Fox News announced over the weekend that Lara Trump, wife of Eric Trump, will no longer be a paid political commenter on the network. The decision was made because of her father-in-law’s presidential candidacy.

A spokesperson for Fox told the Washington Post that the decision was made due to the network’s ban on political activity. What is different with Lara’s dismissal is that she isn’t the candidate, but a member of the Trump family. Think back to Mike Huckabee who had to give up his Fox show in 2015 when he ran for president. And, Sarah Huckabee- Sanders lost her paid commenter gig when she announced her candidacy for Governor of Arkansas. It happens. But, Huckabee appeared on Fox during Sarah’s run for governor. He must not be a paid contributor. He does have a show currently on TBN. Ben Carson also left his job as a paid commenter on Fox when he entered the GOP primary for the 2016 election.

It really wasn’t surprising when Lara Trump was hired. She was a regular guest for months before the put her on the payroll in 2021. Fox hired former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Clearly Fox didn’t have a problem linking the channel to Trump. She is a big cheerleader for her father-in-law, as you would expect, so it’s understandable that her time was up. She can always come on as a guest.

Fox’s policy was a little fuzzy sometimes around some of the show hosts. Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro appeared on stage during Trump rallies before the 2018 midterm elections.

Lara Trump was on Hannity’s show 25 times in the first 7½ months of President Biden’s administration. At the time, her commentary supporting her father-in-law fit seamlessly into Fox’s opinion programming, which was largely supportive of the former president and his ambitions for another run at the presidency.

But, in the hours and days after the Republican Party’s disappointing showing in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, several Fox commentators expressed displeasure with the former president and a preference for someone else in 2024.

One voice that notably dissented from the chorus of Trump skepticism was Lara Trump, who said early on the morning of Nov. 9 that “if there is ever a time people are ready for Donald Trump to come back, it could be right now.” Trump announced his bid less than a week later.

Some of Rupert Murdoch’s media outlets, including Fox News Channel and also the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal, have openly voiced displeasure that Trump is running again in 2024. There is a preference for Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis as a 2024 nominee. DeSantis hasn’t announced a decision to run for president, though. He just won re-election in Florida. Perhaps the change in attitude by Murdoch’s outlets factored into the decision to end Lara’s time on-air.

At one point, Lara was considering the possibility of running for the Senate from North Carolina, her home state. It was around the same time she was hired by FNC. She hasn’t announced interest in running for any other office. She doesn’t seem to be working on Trump’s 2024 campaign in an official capacity yet, but it’s very early. In 2020, she was a campaign adviser with an active focus on getting out the vote with Republican women specifically.

Lara’s last paid appearance was Nov. 15, the same week Trump announced his candidacy.

**UPDATE** We’ve received confirmation from Fox that Mike Huckabee is not a contributor. Please excuse any misunderstanding. – Karen