Tag Archive: Megyn Kelly

Reactions to Coronavirus follow political narratives

New York National Guard responds to Coronavirus

Someone I know was down to three rolls of toilet paper last week, so he went to the store on Friday to get more, and surprise, couldn’t find any. It never occurred to him over the last few weeks to stock up. Guess which news channel he watches for Coronavirus information? Right wing Fox News viewers and Donald Trump fans (big overlap there) seemed especially caught off guard late last week, as the facts on the ground regarding Coronavirus (a/k/a COVID-19) finally destroyed their narratives.

Heretofore, Fox News, Trump and his administration officials were severely downplaying the seriousness of the virus. Trump infamously called Coronavirus, or Democratic criticism of his handling of the crisis, “a new hoax” as late as February 28. This is after Trump had been briefed about the virus back in January, had stated in an interview on January 22 that “we have it totally under control,”and spent the next two months apparently just wishing the problem would go away, because he feared the virus would hurt the stock market and his approval rating. Trump even enlisted Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in January to say that the spread of Coronavirus in China will “help to accelerate the return of jobs to North America.” Since then, the number of Coronavirus cases and deaths in the U.S. keeps rising, the stock market has plummeted many percentage points, and we’re getting the first glimpses at a U.S. economic slowdown that could turn into a full-fledged recession. But what could have been Trump’s moment to shine, by taking swift and effective action, devolved into typical conservative Republican laissez-faire failure of government, and even conspiracy theories. As a result, Americans are less safe, and so is Donald Trump’s presidency.

The Breitbarting of America

Trump/Breitbart propagandist Stephen Bannon

Trump/Breitbart propagandist Stephen Bannon

Donald Trump‘s unofficial electoral win, as well as the elevation of Stephen Bannon to Trump campaign CEO and then future White House counsel, demonstrates how Andrew Breitbart‘s style of propaganda and fake news has triumphed. The mainstream media helped the Breitbart model win, cheering every step of the way. All of this is dangerous for the country.

Before his death in 2012 from a heart attack at age 43, Andrew Breitbart launched Breitbart.com, Breitbart.tv and other related sites, which furthered right wing narratives such as “Scary Brown People” and “Corporations Good, Government Bad.” During President Barack Obama‘s administration, Breitbart helped to push anti-Obama and anti-Democratic Party stories, many of which were at least partially fake or based on doctored videos (i.e., propaganda), but which got picked up by the major news media and became the news, with marvelous results for the GOP. Among the best-known stories flogged by Breitbart were:

Trump, Bernie and the entertainment campaign of 2016

Protesters disrupt Bernie Sanders event in Seattle, WA

Protesters disrupt Bernie Sanders event in Seattle, WA

Jeb Bush vs. Hillary Clinton. A presidential race between two dynastic candidates, focused on sharp policy differences. That’s the campaign we were supposed to get. Instead, as of August 2015, we are getting the Entertainment Campaign featuring sideshow issues involving Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Maybe it’s the presidential campaign we should have expected.

Megyn Kelly’s White Santa and other corporate myths

Megyn Kelly of Fox “News” waded into the imaginary War on Christmas this past week, and ended up stepping in yellow snow. First, on December 11, as indicated in the video above, Kelly said that “Santa just is white …. Santa is what he is.” Kelly went on to say that “Jesus was a white man too.”

Kelly’s remarks caused a firestorm among historians, anthropologists and almost everyone else over the age of seven. Many people pointed out that, aside from the little technicality that Santa Claus isn’t real, St. Nicholas was from present-day Turkey (and likely swarthy-looking), and the very white, rosy-cheeked Santa familiar to many American kids is merely a Coca-Cola advertising creation. After hearing about all this, Kelly took to the air last Friday to say that she had only been joking about that Santa being white thing, even though there was no indication in her original broadcast that she was joking about it. Then Kelly, apparently in her next stage of grief, said that her critics, not her, had decided to “race bait,” but that, come to think of it, it “is far from settled” whether Jesus was white (even though, according to the evidence, Jesus was a Middle-Eastern Jew who was likely as swarthy-looking or more than even St. Nicholas).

Sadly, Fox’s Megyn Kelly is not alone in having her history shaped by White Corporate America. So in honor of Megyn Kelly’s history lesson, how about we list some other myths perpetuated by some big U.S. corporations, their front groups and bought-off politicians, which make as much sense as Fox’s White Santa/White Jesus: