Sometimes words or phrases have two equally plausible meanings but everyone sort of agrees to adopt just one of them. This is the case for comments President Trump made in a Tweet about Fox News on Wednesday.

“The New @FoxNews is letting millions of GREAT people down! We have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn’t working for us anymore!”

Everyone seems to have interpreted that to mean that Fox News is basically an employee of the White House, or at least that the president expects them to serve in that capacity. But just as likely, Trump meant that he was serious about relying more on some alternative cable network, like One America News.

In this case, Trump is using the term “isn’t working for us” to mean that the arrangement or relationship with Fox News isn’t getting the job done. It’s like saying that your marriage isn’t working for you anymore. That doesn’t mean you think your spouse should be working for you.

If I’m right about what Trump meant, his phrasing was unfortunate because it was received like a slap against the independence of Fox News’s news division. Here’s a typical response, from Brit Hume: “Fox News isn’t supposed to work for you.”

Perhaps Hume’s defensiveness was somewhat misplaced. Yet, either way you interpret the president’s remarks, it’s clear that he expects the conservative news network to benefit him politically, and it’s hard to see how Fox can maximize its rating and revenues without aligning itself with a Republican president.

Yet, I don’t know. If they really hyped the candidacy of Joe Walsh, for example, would that really hurt their ratings? Wouldn’t people tune in just to engage in the debate?

In the end, I don’t think Fox News can afford to chase short-term internecine controversy because they’ll have to pivot to Trump once he secures the nomination. So, they’ll whimper a bit about this scolding, but they’ll be 100% pro-Trump throughout the primaries and campaign. That’s what their audience wants, and that’s their business model.