If ever you needed proof that politics trumps all (no pun intended) on Fox News, witness the presentation of Corey Lewandowski as a Hurricane Harvey expert on the “most trusted” network.
Fox & Friends didn’t seem to have any qualms turning to Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, to advise viewers about the catastrophic Hurricane Harvey. Nor did Lewandowski seem to have any qualms about doing so. Even though his Twitter profile indicates not a single credential to qualify him for the role.
And it's not as if Lewandowski was on the scene, helping out. Heck, it was pretty clear from the split screen he was nowhere near the devastation.
But that didn't stop Lewandowski from spouting off as if he were some kind of official Harvey spokesperson. From Raw Story:
“We’ve got water still rising,” Lewandowski advised without explaining his qualifications for providing emergency information. “We’ve got the rain still flowing. The number one thing is taking care of people’s safety. And the most important thing that people can do is listen to their local, state and federal law enforcement officers who are providing them shelter.”
Cohost Clayton Morris helped advance the deception by asking when the National Guard will “step in.”
And Lewandowski pretended to know.
LEWANDOWSKI: I think as the rain continues and you’re gonna see individuals who are gonna try and go back to homes, the National Guard is going to be brought in to probably help bring some law and order back to this.
Actually, the National Guard was already “brought in.” And it's not about "law and order." Military.com explains:
At [Texas Governor] Abbott’s request, about 900 members of the Texas Army National Guard and Air National Guard were mobilized before the storm, and that number was expected to increase, the Pentagon said.
[…]
In addition, multiple Texas Army National Guard ground transportation teams have been activated to support local and state agencies with any request for swift-water rescues, high-water ground transportation and personnel evacuation needs, the Pentagon said.
Yet Lewandowski continued his pretense:
Look, if you have to activate the National Guard to go in and rescue people … I know the government at the state level, I know the government at the federal level is willing to provide any resources necessary.
Trump sycophant and cohost Abby Huntsman proved that her mind was on helping Trump, not the people suffering in Texas. Instead of correcting the misinformation her fake expert had just spewed, she devoted her next comments to promoting Dear Leader.
HUNTSMAN: The president is following this closely. He’s been Tweeting out about this for days now. …We have photos of him in the Situation Room around a number of his advisors, obviously wanting to follow this as closely as they possibly can and do what they can to help the people in Texas. … What do you think, is he going to get there in the next week?
Fake-expert Lewandowski, sounding official, announced, “I would recommend the president goes and sees the damage firsthand.”
If anybody on the air cared about Texas, they would have pointed out that Trump’s presence will likely get in the way of rescue and recovery efforts which will probably still be going on.
Watch the fake concern for Texans to go with the fake expert below, from the August 27, 2017 Fox & Friends, via Raw Story.
The hypocrisy of the GOP is starting to depress me bigly.
CNN talked about a fact-check of the bill for relief to Sandy victims that found “very little pork” (Ted Cruz’s explanation for voting agaiinst it).
Now, I don’t know what’s “pork” and what’s not, but the same CNN host said that there was, indeed, some money to upgrade a public park that had been flooded. That wouldn’t be “pork” in my book but the GOP latched onto that sort of thing to justify their bipartisanal slap in the face to Christie® and Obama (D … and black).
We don’t know where Cheating Trumpster gets these characters like Lewandowski. He tends to hire people at the bottom of the barrel.
After Hurricane Sandy in 2012, both Republican Senators and member of Congress voted against federal aid for the victims in New Jersey. For the reason, how are we going to pay for it?
Let’s see if they hold the same standards when it’s their state in need. My guess is they’ll say they prayed hard on it and God told them that tax cuts for the wealthy will pay for it.