FILE – Fox Business News host Lou Dobbs speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), on Feb. 24, 2017, in Oxon Hill, Md.
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Alex Brandon/AP
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The controversial, conservative television host Lou Dobbs died on Thursday. He was 78 years old.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Dobbs’ official account wrote: “It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of ‘the great Lou Dobbs.'”
“Lou was a fighter till the very end — fighting for what mattered to him the most. God, his family and the country. Lou’s legacy will forever live on as a patriot and a great American.”
Dobbs – a former CNN business correspondent – was most known for his time under the Fox News umbrella, where he carved out a niche as a voice of conservatism, being particularly vocal in his criticism of former President Obama and in his praise of former President Trump.
He stayed at the Murdoch-family enterprise until 2021, when he was let go for his repeated, erroneous claim that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged, leading to Trump’s defeat.
During that period, Dobbs went so far as to suggest that Trump’s political opponents had committed “treason” to squash his election dreams, and that any Republican who upheld Biden’s clear and fair victory over the businessman may be a “criminal.”
The Texas-born commentator is survived by his wife, Debi Lee Roth-Segur, and four children from their decades-long union.
Dobbs first came to prominence in 1980, when he joined the newly formed CNN as the chief economics correspondent and host of a business news program on the network.
He spent nearly two decades at CNN – leaving for several years and ultimately returning in 2001, when his far-right political views began taking center stage, according to the Washington Post.
Following the 2008 election of President Obama, the nation’s first Black president, Dobbs again left CNN as a result of his continued pushing of the racist, untrue “birther” theory, that proposed that Obama was not born in the United States, and therefore, was not an eligible candidate for the U.S. presidency.
Dobbs died on the final day of the Republican National Convention, where Trump – Dobbs’ longtime candidate of choice – is slated to speak.