To listen to Fox News’ Outnumbered show yesterday, we’re all SOOOO much safer now because Donald Trump immediately said those magic words, “radical Islamic terrorism,” in response to the attacks in Europe yesterday.
Apparently, Trump’s anti-terror mojo even rubbed off on President Obama, according to the totally fair and balanced group of five cohosts, all with the same opinion.
As cohost Harris Faulkner introduced the discussion, a lower-third banner read: “PRES-ELECT DONALD TRUMP SWIFT TO BLAME ‘RADICAL ISLAMIC TERRORISM’ FOR ATTACKS.” I’m surprised there wasn’t a Fox News Alert about it.
FAULKNER: In a sharp departure, also a response from President Obama. Note the wording that he used: not hesitant to blame radical Islamic terrorism! Interesting, considering he’s not been usin’ that term. Even though this time around, officials have not actually yet linked any of the attacks to ISIS or the Islamic terrorism that we’ve seen around the world.
Mr. Trump posted … this on social media about Berlin, Germany: “Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday. ISIS and other Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their communities and places of worship as part of their global jihad.”
Oooh, and Trump said it again in a statement about the murder of the Russian ambassador to Turkey: “We offer our condolences to the family and loved ones of Russian Ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, who was assassinated by a radical Islamic terrorist.”
Later, a banner read: “PRES-ELECT TRUMP NOT HESITANT TO BLAME ‘ISLAMIST TERRORISTS’ FOR BERLIN ATTACK.”
Cohost Meghan McCain said, “We can’t belittle how significant it is” that Obama said “‘radical jihadism’ and ‘radical Islam’” She added, That to me is historically significant because so many of us have been so frustrated by the fact that he won’t even name our enemy. So how can we defeat it if he won’t even name it? So for me, this was an interesting moment in the last four weeks of his presidency.
Another banner read: “PRES-ELECT’S DENUNCIATION OF RADICAL ISLAM IN SHARP CONTRAST TO PRESIDENT OBAMA.”
Cohost Lisa Boothe, who seems to do nothing other than spend every day spreading malice at Fox News, suggested that Trump won because of the phrase. “I do think that Donald Trump’s victory was sort of a rejection of the weakness of President Obama,” she asserted. She went on to tell the lie that President Obama had apologized to “three separate continents” in his first hundred days.
Nobody on the “fair and balanced” panel corrected her.
Then Boothe added it was “not just the weakness of the policies but the failure to call it what it is” that contributed to Trump’s victory.
“I think that it’s a breath of fresh air,” Campos-Duffy agreed.
Watch the suggestion that more bigotry is the key to fighting terrorism below, from the December 20, 2016 OutTrumpered Outnumbered show.
So what Fox News is trying to prove here is the power of demagoguery. As if the GOPTV™ propaganda factory being #1 on cable isn’t proof enough. Not to mention your crazy uncle at Christmas dinner ranting their right-wing talking points being additional proof!
The mantra of “radical Islamic terrorism” promises to be similarly effective (i.e. NOT one bit), and the Foxy-like faith in it might wipe mammals off the planet.
Don’t laugh!, But I’ve started hoping beyond hope that Ivanka may be better connected with the world outside the Trump bubble than her father and brothers.