President Donald Trump is pretty adamant about his disdain for the news media. But he knows who his friends are.

For four years before he ran for president, Trump called into the Fox News Channel morning show “Fox & Friends” every Monday and was given an unfiltered forum to present his views. When the show’s co-hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade interviewed him at the White House on Feb. 27, Trump said, “Maybe without those call-ins somebody else is sitting here.”

The designation as the president’s favorite cable news program is not a badge of honor in journalism circles. As a freewheeling talk show for the conservative Fox News audience, “Fox & Friends” has long been maligned by liberal media watchdogs and lampooned on “Saturday Night Live.”

But supporters of Trump’s brand of populism are making “Fox & Friends” their morning destination. The show had its best month ever in February, averaging 1.7 million viewers, according to Nielsen, a 46 percent gain over the same month a year ago.

The program is riding a trend in which viewers are moving toward political talk in the morning as the frenetic activity of the Trump administration dominates the national conversation.

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” was up 34 percent in February compared with a year earlier, averaging 847,000 viewers. CNN’s “New Day” was also up 46 percent to 639,000 viewers. Both programs have a heavy Washington focus, but a far more skeptical view of Trump.

Ad revenue on the three shows has seen substantial gains as well. Ad revenue for “Fox & Friends” rose 33 percent to $12.5 million during the fourth quarter of 2016 compared with the same period a year earlier. “Morning Joe” increased ad revenue 67 percent to $8.3 million, and “New Day” rose 59 percent to $9.1 million in the fourth quarter, according to data from Standard Media Index.

The audience lift occurred as Nielsen data showed a shift away from the broadcast network shows. In February, NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “CBS This Morning” were collectively down 1 million viewers compared with last year.

NBC News Chairman Andy Lack attributed the loss to the broadcast network morning shows’ mission to serve a wider audience that goes beyond viewers obsessed with the activities in Washington.

“I think people who are particularly interested in political news are not getting as much as they want,” Lack said. “Some of those people might have been watching broadcast and they are moving to the cable side.”

When Trump has a good day, he does really well on “Fox & Friends.” The day after his widely praised address to Congress, rock anthems “My Hero” by Foo Fighters and Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s “Takin’ Care of Business” accompanied the segments on his speech.

When the story is not so good for the administration — such as the executive order on immigration that was blocked by the courts — the missteps are reported by the opinionated co-hosts with commentary that provides, at minimum, the benefit of the doubt.

The Monday after the weekend in which Trump made his unsubstantiated charge that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, had wiretapped Trump Tower, the veracity of the claim was not seriously questioned until it was done by a guest, former CIA Director Michael Hayden.

“Fox & Friends” will also find Trump-friendly stories not seen elsewhere. Last week, the co-hosts interviewed a writer for a conservative magazine who was made fun of by TBS late-night host Samantha Bee for having what she called “Nazi hair.” It was later learned that he was suffering from brain cancer and Bee, popular with Trump detractors, had to apologize. Trump approvingly tweeted the story to his 26.4 million followers when it aired.

Such exchanges are exactly what conservatives who watch Fox News — the top-rated cable news network — want in the morning, according to veteran TV news executive Jonathan Klein, who led CNN from 2004 to 2010.

“They are an unwavering fan club that helps those conservative viewers kick off the day the right way in their minds, and they just stick to it,” Klein said. “You want a group of friends who see the world the way you do, who you want to hang out with. For the Fox viewers, those three are it.”