Fox News’ The Story couldn’t come right out and say that Russiagate is the “witch hunt” that Donald Trump claims. So the show did the next best thing: it deceptively suggested Americans more or less agree with Dear Leader.
Yesterday, on The Story, host Martha MacCallum made it seem as though the show just decided to take a summer stroll to find out what voters in Times Square think:
MACCALLUM: So today’s the longest day of the year and it is hot in New York City so we decided to go out to Times Square and ask some folks in the crossroads of America, as it is known, what do you think about this Russia investigation, where it’s going? Here’s some of their responses.
As she spoke, the lower third read, 'WHAT DO VOTERS THINK OF THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION?"
MacCallum never said how many people were interviewed but we saw five. And surprise, surprise! Four of them cast doubt on the investigation.
The first person in the video was a woman who said, “They haven’t found anything substantial. He’s the president now. They should get over it and do what’s important for the country.” When asked what that was, she said, “Jobs.”
Next was a couple that just happened to echo Trump's "witch hunt" characterization: “I feel that they’re just looking for something, anything,” the woman said. The man standing next to her made the Trumpism more explicit. “It’s a witch hunt,” he added. The woman agreed, saying she felt “exactly…the same way.”
Finally, we saw two men. The first suggested there will probably never be a smoking gun. “I don’t think anyone really knows what happened,” he said. He elaborated, “Obviously, there’s something there but whether it’s as material as it’s made out to be, who knows?”
The man’s companion said he’d “seen a lot of weird behavior” that he thought was very suspicious. “I definitely think Congress should get to the bottom of what’s going on with Russia, for sure,” he continued. But that was as damning as it got. There was nothing about Trump's firing of Comey, the odd epidemic of amnesia in the Trump administration about meetings with Russians, no questions about whether Trump obstructed justice.
We don’t know whether these five people were cherrypicked nor how many total people The Story interviewed. Nor do we know what questions were asked other than the one to the first woman about what's more important than the Russia investigation.
One thing we do know is that these five do not represent Americans as a whole. The fact is, most Americans do not think the investigation is a witch hunt.
But you would not know that from watching this segment.
Watch Fox News try to pull the wool over viewers’ eyes in service to Trump below, from the June 21, 2017 The Story.
Nice touch GOPTV™ airing 1 lib dissenter. Reminds me of the same ratio as their panel shows. I’m sure it’s coincidenctal.