You didn’t have to watch Fox & Friends this morning to know that the Trump lapdogs would be using yesterday’s protest, in which Congolese immigrant Therese Patricia Okoumou scaled the Statue of Liberty, to suggest that protesting on July 4th is part of liberals' disrespect for America. But when Obama was in office, the Curvy Couch Crew sang quite a different tune about July 4th protests.
Media Matters caught the double standard when cohost Brian Kilmeade whined, “Can’t we agree on one day to celebrate the birth of our country regardless of who is in office? People seem to be missing that message.”
Actually, it's Kilmeade who seems to have missed that message. As Media Matters also noted, Think Progress caught Kilmeade and his Fox Friends singing a vastly different tune in a June, 2009 post:
This morning on Fox News, Glenn Beck joined the Fox and Friends hosts to promote new anti-Obama, anti-tax tea party protests on July 4. Steve Doocy introduced the segment, “This weekend, of course the 4th of July, Americans are gearing up for a second round of tea parties to protest massive government spending.”
[…]
Last year, in the final year of Bush’s presidency, Beck penned an op-ed about how Americans should celebrate July 4 by talking not about “our problems,” but by celebrating “what’s right about America.” Beck also downplayed the “much maligned economy” under Bush, and told readers that the media should use Independence Day to take a break from reporting on “crooked politicians” or “high gas prices.”
In case you’ve gotten too dizzy to keep track, Fox’s dos and don’ts for July 4th protests have gone like this: When Republican George W. Bush was president, it was “don't.” When Democrat Barack Obama took office, it was “Please do.” And now that Republican Trump is in office, it’s, “How dare you dis our country?”
Watch the double standard below, from the July 5, 2018 Fox & Friends and the June 30, 2009 Fox & Friends, both via Media Matters.