Fox News thinks you won’t notice its anti-American assault on the First Amendment if it attacks the patriotism of those in the media who are not blindly in the tank for Donald Trump the way Fox is.
Yesterday, Fox’s “business” show, Bulls & Bears, proved once again that the primary business on Fox is promoting Republican politics and tearing down everyone not of the same mindset.
This particular effort came care of contributor Gary B. Smith. But it was set up by host Dagen McDowell with her “question” for the panel, “Why does the media keep harping” on concerns that Trump may fire Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller despite saying otherwise?" It was a neat way of overlooking the ways that her network has been working to undermine Mueller’s investigation and the FBI on behalf of Trump as she pointed fingers at the rest of the media.
To conservative Smith, McDowell “asked,” “Is it to goad the president, quite frankly?”
Smith took the bait:
SMITH: Absolutely. You know Chuck [Rocha] said we have a free and open media. We don’t. We have a media that is actively rooting against Trump. You know why they keep bringing up this “He’s going to fire Mueller?” They want him to fail. They want Trump to fail desperately. They still cannot get over that he won. They still cannot get over being smarty pants or proved wrong in every poll. They want him to fail - you know why? So The Washington Post can run a headline that says, “President Trump fires only man that can bring him to justice.” I guarantee that’s what they’re after. They’re rooting for the demise of him. They’re rooting, in effect, for the demise of America. I think it’s despicable.
Not one person, including McDowell, challenged this outrageous accusation. Instead, McDowell suggested her own conspiracy theory: that the media is talking about firing Mueller to avoid talking about the supposedly devastating information about the FBI that Fox keeps bogusly promoting.
Watch the anti-Americanism that Fox tries to dress up as patriotism below, from the December 23, 2017 Bulls & Bears.
Sorry about that!
As for the GOP leadership, they’re wedded to this White House now. And the Tweeter in Chief is a useful fool for them – he provides a tremendous distraction while Mike Pence quietly works in the background to make as many Far Right adjustments to the government as he can. This is why the coming midterms are crucial. If the Dems do not show up and vote, the Right will happily proceed apace with much more serious actions. Remember the gloating that happened in 2004 when W intoned “I’ve earned political capital and I intend to spend it”. That will look like a puff pastry compared to what would happen in 2019 if the Dems do not vote. Think Supreme Court, think wholesale closing of cabinet departments, and think in terms of even more dire legislation being rammed through on a party line vote.
What we’ve seen over the past Year of the Bully isn’t a situation of the public hoping that the Pence White House fails. It’s a situation where the Pence White House has repeatedly said and done the most extreme Right Wing attacks they possibly could muster, and then told the country to take it. The fact that most people are objecting to this White House’s contempt for them is not this bizarre idea of wanting the country to fail – it’s a matter of decent people wanting the Republicans to stop acting like children and begin governing like adults. Statements like Smith indicate that they have no intention or perhaps even any ability to do so.
