Oliver North, the guy who secretly sold arms to Iran during the Reagan administration, will become the new president of the National Rifle Association.
North, who has served as a Fox News host, retired from his job there “effective immediately,” the network said.
Even Fox had to acknowledge North’s disgraced history: In the Iran-Contra scandal, “He was convicted in 1989 of obstructing Congress during its investigation, destroying government documents and accepting an illegal gratuity. Those convictions were overturned in 1991."
But there's more that Fox did not reveal.
The esteemed David Hackworth likened North to a modern-day Benedict Arnold, describing him as a self-serving, loose cannon who “has this thing about opening his mouth and then sticking his boot in it.”
Media Matters compiled a long list of incidents that validate Hackworth’s assessment, including:
- During a 1993 GOP fundraising dinner that proceeded [sic] North’s failed run for Senate, North “told the crowd that he tried to telephone [Bill] Clinton, but the White House switchboard wouldn’t let him through until he disguised his voice with a lisp,” according to the Williamson Daily News. When asked to apologize by an LGBT group, North responded, “If it angered some subset, that’s their problem.”
- During a 2010 appearance on Fox News, North argued that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would lead to pedophiles being admitted into the armed forces. North also wrote a Fox News opinion piece in which he argued that, by repealing the policy, Obama would succeed where Adolf Hitler and other dictators failed in destroying the U.S. military.
- North claimed in 2010 that Obama had a “core philosophy of being anti-American.”
- North’s charity Freedom Alliance was accused from the left and right of misappropriating funds meant for scholarships.
Media Matters noted that in promoting North, who is also a co-host on NRATV, the NRA deviated from its usual path of promoting its first vice presidents to the job of president. North is also replacing the current NRA president after one year in office, rather than after a two-year term. Why the NRA was so eager to promote North is not clear.
Although his new gig is not a government post, North’s “promotion” reflects a trend of Fox personalities rising to high positions or to positions of influence in the Trump administration or, in this case, an organization very friendly with the Trump administration.
Watch Bret Baier’s sanitized announcement of North’s appointment below, from the May 7, 2018 Special Report.
(North image via screen grab)
This disgrace to the military uniform could not lead a symphony orchestra.
The NRA will regret choosing this clown.