Political commentator Lou Dobbs, a onetime CNN on-air star who later shifted to the far-right, becoming a vocal proponent of former President Donald Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 presidential election was rigged, has died at the age of 78.
“The Great Lou Dobbs has just passed away — A friend, and truly incredible Journalist, Reporter, and Talent,” Trump posted Thursday on his Twitter clone, Truth Social. “He understood the World, and what was ‘happening,’ better than others. Lou was unique in so many ways, and loved our Country. Our warmest condolences to his wonderful wife, Debi, and family. He will be greatly missed!”
WABC radio, which carried Dobbs’ Sunday business show, posted Thursday afternoon on X: “Lou Dobbs has passed away. We send our condolences to the Lou Dobbs family.”
Dobbs was fired from Fox News in February 2021 following the filing of a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit by the voting machine company Smartmatic over his persistent platforming of Trump’s false claims about a “stolen election.”
“The 2020 Election is a cyber Pearl Harbor: The leftwing establishment have aligned their forces to overthrow the United States government,” Dobbs had tweeted a year earlier. “ #MAGA #AmericaFirst #Dobbs.”
Dobbs first hosted attorney Sidney Powell on his show, allowing her to promote untrue claims of election fraud that Fox would later be forced to settle for nearly $800 million.
He later reappeared with a web-based show, Lou Dobbs Tonight, carried on a website run by election denier and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell.
Dobbs had a history of boosting Trump’s lies, eagerly parroting the future president’s entirely debunked insistence beginning in 2008 that Barack Obama was not a natural-born US citizen. He at one time claimed, also untruthfully, that undocumented immigrants had brought thousands of cases of leprosy into the United States.
Before Dobbs went all-in on Trump, the Harvard graduate was a highly respected television journalist, in 2005 receiving an Emmy Award for Lifetime Achievement. He was also honored for his work by organizations ranging from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers to the National Space Club to the National Father’s Day Committee.