Tucker Carlson stressed about Biden's war on white supremacy and Sean Hannity renewed attacks on Hunter in a first wave of Fox News attacks on the new administration

• Fox News hosts largely reacted to Joe Biden's inauguration with attacks and fearmongering.
• Tucker Carlson said Biden's war on white supremacy was a bid to persecute conservatives.
• The shows appeared to preview how the network will handle Biden's presidency.

For millions watching the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Wednesday, the message was one of hope and unity. But for those watching events unfold on Fox News, it was a different and darker story.

For four years the network's prime-time hosts were cheerleaders for the White House, defending President Donald Trump's policies and even acting as his informal advisors.

But there was an abrupt shift Wednesday as they reverted to roles familiar from their coverage of the Obama administration: fierce critics.

Tucker Carlson, long a defender of Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric and white-grievance policies, seemed particularly concerned about Biden's description in his inaugural address of white supremacy as something "that we must confront and we will defeat."

—Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) January 21, 2021

"Now that we're waging war on white supremacists, can somebody tell us in very clear language what a white supremacist is?" Carlson asked.

"Innocent people could be hurt in this war. They usually are," the host continued. "There could be collateral damage in this war. And the casualties will be Americans. So again, what is a white supremacist? You might be surprised to learn just how broad the definition for that has become."

Sean Hannity, a host who like Carlson doubled as a friend and advisor to Trump, announced that he would be renewing his investigation into Hunter Biden, the president's son.

The younger Biden's business dealings in Ukraine were a focus of the Trump campaign's attacks in 2020, but the network largely fell silent about the issue after November.

—Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) January 21, 2021

On Fox News' home page early Thursday, the focus wasn't on Biden's star-studded inauguration or his flurry of executive orders but on violence blamed on left-wing protesters in Portland, Oregon.

—Jim Edwards (@Jim_Edwards) January 21, 2021

There was also praise for Biden from some corners of Fox News, however. Chris Wallace, who has long served as the network's voice of moderate conservatism, praised Biden's inauguration speech as the best he'd ever heard.

Read more: Joe Biden is hiring about 4,000 political staffers to work in his administration. Here's how 3 experts say you can boost your chances of getting one of those jobs.

The network has long sought to balance appealing to moderate Republicans with appealing to the millions of grassroots voters who revere Trump.

—Tyson Whelan (@tyson_whelan) January 20, 2021

During Obama's presidency, Fox News was a focal point for conservative attacks on the administration.

The network was a key force in popularizing the tea-party movement and devoted extensive airtime to attacking Hillary Clinton over the Benghazi, Libya, attacks in 2012, in which a US diplomat was killed.

At times the network's relationship with Trump was fractious, despite its positive coverage of his presidency.

After losing his bid for reelection, Trump turned on the network for being the first to call Arizona for Biden on election night. Instead Trump boosted far-right networks OANN and Newsmax, which have positioned themselves as rivals to Fox News but attract only a small fraction of its viewing figures.

Fox News' ratings overall though have sagged since Trump's defeat and his attacks on the network, as detailed by CNN's Brian Stelter.