Meryl Streep’s searing criticism of Donald Trump at the Golden Globe awards last night meant one thing to Fox & Friends Trump besties this morning: time to attack her! UPDATED
In case you missed it, Streep used her acceptance speech to stand up for freedom of the press and to criticize Trump’s mocking of a disabled New York Times reporter. It’s the first video below.
Fox’s Operation Streep neatly dovetailed Trump’s Twitter tirade against her right around the same time. Apparently, thin-skins think alike. Or they coordinate. I found no less than four online videos of Fox & Friends “defending” BFF Trump, mostly by attacking Streep. That was more than the three tweets I saw on the subject from Trump. But when you’re a president-elect, as Trump is, you’ve got other important things to do – such as praise Rupert Murdoch – while ignoring a North Korea missile threat.
Rupert Murdoch is a great guy who likes me much better as a very successful candidate than he ever did as a very successful developer!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2017
I can’t say for sure that Fox & Friends ignored North Korea altogether but it certainly did in all the discussions about Streep, including the 10:35 interview with Trump nanny, I mean senior adviser Kellyanne Conway (the second video below). She “proved” her sensitivity by going after Streep for not standing up for the white special-needs teenager tortured by four black teens last week. For extra Trump-points, Conway mentioned that it was four African Americans who had attacked a white kid.
Conway also ridiculously claimed that Trump has “debunked this so many times,” meaning his mockery of the disabled reporter.
Actually, Trump has claimed to debunk it but anyone not blindly devoted to Trump would conclude otherwise. But not one of the Fox cohosts mentioned any of the evidence to the contrary.
Even more disturbing, Conway accused Streep of “inciting people’s worst instincts” for not urging people to "try to support" Trump instead.
When Fox host Tucker Carlson visited the show, he complained about Streep as “a rich, entitled person describing herself as an outsider, an outcast, a pariah … it’s exactly the opposite.” He said it “annoys” him that she gets away with it. Cohost Pete Hegseth griped that, as a result, the media is ignoring “what Donald Trump is "accomplishing” i.e. saving jobs. That launched more attacks on the “liberal” media – which means any outlet that isn’t working on Trump’s behalf like Fox is.
But that still wasn’t enough Streep bashing for Fox & Friends. With Fox host Tom Shillue, Fox re-played excerpts of Streep’s comments with a snarky lower-third banner that read, “AND THE WHINER IS…”
Shillue sneered that Hollywood has “a perfect mixture of superiority and victimhood.” He called Streep’s speech “such a waste!”
Cohost Ainsley Earhardt suggested Streep was dissing Middle America for having voted for Trump.
But wait, there’s more! Raw Story caught Fox & Friends tweeting a video that shows Trump “may not have targeted reporter.” The supposed evidence is that Trump mean-spiritedly mocked others similarly (though clearly with not as much physicality).
Meryl Streep slammed Mr. Trump for 'mocking' a disabled reporter, but videos show he may not have targeted reporter https://t.co/CeLZQRKtoM pic.twitter.com/lCwLJX7Gir
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) January 9, 2017
Clearly, Fox meant to suggest that Streep was the whiner. But really, Fox News, you’re the bigger bellyachers by far. Dishonest ones, too.
Watch the Trump propaganda team below, from the January 9, 2017 Fox & Friends.
UPDATE: Not all of Fox took Trump's side. Raw Story caught Fox Business Network criticizing his judgment in making personal attacks on Streep.
At tonight's #GoldenGlobes we honor Hollywood legend Meryl Streep with the prestigious Cecil B. Demille Award. pic.twitter.com/dxpeCDNXY6
— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 9, 2017
While finishing off my post hereunder I got five warnings that my system was under threat. Logged off immediately and ran a scan. All’s fine.
PS to Mr. Smith: I have a great way to explore whether or not my position on anything is tainted by bias. Whenever I hear somebody say something that bothers me, I replace that person’s name with one from the other side. This little game is very helpful in my attempt to hold all sides to the same standards.
“Also, one small note: we try to be fair but we’re not neutral. We’re unabashedly liberal.”
Dear Ellen: That’s because you and your staff THINK FOR YOURSELVES. That’s why I have this new bumper sticker on my car:
“I THINK, THEREFORE, I’M A LIBERAL”
;^)
’Nuff said.
There are a lot more important things going on this week than Meryl Streep making a dignified statement about values and conduct and how far away from the norms the new Pence White House truly is. It’s unfortunate that the Trump response was to attempt to bully her, and that Fox News and the Right Wing media attempted to back up Trump in that effort. And shame on Fox News for that.
And for the record, yes, Donald Trump was mocking that reporter. Not the first time he’s done that kind of thing, and certainly won’t be the last. Just as Rush Limbaugh was properly criticized for mimicking Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s symptoms ten years ago (and for which Limbaugh has yet to apologize).
We may be in the Year of the Bully, but it doesn’t mean that we have to accept it as a good thing. Bullying doesn’t always work out so well for the bully – just ask Scut Farkus.
It’s embarrassing beyond words to watch as more and more formerly rational and respectable Republicans try desperately to justify things that they’d never accept by others. I trust that they shall their values as soon as any Democrat does anything of the sort. I’ve always felt that GOPers were fundamentally hypocritical but recent behaviour is taking the cake big time.
Republicans (capital “R” only because it’s the start of the sentence) are hell bent on finding excuses for Trump. What they’re actually doing is digging a grave for the USA’s reputation as THE beacon of democracy. For starters, Hillary won the popular vote by a large margin. Second, wealth (much of it inherited) and nepotism – that bugbear of the Founding Fathers – are in the drivers’ seat in the White House. I’m waiting for other values to fall, particularly freedom of the press.
I had heard something similar about FoxNews.com. Yet, we have found so many death threats on there that the moderators let stand.
Also, one small note: we try to be fair but we’re not neutral. We’re unabashedly liberal.
One of my proudest moments, as an American, was when Heather Whitestone, who is deaf, was chosen as Miss America in 1995.
I am sorry but the the Great Angry Orange Leader and his fanatic supporters lack American values and humanity.
Of course, they also have Fox News, Breitbart and the other Alt-Right pseudo-news organizations, as well as Russian trolls on sites like this which try to be neutral in posting opinions, to spread fake news.
I found an interesting thing about Fox News, their main propaganda noise machine. I posted the following on their site on a news about Obamacare/ACA:
“I am tired of all this freaking Republican hypocrisy. As the saying goes, this is like “death by a thousand cuts.” Let them just shut down the whole ACA or Obamacare or whatever the heck they want to call it. Let all those “working-class” folks in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, … who voted for Trump get their wish. It has no major impact on me."
However, a minute after posting it, my comment was removed. I reworded and posted it again; they removed it again. However, I then posted the following:
“Fox News has done a great public service exposing the fallacies and fraud of the socialist Obamacare. We who voted for President Trump and this Republican Congress would not accept anything but the TOTAL and IMMEDIATE repeal and removal of this socialist cancer, with or without any replacement.”
Bingo! They kept it, and I got a ton of “Likes” from their nutcase Republican followers. “Fair & Balanced” … Yahh, right.
The alt left????!! C’mon, you guys own alt right. Just accept it.