“It does get all the right people upset,” Fox News contributor Charles Hurt “quipped.”
From the make-up of the panel, to winking at such dangerous rhetoric, to suggestions by anchor Shannon Bream that criticism of Trump’s comments was just partisan, to the overt effort to sideline the lone critic – the whole eight-minute discussion was designed to make an American presidential candidate channeling Hitler acceptable, if not approved.
The discussion began with a clip of Trump’s Mein Kampf-ian statement in his rally the night before, that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
Rather than pointing out the horror of a U.S. presidential candidate quoting Hitler, anchor Shannon Bream repeatedly framed the issue as one of partisan politics and repeatedly suggested it only matters to Trump critics. She said, “Critics are pointing to that, saying he used that language … and they point to Mein Kampf from Hitler.” She then quoted a passage from Mein Kampf: “All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.”
FACT CHECK: As The New York Times has pointed out, “there are several passages in which Hitler used the words ‘poison’ and ‘blood’ in attacking people he deemed a threat to the purity of the Aryan race." The Times also noted, which nobody on the panel did, that it is well documented that Trump “has long had a Hitler fascination.”
Again, instead of asking the panel to comment on what this means about the state of the U.S. and our politics, Bream turned to the strongest defender first, Charles Hurt. “Charlie, he has to know that people are going to be fired up about that language,” as if getting people fired up is all that’s wrong with it.
Hurt all but validated the rhetoric.
HURT: Well, he always likes using language that gets people fired up. That's kind of not surprising. … But he is tapping into an issue that is obviously very, very important to voters, both Democrats and Republicans, that a lot of people around here and, in particular, the media have pretended is not a problem and that is illegal immigration.
Bream added that Trump had handed “material” to the Biden/Harris campaign, as if that’s the big problem with his remarks.
USA Today’s Francesca Chambers did her part for the “It’s just a campaign issue, nothing to see here” propaganda:
CHAMBERS: This is a way that [the Biden/Harris campaign has] determined that they can focus on Donald Trump in the election without talking about his legal woes which gets into dicey territory for them because they say that, of course they are independent [said with obvious skepticism] from the Department of Justice, so they don't want to weigh into his legal battles. But when he makes comments like that on policy, then that gives them something that President Joe Biden can then go out there and campaign on aggressively.
Former chief of staff for Mike Pence, Marc Short, ridiculously claimed that Trump only inadvertently quoted Hitler. Yet Short suggested the left is making a mistake in criticizing the rhetoric and he implicitly validated Trump's position:
SHORT: Look, I think it's highly unlikely that Donald Trump's ever read Mein Kampf. I think the reality is what we have is that the left continues to attack over something outrageous he says, but it continues to drive this issue back to border security, which is what he wants to be talking about. He has a decisive lead on border security over Joe Biden, just like he does on the economy, just like he does on international affairs. And so, yeah, he says something outlandish. They attack what he said rhetorically, but you come back to the root of the issue, it's where a lot of the American people agree with him on.
Then, instead of asking the last guest, the Constitutional Accountability Center’s Elizabeth Wydra, for her thoughts on the Hitler comments, Bream changed the subject and asked Wydra about Trump leading Biden in the polls.
Wydra said she’s not putting too much stock in the polls right now, that abortion is a big issue that helps Democrats. But she also worked in, “Look, there are ways to talk about immigration. There are ways to talk about policy choices that don't use that chilling, offensive language that should be offensive in our American democracy, which is a multiracial, diverse democracy.”
That was a smart move and kudos to Wydra for making it, but I’d argue this is a hair on fire moment calling for blazing indignation and outrage, both at Trump and Fox. Not doing so helps the “it’s just a matter of opinion” and "we’re presenting all sides" propaganda, in my view.
Bream moved on to further whitewash Hitlerian Trump by noting that polls now show voters feel more favorably toward Trump than Biden. That led to more talk about how there are “so many other polls that are troublesome” for Biden this week.
Chambers responded by painting Biden as weak on immigration (and, by implication, that Trump is strong on it). The unstated message: So there's no real problem with the rhetoric!
CHAMBERS: When you look at the talks that are going on with the border on Capitol Hill right now, you know, previously the White House had said that this was a closed discussion. This is the aid package that he had put forward. They were not going to be negotiating border policy. Now you see the president saying that he is open to this, that's exactly what the conversations are. And part of it you could say is because of the polling, part of it here, of course, because they want to get that Ukraine aid, they want to get that Israel aid and they know that's the only way to get it done, but it doesn't change the fact that they said that they wouldn't do it. And here's where they are.
For more Trump love, Short said the “accidental” Hitler quoter “certainly appears far more vigorous than Joe Biden to this point.”
If you think anyone pointed out that Trump warned Biden would lead us into World War II (which ended in 1945), claimed he ran against Barack Obama instead of Hillary Clinton, or had to be reminded which city he was in during a campaign stop – think again.
“Is there any chance they change out the Biden/Harris ticket? Elizabeth?” Bream asked, pushing the implicitly weak Biden/strong Trump messaging again.
Wydra said she thought it unlikely and she again made the smart maneuver back to Trump’s dangerous rhetoric. She said that if he’s the Republican nominee, things will likely change when his rhetoric and policies are more in focus. She cited his remark that he’ll be a “dictator on Day One” as “extremely concerning.”
Bream to the rescue! Trump was just joking! “I would note … he was sort of chuckling when he said that,” she interrupted. No one wants to hear ‘dictator’ but it seemed very tongue-in-cheek.”
“Like, is that funny?” Wydra shot back. “I don't think so. Well, you know, it's not really what you want to hear” from your potential president, she said.
“It does get all the right people upset though, when he says things [like that],” Hurt burst in.
“Charlie really likes when the right people get upset,” Bream chirped.
If you ever wondered whether Fox News would have had Hitler’s back, now you know the answer is yes. Even worse, they’re laying the groundwork for him in advance. Just like Fox has been laying the groundwork for fascism and an assault on our rule of law.
You can see it below, from the December 17, 2023 Fox News Sunday.