Conservative 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.”
Dobb’s official social media account also announced the news, posting on X, “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 joined CNN in 1980, when the all-news cable channel first launched. In a statement following the announcement of Dobbs’ death, the outlet called Dobbs “one of the CNN originals, who helped launch and shape the network.”
His first show, Moneyline, morphed into Lou Dobbs Moneyline, which in 2003 became Lou Dobbs Tonight. In 2009, as Barack Obama assumed the US presidency, Dobbs left CNN and later joined Fox Business, where he remained for 10 years.
“Over the past six months, it has become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us, and some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem-solving as well as to contribute positively to a better understanding of the great issues of our day and to continue to do so in the most honest and direct language possible,” Dobbs announced on the air.
Dobbs was fired from Fox 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. Following Dobbs’ passing, Fox said in a statement that the network was “deeply saddened” by the news, calling him an “incredible business mind with a gift for broadcasting.”
“We are immensely grateful for his many contributions and send our heartfelt condolences to his family,” the statement said.
Dobbs spent the past decade-plus 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.