K.T. McFarland is the latest example of the Fox-to-Trump pipeline. And there’s plenty of reasons to find her a deeply disturbing choice for any position, much less that of deputy national security adviser.
For one thing, McFarland seems to have a little problem with the truth. Our friend Steve M, at No More Mister Nice Blog (via Crooks and Liars) noted the frightening skeletons in McFarland’s closet. They include strong evidence of having repeatedly committed electoral fraud, homophobia and a serious case of batsh*t craziness or batsh*t humor, as evidenced by this 2006 report from the New York Post when McFarland began to challenge Hillary Clinton for re-election to her U.S. Senate seat:
“Hillary Clinton is really worried about me, and is so worried, in fact, that she had helicopters flying over my house in Southampton today taking pictures,” according to a prominent GOP activist who was at the event.
“She wasn’t joking, she was very, very serious, and she also claimed that Clinton’s people were taking pictures across the street from her house in Manhattan, taking pictures from an apartment across the street from her bedroom,” added the eyewitness, who is not involved in the Senate race.
Suffolk County Republican Chairman Harry Withers, who hosted the reception in East Islip, confirmed McFarland’s paranoid statements.
“Yes, she said that,” Withers told The Post.
McFarland spokesman William O’Reilly responded that the GOP hopeful was just kidding around with her far-fetched claims.
McFarland is about as strident as they come. We have previously caught her claiming that President Obama gave “encouragement to the terrorists” by attending the Paris climate change conference last year. She also blamed Obama for the ISIS beheading of an American in 2014.
And perhaps most importantly going forward, her views on national security are as crazy as her purported sense of humor.
Media Matters sums her up:
President-elect Donald Trump has named Fox News analyst K.T. McFarland as his pick for deputy national security adviser, joining frequent Fox guest and fellow anti-Muslim Putin fan retired Gen. Michael Flynn on Trump’s White House national security team. McFarland has repeatedly advocated for war with Iran and misled about its nuclear program, expressed support for torture, and has made bizarre and incendiary statements about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other topics.
Oh, and she’s another Putin admirer:
Putin seizes countries, Obama threatens maybe to kick Russia out of the G-8 club. Bet Putin's sorry now! Winners write history, not whiners
— KT McFarland (@ktmcfarland) March 3, 2014
Watch McFarland talk up waterboarding below, from the May 4, 2012 Hannity show, via Media Matters.
McFarland, as we noted in other threads, actually came out publicly with the statement that the various embarrassing appointments Trump was inflicting somehow meant that “the grownups are back in charge”. (We can translate that to mean that torture will be back in vogue, that belligerence will be the standard for US foreign policy, and that we can expect Trump’s childishness to be reflected by an equally immature cabinet who think they can dictate to the rest of the world with impunity.)
I also remind everyone that McFarland was exposed for trying on behalf of Roger Ailes to recruit Petraeus to run for President in 2012. She tried to bury that story, but it was true – she had lobbied Petraeus on Ailes’ instruction, thinking he might have a shot at beating Obama. I would not be surprised to see indications that McFarland took Petraeus’ downfall over his information leaks very personally.
Did Newshounds hear Trump plans to replace the national anthem? Yep. Here’s a sampler:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY
Just to let you know I do feel fine. ;^)