When I was a kid, my Aunt Adeline had a magic ring. We’d get to her house for a visit and she would rub the ring and intone, “Magic, magic, make chocolate appear”. She’d then point to a drawer and sure enough, when we opened it there was a (usually Hershey’s) chocolate bar siting in it. We bought this act long after we should have figured out that she was putting the chocolate there before we arrived. We bought it despite the fact that sometimes the chocolate was already opened and half eaten. We bought it for as long as we could carry out the charade because at the end of the rainbow was a chocolate bar. Why mess with a good thing.
I think this is how Fox News viewers watch Fox. They know it’s all an act. They know it’s not true. They know Fox is simply catering to what they already believe. And they maintain the charade because at the end of the day, they have a chocolate bar that confirms all their already deeply held beliefs and suspicions. Truth is not even part of the equation. Their chocolate bar is the confirmation of what they already believe to be true even if all facts clearly show it’s not.