Megyn Kelly did her part to justify the completely unjustifiable nomination of Dr. Ben Carson to head the Department of Housing and Urban Renewal. But rather than come right out and support it, she “merely” attacked the opposition and then suggested to supporter Mike Huckabee that critics are arguing that Carson is too stupid to do the job. Sadly, the Democratic guest let her get away with it.
Kelly validates the "brain surgery makes Carson qualified to run HUD" argument
By his own admission, Carson’s only qualifications to run an agency with a $50 billion budget and more than 8,000 employees are the fact that he grew up in the inner city, spent a lot of time there and has “dealt with a lot of patients” from there. Also, Carson thinks that being a brain surgeon proves he’s up to the job.
Kelly acted as though she was 100% on board with Carson’s argument (transcript via FoxNews.com):
KELLY: I mean, you know what’s funny to me most that isn’t he exactly what we typically point to as like the smartest person in any room, like brain surgeon. Right? Isn’t that what he was like—other than rocket scientist, that’s what you say, like he’s no brain surgeon but he can’t run HUD?
Democratic Guest Mo Elleithee whitewashed the outrage of Carson's nomination
In my opinion, Democratic guest Mo Elleithee was way too tentative and accommodating of this nonsense. Besides being a slap in the face of African Americans and poor people – both because Carson has opposed desegregation efforts and because putting a completely unqualified man in charge of a huge federal department suggests contempt for them – Carson is, quite simply, a nutjob with a questionable hold on the truth. In a roundup of his “most controversial quotes,” Politico noted, among 13 others, his ridiculous claim that the pyramids were built to store grain (despite documented evidence otherwise) and that Obamacare is “the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”
But Elleithee acted as though Carson was a rational choice. Elleithee framed his objections as a gentleman’s disagreement, rather than the outrage it should have been.
ELLEITHEE: Well, you know, look. I have respect for Ben Carson’s skill in an operating room. But, look, I think it is a curious choice and I do think that there are some legitimate concerns that he’s going to have to answer in his confirmation hearings and lucky for him he’ll have that opportunity. But, you know, he’s never really done anything with Housing Policy, with Urban Development Policy and he’s never run a major organization or bureaucracy.
Kelly's agenda was obvious: to delegitimize Carson critics
Kelly, predictably, didn’t care. She was out to delegitimize the criticism. I’m sorry to say Elleithee did nothing to thwart her agenda. Instead, he tried to appease:
KELLY: Okay. But you don’t think he’s smart enough to learn?
ELLEITHEE: I’m not saying that maybe he’s not. But I do think it’s a curious choice. Typically president-elects, and they’re entitled to pick whomever they want. And the Senate has --
KELLY: Donald Trump has never been in office before, he’s never been in office before.
ELLEITHEE: Right.
KELLY: He’s never run a government before or held any public office.
ELLEITHEE: Right. And the jury is still out.
The jury is still out on Trump? Is Elleithee serious? With appointments like Stephen Bannon and Betsy DeVos, not to mention Trump's juvenile but authoritarian tweets about Hamilton and Alec Baldwin, what jury is he waiting for?
Kelly and Elleithee falsely imply that Trump has a mandate
Just as disturbing, Elleithee did not challenge – and thus helped validate – Kelly’s suggestion that Trump has a mandate.
KELLY: All right. One more question. One more question—but how has that been working for us? Right? Because all of these people who backed Donald Trump, they want him to bust up the system. They don’t like to look to the past as the example of how the future needs to be and I venture to say, they love to see somebody like Ben Carson go in and take an agency, be it HUD, be a veterans, whatever it is, and just bring new perspectives to it so that we don’t keep getting the same results.
ELLEITHEE: Yes. This is the million dollar question of the Trump presidency. I’d say, the voters that put him in the office wanted to just roll a grenade into the room, right? And to just blow up the system. But we don’t know what it’s going to look like on the back end. Putting people in who know something about the subject matter with Donald Trump’s perspective might give the people that they want. But when you’re putting people in who have no knowledge at all of the policies that they’re about to implement and the amount of money that the federal government spends on these policies, then I think the questions need to be asked.
