Is U.S. conservative media turning on Trump?

Matthew Rusling 
WASHINGTON - Conservative media has generally not been critical toward U.S. President Donald Trump. But things may change after a top Fox News anchor blasted the president for his silence over Moscow's alleged interference in the U.S. presidential elections. 
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith earlier this week lambasted Trump for refusing to condemn Russia for its alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential elections, amid an ongoing investigation into the matter. The move was unusual since Fox is generally supportive of the president. It remains unknown whether the network will continue this way, but analysts said conservative media are concerned over the allegations of coziness with Russia, a country that conservatives and conservative media have always been criticizing. 
"We are likely to see conservative media criticizing Trump over Russia because that is a hot button issue for them," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua. "They long have loathed Russia and felt it was harming U.S. interests and they worry about the president's cozy relationship with Russians," West said. 
Indeed, the White House has for a year been battling suspicions that Trump had colluded with Russia in a bid to clinch the presidential elections. An investigation is ongoing, and critics wonder why the Trump administration has been silent on the issue. "They wonder if there are things beneath the surface that stop Trump from condemning Russia," West said. 
Most other Republicans at one point or another have criticized what they view as Russian aggression in foreign policy and authoritarianism at home. But Trump's silence on these matters, say critics, is deafening. 
"As more information comes to light regarding the Russia relationship, it could become even more difficult for Trump to maintain his silence," West said. "The president spent the weekend defending himself, misrepresenting the truth and attacking others from his phone in Florida," the anchor said earlier this week on Shepard Smith Reporting. 
"He did not attack (Russian President) Vladimir Putin or Russia, nor did he express concern that the Russians attacked the United States. Nor did he pledge in any way to put measures in place to stop future attacks," Smith said. The Fox News host also underscored Trump's post on the social media platform Twitter, which claimed that he "never said Russia did not meddle in the election." 
"The president has questioned the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election over and over, and over again," Smith said. Dan Mahaffee, senior vice president and director of policy at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that Smith has been an outlier among the Fox News talent. 
The rest of their line up and conservative media have continued to follow a narrative that downplays the nature of the interference -- lest it be seen as a way to lessen the impact of President Trump's victory, Mahaffee said. 
"For much of the same reason, President Trump fails to address the issue and use the powers given to him by Congress to tighten sanctions on Putin's inner circle," Mahaffee added.