Of all the hate-mongering Trump lickspittles at Fox News and Fox Business, Lou Dobbs may well take the cake. But to Donald Trump, Dobbs is something of an oracle.

An article in today’s Daily Beast explains just how much faith Trump puts in Dobbs:

…Dobbs doesn’t get to just interview and socialize with the president; he is involved in some of the administration’s more sensitive discussions. During the first year of the Trump era, the president has patched in Dobbs via speakerphone to multiple meetings in the Oval Office so that he could offer his two cents, according to three sources familiar with these conversations. Trump will ask Dobbs for his opinion before and after his senior aides or Cabinet members have spoken. Occasionally, he will cut off an official so the Fox Business host can jump in.

Dobbs, these sources all independently recounted, has been patched in to senior-level meetings on issues such as trade and tax policy—meetings that featured officials such as senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, former top economic adviser Gary Cohn, former chief strategist Steve Bannon, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

Furthermore, some in Trump’s inner circle want Dobbs to play an even bigger role going forward:

Though Trump regularly calls Dobbs to riff on immigration and other issues, some of the president’s earliest political supporters have hopes that the Fox host will play an even larger role in the second year of the administration.

This Svengali spews the kind of unhinged rhetoric that makes Laura Ingraham look mild mannered and responsible: Dobbs has called for Barack Obama to be arrested for criticizing Trump abroad; When Russian President Vladimir Putin took a nasty swipe at American lawmakers, Dobbs sided with him. And, like Trump, Dobbs hates much of America, while posturing as a patriot. This is what he tweeted when Dear Leader withdrew from the Paris climate agreement:

#LDTPoll Does your week seem all the better because the Dimms, Globalists & the Enviro-left are having a lousy week?

— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) June 1, 2017

Dobbs also shares Trump's bigotry. Here’s a revealing incident, via Media Matters:

…Dobbs’ reaction to Trump’s reported denigration of Haiti and “shithole” African nations offers an apt data point. Dobbs kicked off his January 12 show with a defense of the president’s “colorful language” and a swipe at “duplicitous Dems” who were “claiming offense.” Without actually describing what the president is supposed to have said, Dobbs explained Trump’s “fundamental point” in insulting poorer nations and their citizens: something about the misuse of international aid.

Watch more of Dobbs below, via Media Matters.