The fact is, as I’ve previously written, TRUMP HAS NO MANDATE:
Trump has resoundingly lost the popular vote and while he won (so far) the Electoral College votes by a comfortable margin, it was no landslide. His wins in the swing states that gave him the Electoral win – three of which also happen to be the states Stein wants recounted – were razor-thin.
Kelly plays the race card against Carson critics
Kelly also spoke with Trump supporter Mike Huckabee. Earlier in the day, Huckabee called Carson “a terrific choice” for HUD. But “straight news anchor” Kelly never challenged Huckabee the way she challenged Elleithee. For example, she all but urged Huckabee to argue that Carson critics are racist hypocrites:
KELLY: Were we told when Barack Obama was elected and people called him unqualified. Some people who said that’s a racist statement, that that is racist to say that our first black president is unqualified to hold the office nearly because he’s only been a senator for two years. Now Dr. Carson, one of the most renowned surgeons, pediatric neurosurgeons in the world, he’s too stupid to learn how to run an organization that has 8,000 employees? I don’t know, Gov. You tell me what are those same people are going to say that’s a racist statement now?
Elleithee didn’t say a word.
Look, I don’t mean to be harsh on Elleithee who strikes me as a decent, thoughtful man. But we are facing an extremist administration with virtually no checks or balances in Congress and several possible Supreme Court picks. This is no time to be pussyfooting around and pretending that this is normal or even what Americans want. It’s certainly no time to let Fox News set the agenda for any discussion.
Watch it below, from the December 5, 2016 The Kelly File.
None of the black leadership named in the Chicago Sun-Times article had previously demonstrated any interest for the suggestion until apparently “word got out that Mr. Koger also shared the Plan with Donald Trump.” That is, the black leadership named in the Chicago Sun-Times’ article has always taken direct issue with Mr. Trump arguing that “BLACKS ARE NOT LIVING IN THE PRECARIOUS SITUATION OUTLINED.” Donald Trump was the only one willing to listen to Mr. Koger (blacks have been voting almost 50 years “straight” Democrat and our situation remained the same or worst).
First Mr. Trump issued an online video that addressed our plight. Next he went to Michigan and then took the message to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thereafter, Mr. Koger packaged the visual optics and shared Mr. Trump’s fight against the “status quo” with black America to grow an arsenal of black Trump supporters.
When “sh*t hit the fan” in October 2016 and everyone started to run from Mr. Trump . . . Mr. Koger suggested the need for a new “writing” for black America to put things back on track. Thereafter, Mr. Trump almost immediately issued a “New Deal For Black America.”
Donald Trump owes his victory to “predominately black Democratic strongholds of Pennsylvania” who were convinced to give Mr. Trump more votes than the previous Republican Party presidential candidate. African Americans like Todd Elliott Koger convinced hundreds of thousands blacks in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and various other states to boycott the vote and/or the traditional “straight” Democratic Party vote.
Mr. Trump’s “margin of victory” is realized when you combine this with an increase of “Obama white voters” in Wisconsin and Michigan voting Trump in 2016. Trump won Pennsylvania by 1.1 percentage points (68,236 votes), Wisconsin by 0.9 points (27,257 votes), and Michigan by 0.2 points (11,837 votes). If Hillary Clinton had won all three states, she would have won the Electoral College 278 to 260. She fell short in all three.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dieNd5h_qpw
Obama earned his presidency via a grueling campaign where he articulated a vision that beat everyone else in the field. The American people recognized talent.
Carson is not only a failed presidential candidate, he got slaughtered. The American people recognize a complete lack of talent.
Carson continually embarrassed himself on the stage. He proved no comprehension of the issues and now he’s being placed as an agency head with no administrative experience or apparent talent. Worse, he has no vision for HUD and has admitted as much.
Please, Fox. Just stop the ridiculous spin. You only get away with it by handpicking knock-over libs. It’s like watching the Harlem Globetrotters vs the Washington Generals.