In its fealty to Donald Trump, Fox & Friends brought in members of the faith community to blame just about anything and everything other than Trump’s toxic, racist, conspiratorial rhetoric for the shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue.
The segment opened with a video clip of Trump’s speech immediately after the shooting, during which he condemned anti-Semitism and endorsed the death penalty for those who perpetrate crimes against Jews.
Not shown were Trump’s subsequent hateful comments about Rep. Maxine Waters and his big, fat grin as his acolytes shouted, “Lock her up!”
After he reported details of the shooting, host Pete Hegseth introduced Fox priest Fr. Jonathan Morris, pro-Israel, anti-Islamic writer Qanta Ahmed, and “right-wing reality show rabbi,” Shmuley Boteach.
Boteach immediately got into his Trump fan-boy persona. He expressed the hope that Jews would not have to live in fear and that he is “amazed that people are trying to politicize it in blaming people like the president.” Noting that Trump has a Jewish daughter and grandchildren Boteach added, “He knows that his own family is now vulnerable.”
In making the argument that this action should not be politicized against “one particular group,” Boteach cited the anti-Semitism of the far right and an anti-Semitic, genocidal comment made by Louis Farrakhan.
Morris and Ahmed provided more commentary. Ahmed recounted some of the history of anti-Semitism and Morris blamed the internet.
Boteach repeated his desire that this not be politicized, then immediately trashed the Obama administration for having “legitimized Iran” and its “genocidal rhetoric.” (The trope that Obama is anti-Semitic is popular in the right wing, but Obama did speak forcefully about the evil of anti-Semitism.)
Boteach argued that the extreme-right shooter had no connection to Trump/Fox. So, therefore, their anti-immigrant rhetoric was not a factor to consider. But his assertion that the Charlottesville killing had to be universally condemned suggested that the Pittsburgh shooter was, somehow, different from the neo-Nazis.
Morris played the role of Catholic Trump defender. He said that what caused the shooter to kill the Jews, “was not the left or the right, it was not modern-day politics, it was his hatred…”
Ahmed suggested that Muslims and liberals were to blame: “Islamism is an enormous vehicle for contemporary anti-Semitism and it marries with far-left thought.” (Wait, what?!). After that little bomb, she spoke about how anti-Semitism threatens us all.
What wasn't mentioned was that Fox News has been actively promoting Trump’s vile claims that the “caravan” of Central American migrants is a threat to the USA. Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh shooter, described the “caravan” with the term “invasion” – a term frequently utilized by Fox News. Fox's incendiary (and false) claims about the migrants were used, by the anti-Semitic internet which fabricated a connection between the “invaders” and the Jews – a false narrative that fed Bowers’ homicidal, anti-Semitic hatred which resulted in the deaths of 11 innocent people.
If the Pittsburgh shooting had been committed by a Muslim, those on Fox News would almost surely say the shooter had been radicalized by Islam. In the case of Robert Bowers, there is evidence he was radicalized by the toxic rhetoric of Donald Trump and his media enabler, Fox News.
Rather than take responsibility for its rhetoric, Fox used the so-called “faith” community to obscure its role. Instead, Obama, Islam, and liberals were blamed without objection by Hegseth.
Talk about “alternative facts!”
Watch the chicanery below, from the October 28, 2018 Fox & Friends.