At the president’s campaign rally over the weekend, Gene Huber, a fan who has not one but two cardboard cutouts of his idol and salutes it (them?) daily, was called up to the stage for what he called “a dream come true.” And as much as Huber seems to love the president, that’s as much as Fox seems to love Huber. In fact, Trump knew of Huber thanks to Fox. So was it a set up? We report, you decide.

On Sunday, the day after the rally, Huber got some Fox love on Fox & Friends. On Monday, the weekday Curvy Couch Crew admired him all over again. So did Fox’s blog.

Cohost Steve Doocy asked the hard-hitting question, “How close were you to kissing Donald Trump, out of curiosity?”

Doocy also noted that some people thought Huber was “so perfect for Trump, he must’ve been a plant.”

Huber called that “totally ridiculous.” He insisted there had been “no set up, anything like that at all.”

But what Doocy didn’t mention is that Trump had seen Huber interviewed on Fox News and recognized him in the crowd. So was it possible that Fox set up Huber without him knowing it, thereby keeping the surprise genuine on his part? Given that Fox may have leaked a debate question to Trump and may have given him a heads up on interview questions, it would not seem inconceivable for Fox to have helped orchestrate this bit of PR.

Cohost Ainsley Earhardt made a show of giving the story credence. She gushed, “I thought this is so like President Trump just to invite, just one of us, up on stage and say, ‘Come on over and tell your story.’”

Doocy gave a few plugs for Huber’s car sales business and urged the viewers, “Buy a car from Gene today.”

Huber returned the favor.

“I salute him every morning,” Huber said, meaning the Trump cardboard cutout(s). “Just like this: Good morning Mr. President. I pray for your safety, and let’s have a wonderful day. Thank you, sir, for what you do for us.”

Cohost Brian Kilmeade did his part to suggest that a poll giving Trump an approval rating of 39% was wrong. “How is the president doing?” Kilmeade asked, as if he didn't already know the kind of response Huber would provide.

“He’s doing 139% awesome,” Huber replied. “This man is the leader that we need in this world and, folks, write this down, he’s going to be the best president in history.”

Even if Fox did nothing to steer Trump to Huber during the rally, the network certainly did its part to milk every bit of Happy Trump optics from it. Vladimir Putin would be impressed.

Watch it below and imagine how Fox would react if CNN or MSNBC did a similar interview during Barack Obama’s time in office.

Update:  Richard reminded us that Huber has called Obama a Muslim in tweets. No wonder Trump liked him so much, eh?