This was at least the second time in a week pundit Dagen McDowell promoted stochastic terrorism on Fox News.
On Friday’s Gutfeld show, McDowell directly suggested violence against those who have said there’s a problem with extremism in the military. She almost certainly knew she was on safe ground doing so as Gutfeld has called for a race-based civil war on Fox News without any apparent consequence.
Even on this show, Gutfeld “joked” that since self-driving cars are reportedly exempt from traffic tickets in California, “I think we’ve found the solution for protesters blocking the roads.” It got a big laugh and applause from the audience.
That was in the so-called comedy that opened the show.
Afterward, Gutfeld claimed he got to “the news” but it was really a right-wing spin on the news, followed by right-wing commentary.
“A new report says oops, after slandering the troops it's official, despite claims of the Biden White House and their media lackeys saying that our military is full of extremists, even their latest research shows that a lie, and like a gay cousin, the report quietly came out right before Christmas, hoping no one would notice. And why? Because it showed no extremism in the military.”
Actually, that is not what the report said. As the conservative National Review noted, the report found no evidence of disproportionate extremism in the military. The report also found that the Pentagon lacks coherent definitions of extremism that are widely understood, National Review said. In other words, the military needs a better way of tracking it. Gutfeld later acknowledged the report's use of the word “disproportionate” and then, essentially ignored it.
Task & Purpose reported that extremism “remains an issue with active-duty troops and veterans” and that “even after extensive study, there is still confusion and unclear policies throughout the military when it comes to finding and dealing with extremism.” That was also ignored in favor of demonizing right-wing propaganda.
Gutfeld went on to "quip" that had the report shown otherwise, “It would be on the front of every news site. Like one of Taylor Swift's latest doomed relationships.”
“They had to create something from nothing, which is the same job faced every day by those in charge of Biden's campaign,” Gutfeld sneered. “But you know, what's extreme? Lying about people who signed up to serve their country? But are we really that surprised? This is an administration that smears first and investigates later, if at all.”
Now that’s rich, coming from a host on a network that recently shelled out $787.5 million for defaming Dominion Voting Systems – even as Gutfeld and others knew the accusations were lies – then vowed not to change their “journalistic standards.”
Nobody reminded him or the audience, natch.
The worst comments came from McDowell – who, I’m willing to bet, is not in real life the far-right pundit she plays on TV.
“I got this great oyster shucker for Christmas. Yeah, that'll do a number on somebody's tires,” McDowell said. That got loud laughs and a smattering of applause.
“Flaming feces,” McDowell continued. “Stacks of it: bovine, canine, porcine – whatever you need.”
That got cheers and louder applause.
Earlier last week, I wrote about McDowell sounding rather menacing when she demanded, on Fox’s Outnumbered show, that the Supreme Court rule 9-0 against Colorado removing Donald Trump from the ballot for having engaged in an insurrection against the U.S.
“It better be nine-nothing, because if any of those justices vote to remove Trump from the ballot, they do not deserve to sit on that bench. They do not deserve to adjudicate traffic violations. They don't deserve to sit on a park bench if they go the wrong way on this,” McDowell said. Do you think the MAGA viewers missed her implied threat? I don’t.
You can watch Dagen McDowell encourage stochastic terrorism below, from the January 5, 2024 Gutfeld.
(H/T/ Joe W.)
