I can count on one hand the number of FNC hosts and contributors that aren't morons. It was claimed that Ailes picked the most milquetoast people with no original arguments to represent liberals so conservatives could easily shut them down. Of course most of the conservatives were also basic neocons from the Buckley school. So you always had that very narrow line of acceptable narrative that leftists complained was far-right but was just traditional American politics since the 60s.