As the fake expert on the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Fox News guest David Avella should have sent real chills down the spine of anyone who does not think a nuclear war is a great idea.
Avella is a Republican strategist and the chairman of GOPAC. The organization claims its mission is “educating and electing the next generation of Republican leaders!”
In other words, instead of an expert in international relations, Fox News chose a Republican political operative as the guest on Outnumbered, thus ensuring that viewers would see Donald Trump's firing of Tillerson’s – and his replacement with current CIA Director Mike Pompeo - through a GOP-friendly political lens instead of a fact-based one.
Even so, Avella’s cheerleading was terrifying:
AVELLA: Here is where [Pompeo] has two profound effects. One is on North Korea. That if Secretary [of Defense] Mattis, who has made very clear he is willing to use force, wasn’t keeping the North Korean dictator up at night, a former top graduate at West Point who’s now in charge as Secretary of State and has no problems using nuclear weapons, has to make the sweat level of the North Korean dictator go up.
In my previous post, I noted FoxNews.com’s surprisingly negative headline about Tillerson’s firing. But it’s a safe bet that the Fox News opinion shows will be overwhelmingly positive on the subject.
I’m having problems rendering the video of the complete segment. But in the meanwhile, you can see Avella’s frightening comments below, from the March 13, 2018 Outnumbered, via Media Matters’ Lis Power.
Fox guest says Pompeo will be good for N.Korea situation because he's not afraid to use nukes 😨
— Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 13, 2018
"A former top graduate at West Point, who's now in charge as Sec. of State and has no problems using nuclear weapons, has to make the sweat level of the N.Korean dictator go up" pic.twitter.com/smmn9XGD7m
I’m not so forgiving about Tillerson’s slash and burn approach in gutting the State Department, though. If that was on Trump’s orders, he should have resisted or even resigned over it.
Trump did not disappoint, providing the following as his main reason for firing Tillerson and hiring Pompeo: (paraphrasing) the former was not in synch with Trump-think while the latter was. This from the very same person who prided himself on wanting conflicting ideas in the WH so that he could get all the facts. In reality, he’s playing a game called “let’s you and him/her fight”. More mindful people get the same jolt of adrenaline watching a game of bumping cars, with the added advantage of not having to fear a trigger-happy administration with nuclear capabilities.
Is anybody taking bets on who will be next to be shown the door? My money’s on Jeff Sessions then McMaster.