Recently, Fox host Martha MacCallum complained about African Americans being “sort of catered to” but last night she didn’t mind singling them out for not catering to Donald Trump’s overblown State of the Union self-congratulation about their employment numbers.
Just as predictable as the Fox News praise following Trump’s State of the Union speech last night was swiping at Democrats. In this case, MacCallum took a dig at the Congressional Black Caucus:
MACCALLUM: The partisan divide in this was really evident throughout the entire speech. He talked about unity, but Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and company, they basically sat on their hands. They scowled through most of this speech tonight.
The African-American unemployment number, which he has touted a lot, lowest in history, the members of the Black Caucus did not get up and applaud for that either.
FACT CHECK: As FactCheck.org noted, Trump has taken “undue credit” for black unemployment: “[T]he black unemployment rate has been in a years-long downward trend” that began under President Barack Obama and “has continued under Trump, albeit at a slower pace than in recent years.” Yet, “the gap between white and black unemployment remains largely unchanged under Trump.”
But just like Trump, MacCallum has given him all the credit. On January 5, 2018, she hosted Fox Business’ Charles Payne to help her argue that African Americans should shrug off Donald Trump’s obvious bigotry and blatant insults and support him in bigger numbers merely on the strength of employment statistics. “There are people who believe that that group has been sort of catered to and not – you said the tide lifts all boats but they’re talked to in a different category sometimes by candidates and that, perhaps, needs to change,” she said.
This message of “ungrateful” Blacks Behaving Badly but expecting to be “catered to” with special privileges is a constant refrain on Fox News. So why should the State of the Union be any different?
Watch it below, from Fox’s coverage of Trump’s 2018 State of the Union address via Media Matters.