Watching Fox News is the closest most people will ever get to seeing presidential advisers jockey for the president’s attention in real time. People who go on the network know that President Donald Trump may be watching at any time, and they shape their commentary to influence his decisions. A few carefully calibrated segments can dictate everything from federal contracts to presidential pardons to top administration posts. And based on last night’s coverage, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar may want to start updating his resume.

Lou Dobbs, a Fox Business host, is one of Trump’s most loyal propagandists. His show is the closest thing the U.S. has to a North Korea-style state TV broadcast. Dobbs provides relentlessly over-the-top praise of the president’s supposed virtues and bitter denouncements of his enemies. Trump loves the program and has called the host and put him on speakerphone during Oval Office meetings. Administration officials who go on his program have come to expect a safe space to spout their talking points and walk away unscathed.

Azar was surely anticipating that treatment when he joined Dobbs for an interview last night to discuss the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. That’s what had happened just a week ago, when the host told Azar that the administration was doing a “terrific job” handling the coronavirus and complimented him for “treating Americans like adults.” But this time, Dobbs relentlessly grilled Azar, calling his honesty and competency into question over 10 brutal minutes.