To my knowledge, Fox News hasn’t come right out and called its holiday attacks on President Obama “defending the war on July 4th” as it has with Christmas and Easter. But that’s what they’re clearly suggesting with their complaints about President Obama going to Africa at the same time that the military has cut fireworks displays because of sequester cuts. Besides, a war on July 4th is the logical next step for the machine of perpetual outrage, otherwise known as Fox News. So who better to help fight the war than Fox’s armchair culture warrior and impeachment hopeful, Todd Starnes?

As Alex Seitz-Wald at Salon.com noted, this latest war has lit up the right-wing blogs along with Fox News. The fact that they can throw in a little “Obama loves Africa more than America” dig must really brighten holiday get-togethers all across Foxville. From today’s Fox Nation Daily Update:

By the way, if you read Fox’s actual article, it’s pretty clear that the military canceled the fireworks, not President Obama. But why quibble over details if you’re an Obama hater? After all, if he’s a secret African Muslim who has fooled millions of Americans into voting for him twice, he could easily rob the military piggy bank and have them take the fall for him, right?

Starnes appeared on this morning’s Fox & Friends where he furthered the Obama-loves-Africa-more-than-America meme. The host for the segment was Peter Johnson, Jr., aka Roger Ailes’ stand in. Calling the far-right Starnes his “favorite columnist in America,” Johnson also made a point of conflating the Africa trip with the lack of fireworks. He said to Starnes:

It’s something you’ve called, a $100 million African vacation for the president but at the same time, something as simple and really relatively inexpensive as a fireworks display at Camp LeJeune, to celebrate our Marine sacrifice, can’t be done. And so I think Americans are going to be outraged by this.

In an effort to make that happen, Starnes said he “did the math” and the Fox & Friends producers just happened to have a full-screen graphic at the ready to drive the point home. It read:

$100 MILLION CAN BUY:

• President’s Trip to Africa
• 4,000 Fireworks Displays
• 100,000,000 Boxes of Sparklers

Johnson continued to prime the outrage pump by asking Starnes what kind of reaction he had heard from military families. Sure enough, Starnes quoted one “little boy” as saying, “Daddy, it’s like the Grinch who stole Christmas.” Starnes added, “It’s the Fourth of July! You’ve got to have fireworks, you gotta have barbecue, you gotta have great patriotic music!”

And on Fox News, you’ve got to find a way to smear the president!

Starnes continued, “In this particular administration, they’re saying, ‘You know what? The military, they’re expendable when it comes to celebrating the freedoms that they’re putting their lives on the line to fight.'”

By the way, Starnes’ touching concern for the military never translated into actually serving in it. Nor Johnson’s. But he told Starnes, “We’re standing’ with ya and you’re standing for us!”