While Fox News was covering the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment scandal with an almost gleeful obsession, it has scrupulously avoided the inconvenient truth about Donald Trump’s less than stellar interactions with women. So, when Hillary Clinton had the audacity to compare Weinstein to Trump, Fox went on the attack using former sheriff David Clarke as its attack dog!
As part of its right-wing propaganda strategy, Fox News does love to divert and distract. And that’s why, as Newshounds Ellen reported, Fox & Friends brought in Trump loyalist and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in to attack Hillary Clinton who, in “breaking her silence” about Weinstein, compared him to Donald Trump. On the very same day (drum roll, please) Fox & Friends happily hosted the “scandal plagued” former Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke who engaged in what seemed a carefully-scripted Clinton bashing over her very appropriate comparison.
After video of Hillary Clinton’s statement on Harvey Weinstein was shown, Fox & Friend's honored guest, the dishonored former Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke said that he couldn’t keep a straight face after seeing the clip. He immediately launched into his attack with his comment that “there’s a reason” why Trump refers to Clinton as “crooked Hillary.”
He “unpacked” how Clinton aided and abetted Bill Clinton’s sexual indiscretions by trashing the accusers. (Politifact rates this claim as “mostly false.”) He made the false claim that rape charges against Bill Clinton have been “proven” and asserted that Hillary Clinton is a hypocrite when she talks about victims coming forward. He whined about Hillary’s alleged mistreatment of Bill’s accusers and said that her comment about how we have an admitted sexual assaulter in the White House could have been applied to Bill Clinton because “that’s when we had a sexual assault suspect inside the White House."
Fox Friend and “Superman” Dean Cain, (former Fox host Andrea Tantaros accused him of groping her) then demonstrated that he either didn’t see the Access Hollywood “grab them by the pussy” video or doesn’t know the definition of sexual assault. He said that what “bothered him the most” about Hillary Clinton’s comments was that she, a Yale-educated lawyer, accused Trump of “having an admitted sexual assault, that is real, specific legal language" and "that could be defamation or slander…” Ahem - Donald Trump: "I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything."
Clarke said Clinton knows that “you can make those kind of smears and get away with it.” Clarke, one of whose prisoners died as a result of lack of water for a week, accused Clinton of being “morally bankrupt” and doing “whatever she has to do to protect herself, her image, and her reputation.” On a network that remains largely silent about its own sexual harassment scandal, he continued to smear Clinton for having “no respect for the victims of sexual assault” because she cares more about her reputation and that of her husband. After he called for women’s groups to attack Clinton, Clarke, whose staff allegedly contributed to the death of a newborn child of a prisoner, put the propaganda cherry on the icing: “That woman is despicable.”
Amazing sleight of hand. In diverting attention from Donald Trump’s statements and accusers, Fox & Friends diverts and distracts by turning the discussion to Hillary's supposed mistreatment of Bill Clinton’s accusers. Remind me who is “despicable.”
Watch from Fox & Friends, Saturday, October 14th 2017. Also attached is the video of Hillary Clinton’s commentary which was referenced in the piece.