Lou Dobbs

Lou Dobbs
Dobbs at CPAC in 2015
Born
Louis Carl Dobbs

(1945-09-24)September 24, 1945
Childress, Texas, U.S.
DiedJuly 18, 2024(2024-07-18) (aged 78)
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.[citation needed]
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Occupations
  • Talk radio host
  • managing editor
  • former news anchor
Political party
SpouseDebi Lee Roth-Segura
Children4
Websiteloudobbs.com

Louis Carl Dobbs (September 24, 1945 – July 18, 2024) was an American conservative[1] political commentator, author, and television host who presented Moneyline (later Lou Dobbs Tonight) from 1980 to 2009 and 2011 to 2021. From 2021 until his death, he hosted The Great America Show on iHeartRadio and loudobbs.com.[2]

Dobbs started working with CNN at its inception in 1980, serving as a reporter and network vice president. On the air, he served as host and managing editor of the network's business program, Moneyline, which premiered in 1980. The show was renamed Lou Dobbs Tonight in 2003. Dobbs resigned from CNN in 1999 but rejoined the network in 2001. He resigned once again in November 2009. He was the former talk radio host of Lou Dobbs Radio. From 2011, he hosted Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network until the network cancelled it in February 2021.[3][4]

Dobbs was an early promoter of birtherism, the unfounded accusation that former U.S. President Barack Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen. He was known for anti-immigration views,[5][6][7] as well as for opposition to NAFTA and other trade deals. A staunch supporter of Donald Trump, he infused his show with pro-Trump coverage.[8][9][10][11] He was one of three Fox Corporation program hosts named in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by Smartmatic relating to conspiracy theories used in attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election.[12][13][14][15] Dobbs was among the hosts named in the Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network defamation lawsuit for broadcasting false statements about the plaintiff company's voting machines that Fox News settled for $787.5 million and required Fox News to acknowledge that the broadcast statements were false.[16][17][18]

  1. ^ "Lou Dobbs." Gale Literature: Contemporary Authors, Gale, 2018. Gale in Context: Biography
  2. ^ Petrizzo, Zachary (February 2, 2022). "Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs Get Together and Grumble About Fox News". Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  3. ^ "Fox News cancels Lou Dobbs' show; pro-Trump host not expected to be back on air". Los Angeles Times. February 5, 2021. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  4. ^ Stelter, Brian (February 5, 2021). "Fox Business suddenly cancels 'Lou Dobbs Tonight,' its highest-rated show". CNN. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :18 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference guardian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference latimes2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Durkee, Alison (May 3, 2019). "Trump 'Policy Whisperer' Lou Dobbs Unloads on 'Radical Dimms' in Unhinged Opening Monologue". The Hive. Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  9. ^ Roig-Franzia, Manuel; Costa, Robert (April 27, 2019). "Hard-line views made Lou Dobbs a Fox powerhouse. Now he's shaping Trump's border policy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  10. ^ Holmes, Jack (April 11, 2019). "The Trump-Fox Symbiosis of Stupid Continues With an Extremely Wrong Poll". Esquire. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  11. ^ Mayer, Jane (March 4, 2019). "The Making of the Fox News White House". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  12. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (March 8, 2022). "Smartmatic can pursue election-rigging claims against Fox News, Giuliani". Reuters.
  13. ^ Stempel, Jonathan (February 14, 2023). "Fox News must face Smartmatic's lawsuit over election-rigging claims". Reuters.
  14. ^ Darcy, Oliver (February 4, 2021). "Voting technology company Smartmatic files $2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell over 'disinformation campaign'". CNN. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  15. ^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (February 6, 2021). "Lawsuits Take the Lead in Fight Against Disinformation". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.
  16. ^ "Fox News and three hosts sued for $2.7 billion by voting machine company over election-fraud claims". USA Today. Associated Press. February 4, 2021. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  17. ^ Folkenflik, David; Yang, Mary (April 18, 2023). "Fox News settles blockbuster defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems". NPR. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  18. ^ Davis, Eric (March 31, 2023). "Summary Judgment" (PDF). Superior Court of the State of Delaware. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 31, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.