Was Fox host Steve Hilton going rogue by distancing himself from Laura Ingraham's now-infamous bigoted comments about immigration or was he part of a Fox News "we're not racists" image-rehab effort?
I counted five qualifications for Hilton’s professed stance on behalf of immigration in his commentary last night. One thing to know in advance: while Hilton claims to be a populist, he’s a Trump supporter who lives quite the elitist life. However, he is also an immigrant, himself.
HILTON: It’s at moments like these that it’s important to make something clear: If we want to build a successful movement for positive populism, one that fights the failures of elitism and finally prioritizes the interests of working Americans, we must draw a line between populism and racism; between populism and xenophobia; between populism and white supremacy, of course, but also between populism and white superiority, which is subtly different, but equally unacceptable.
Populism is about lifting up working people. Its central message is “power to the people” and that applies regardless of skin color. I’m an immigrant here, with Hungarian roots and a British background. I happen to be white. That doesn’t make me any better than an immigrant from Guatemala or India or Vietnam. The important difference between me and many other immigrants is not my skin color, it’s that I arrived here with connections and resources. So I’ve been given every opportunity to live the American dream. Populists want that for all Americans, wherever you came from and however long you’ve been here. …
The incredible and unique thing about this country is that anyone can become an American. … America is founded on an idea: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all - and not rooted in a racial or ethnic identity. America is always changing but still stays the same: the land of the free and home of the brave.
And if there comes a time when white people are no longer the majority in America, as long as immigration is controlled and not a free-for-all, and as long as immigration is accompanied by integration, so everyone who’s here signs up to America’s laws and values, that is not something to fear or fight.
[...]
The right fight is against the elitists in both parties and throughout our ruling establishment who, for decades, have stolen the American dream for themselves.
Then Hilton hyped his book about populism.
I’ll take Hilton at his word for his feelings about immigrants but let’s not forget he put up no challenge, only a mild, “I don’t know about that” to Ann Coulter’s claim that weeping migrant children separated from their families were “child actors.” In fact, when she finally finished speaking, he said, “Thank you for getting that off your chest.”
So he hasn't always been a voice of independence at Fox News.
Watch Hilton distance himself from Ingraham below, from the August 12, 2018 The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton.