Trump lickspittle Maria Bartiromo did her part in the Fox News effort to endanger Portland’s Mayor Ted Wheeler and maybe other civic leaders, too, when she strongly hinted to acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf that he should arrest Portland's "leadership."
On Thursday, Tucker Carlson asked Trump adviser Stephen Miller why the federal government doesn’t just take away Wheeler’s bodyguards. Beyond the attempt to put Wheeler in harm’s way, it was a deliberate suggestion to Carlson’s vicious fans that Wheeler deserved bodily harm.
Yesterday, Trump foot soldier, propagandist and devotee Bartiromo followed suit.
During her entire show, Bartiromo made no mention of the pandemic. She only mentioned coronavirus in terms of the relief package Congress is working on and at the end of her top story about the “Russia hoax” with Sen. Lindsey Graham. Her only other mention of the disease that has afflicted millions of Americans was about the Chinese “trying to steal” vaccine research. But she made time for a second “Russia hoax” discussion with Rep. Devin Nunes.
Bartiromo set aside two segments to demonize Portland protesters in support of the Fox/Trump campaign's law and order reality TV show designed to demonize parts of America. John Oliver did a terrific job of exposing that BS, and Fox News’ complicity last night. But Bartiromo, of course, was all in with Trump’s assault on American cities and protesters.
Despite her supposed concern for this threat to America, Bartiromo never asked why Trump can’t or won’t put in a permanent secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, instead of the acting Secretary Wolf. Nor did she mention that the federal agents have exacerbated the situation in Portland which, as Oliver pointed out, was calming down until they arrived.
Instead, she prodded Wolf to arrest the city’s “leadership.”
In the first part of the interview (put together in one on-line video, below), Wolf made it clear that “leadership,” referred to “city leadership.” Bartiromo immediately started to suggest they are threats to America who must be vanquished.
WOLF: What we see in Portland is a city, at least at certain hours of the night, completely out of control. We see city leadership there has fostered an environment that allows these criminals to do this throughout the night, untouched, absolutely untouched.
It is time for Portland to join other responsible cities around this country, working with federal law enforcement, to address this violence.
[…]
We need Portland to step up to the plate, do their responsibility, and work with us to address violent criminal activity occurring every night.
BARTIROMO: Well, what if they don't, Secretary?
Something’s got to give, right? I mean, this is going on every night that Portland looks like Baghdad. And they are pushing back on officers. These people can go all the way up to the fence and the perimeter and throw bricks at officers. What are you going to do about it?
Later, in the second part of the interview, Bartiromo was more explicit:
BARTIROMO: Secretary, we were just going through the situation in Portland. I want to get to the other major cities of our country and the violence happening there.
But why can't -- before we finish on Portland, why can't you just arrest the leadership in Portland because of their ignoring what’s really happening on the ground?
Wolf seemed to think she was talking about the protest leaders. Rather than press the point, she moved on to ratchet up hostilities by asking about two officers who may lose their eyesight because protesters shined lasers into their eyes.
I will reiterate for the zillionth time that I do not support violence of any kind and I think it’s counterproductive. But any responsible TV host would be interested in ways of calming tensions and divisions instead of deliberately inflaming them, as Bartiromo did. Worse, like Carlson, Bartiromo's suggestion that Wheeler should be arrested, i.e. is a dangerous criminal, is also a suggestion to viewers that he deserves punishment or retribution. Surely, she knows that.
You can watch Bartiromo hate on America below, from the July 27, 2020 Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.