and described it as “dumb as a rock.” The post also said he would change the channel from Fox News. Sources reported to CNN that Trump plans to watch the midterm results later that night in the White House East Room with close allies.

The Independent published the full text of Trump’s post, quoting his exact wording and noting the East Room detail. Other outlets reproduced the gist of the story in short digests, confirming the insult, the channel switch, and the timing of the post.

Disagreement on the wording of Trump’s insult

The Independent, Mediaite, Raw Story and the Daily Beast all report that Trump called Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock.” In contrast, news‑pravda’s digest records the phrase as “dumb as a cork.” Both versions are attributed to Trump’s Truth Social post.

““Watching the Pre‑Election Results on Fox News, but I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice, DUMB AS A ROCK, but it’s the voice that gets me,””

— Donald Trump, former President

What the coverage left out

None of the centre or right digests mention that Trump will watch the midterm results with allies in the East Room, a detail reported only by the Independent’s full article.

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 4 Nov 2026, 01:45, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

13 rated outlets

  • The Independent’s full report led on Trump’s personal attack, quoting his “dumb as a rock” remark and his intention to switch channels. It also highlighted his plan to watch the results with allies in the East Room, citing sources told CNN. The digests from Mediaite, Raw Story and the Daily Beast echoed the insult, the channel change and the timing of the post, reinforcing the narrative of a frustrated president targeting a liberal commentator.

Centre

6 rated outlets

  • The Hill’s digest focused on the fact that Trump turned off Fox News after criticizing Tarlov’s voice, summarising the incident as a switch away from the network during election‑night updates.

Right

3 rated outlets

  • news‑pravda’s digest reported that Trump was annoyed by the election‑night television commentary and quoted his insult as “dumb as a cork,” noting his decision to change the channel.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth…?
Of the 22 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 59% are rated left, 27% are rated centre, 14% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 29. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 22 rated outlets on this story, 59% are rated left, 27% are rated centre, 14% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth… biased?
Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth Social is one event reported by 29 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth…?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth…?
29 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did Trump say about Jessica Tarlov’s voice?
Trump posted that he could not stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice, calling it “dumb as a rock.” The Independent quoted the exact wording, while a right‑leaning digest recorded the phrase as “dumb as a cork.”
Which channel did Trump say he would switch away from?
Trump announced on Truth Social that he would change the channel from Fox News while the pre‑election results were being broadcast. The Independent and left‑leaning digests all note this channel switch.
Where will Trump watch the midterm results?
Sources told CNN that Trump plans to watch the midterm results later on election night in the White House East Room, accompanied by close allies. This detail appears only in the Independent’s full report.
Did any outlets report a different wording for the insult?
Yes. The Independent, Mediaite, Raw Story and the Daily Beast report the insult as “dumb as a rock.” news‑pravda’s digest records it as “dumb as a cork,” showing a disagreement on the exact phrase.

Read it at the source

30 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

14
Show 6 more

Centre

6

Right

3

Not rated

7

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

Donald Trump calls Jessica Tarlov’s voice “dumb as a rock” on Truth Social | MediaBias News