Fox News contributor and Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen has emerged as one of the most influential voices in all the Fourth Estate during the second Trump administration, according to a new story from Semafor’s Max Tani.

“Thiessen may deserve credit for one of the surprises of Trump’s second term: his continued, if measured, support for Ukraine in the face of hostility inside his party and his administration,” reported Tani under the headline, “How the Fox News hawks got back in Trump’s good graces.”

“Post opinion editor Adam O’Neal has told journalists that Thiessen’s calls with Trump regarding Ukraine were influential in persuading Trump to continue to take the country’s side in the conflict in the face of some Republicans pushing for a quick settlement with Russia, people familiar with the Post’s internal conversations said. Thiessen similarly told colleagues at the Post that he believed his columns were shaping Trump’s thinking on the war in Ukraine,” noted Tani. “Last year, Trump invited him to have dinner with their respective wives at the White House. Thiessen has told people at the Post that after one phone call with Trump, the president complimented the attractiveness of Thiessen’s wife.”

Last month, Trump shared a Thiessen column — “Trump doesn’t need a deal to get what he wants from Iran” — on Truth Social, while commenting that it was “Very true!!!”

As Tani pointed out, Thiessen’s rising star is emblematic of the president’s hawkish turn, as well as of his break with various conspiratorial, isolationist voices on the right — including Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Megyn Kelly.

“I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon — Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs. They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too! Look at their past, look at their record. They don’t have what it takes, and they never did! They’ve all been thrown off Television, lost their Shows, and aren’t even invited on TV because nobody cares about them, they’re NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS, and will say anything necessary for some ‘free’ and cheap publicity,” declared Trump in a lengthy Truth Social post last month. “Now they think they get some ‘clicks’ because they have Third Rate Podcasts, but nobody’s talking about them, and their views are the opposite of MAGA — Or I wouldn’t have won the Presidential Election in a LANDSLIDE. MAGA agrees with me, and just gave CNN a 100% Approval Rating of ‘TRUMP,’ not Hand Flailing Fools like Tucker Carlson, who couldn’t even finish College, he was a broken man when he got fired from Fox, and he’s never been the same — Perhaps he should see a good psychiatrist! Or Megyn Kelly, who nastily asked me the now famous, ‘Only Rosie O’Donnell,’ question, or ‘Crazy’ Candace Owens, who accuses the Highly Respected First Lady of France of being a man, when she is not, and will hopefully win lots of money in the ongoing lawsuit.”

Trump also leapt to the defense of Fox host Mark Levin in March amid his bitter feud with Kelly.

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