If Fox Business fired Trish Regan because she suggested that the “hysteria” over the coronavirus was a plot to damage Trump, then Fox Nation ought to dump Diamond and Silk ASAP for suggesting the virus, itself, was cooked up as a plot against him.

Yesterday, I posted about Diamond and Silk’s coronavirus conspiracy theory that the number of deaths has been exaggerated in order to harm Donald Trump. It turns out they think the virus, itself, is a plot to harm Trump.

I will admit I did not watch the whole of the duo’s Chit Chat Live recorded on Monday. I watched the full clip provided by Media Matters and assumed those fine folks had reported everything worth knowing. My bad.

The good news is that The Hollywood Reporter’s Jeremy Barr apparently did. Or at least, he watched enough to know that the pair went beyond Regan’s conspiracy theory that suggested Democrats were deliberately creating “mass hysteria” about the pandemic in order to tank the economy and be rid of Trump.

For starters, thanks to Barr we now know that Diamond and Silk are more overtly suggesting that the coronavirus isn’t as deadly as is being reported – while smearing New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo, at the epicenter of the pandemic, as a “mofo” who is hoarding ventilators. And worse:

"What I need to know is how many people have passed away in New York, and what I need to know is: Who has the bodies?" [“Diamond”] asked. "I need for somebody that does investigative work to call the morgues. To call the funeral homes. We need to know, because I don't trust anything else that comes out of his mouth now. ... Something's not right here. Something is off here."

"Silk" asked: "How is that you can go to the grocery store, but you can't go to work?"

Then came the “Deep State” conspiracy theory:

“Diamond" asked: "Is this being deliberately spread? Look, I'm not being a conspiracy theorist, this is real, but I'm asking my own questions: What the hell is going on?"

…

"Silk" said of the coronavirus: "This is something that was man-made. … I think it's a little Deep State action going on behind the scenes. … To me, this is something undercover. It is engineered." 

Compare this to what Regan said on March 9:

REGAN: We've reached a tipping point. The chorus of hate being leveled at the president is nearing a crescendo as Democrats blame him and only him for a virus that originated halfway around the world. This is yet another attempt to impeach the president. And sadly it seems they care very little for any of the destruction they are leaving in their wake. Losses in the stock market, all this, unfortunately, just part of the political casualties for them. 

[…]

This is impeachment all over again. And like with the Mueller investigation, like with Ukrainegate, they don’t care who they hurt. Whether it be their need to create mass hysteria, encourage a market selloff unlike anything we’ve seen recently. Or whether it be to create mass hysteria in order to stomp our economy dead in its tracks. Don’t kid yourself. They told us how much they crave a recession as a way to get rid of Donald Trump! 

…

The hate is boiling over. Many in the liberal media using, and I mean using, coronavirus in an attempt to demonize and destroy the president.

Regan’s show was taken off the air four days after she made those remarks. She was fired two weeks later, on March 27.

Yet, as Barr noted, Fox Nation posted a new episode of the Diamond and Silk show yesterday.

Perhaps Fox brass thinks that because Diamond and Silk did not make their remarks on any of its outlets that they deserve a pass. But either Fox cares about making sure viewers get valid, potentially life-saving information or it doesn’t. Every time Fox hosts Diamond and Silk, the duo gets credibility with viewers and that almost certainly boosts their web and video traffic and, potentially, donations and sales of merchandise they hawk.

But don’t hold your breath. Regan was little more than a sacrificial lamb who drew unwanted attention to the network’s irresponsible broadcasting. Unless the network feels another harsh spotlight on Diamond and Silk, you can fully expect them to stay put and to see a greenlight for whatever crazy, half-baked conspiracy theories they concoct in the future.

(Diamond and Silk image via screen grab)