Category Archives: Fox “News” Watch

Florida’s Coronavirus response is completely irrational

Satirical Coronavirus poster that may come true in Florida

As we indicated several days ago, there is a dangerous split right now between Democratic and Republican officials in their response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Nowhere is this split more apparent than in Florida.

The state of Florida is near the top in both highest median age and highest percentage of seniors (age 65 and over) of any state. As seniors, they are more likely to support Republicans. And not coincidentally, many of these seniors live in a state of fear. This includes of death, fear of running out of money before death, built-in tribal fear of minorities (if they are older white folks), fear of change, fear of technology, etc. Republicans play to these fears (recall, for example, Trump’s initial presidential campaign announcement focusing on rapist, drug-dealing immigrants from Mexico; as well as the “Caravan.”) Likewise, Republican propaganda network Fox News plays up these fear narratives, including Scary Brown People (Blacks = “Thugs,” Latinx = “Illegals,” Muslims = “Terrorists”), as well as that other fear, “Big Bad Government.”

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.

CNN’s truth vs. Fox News’ lies

Fox News, state-run TV for Republicans

A jarring juxtaposition between Cable News Network (CNN) and Fox News on how to treat Donald Trump‘s administration took place this week. Yesterday, the Daily Beast reported that, before Trump Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned this year in a wave of scandals, he repeatedly received sweetheart deals when appearing for interviews on the Fox & Friends program. The Fox treatment of Pruitt went way beyond simply going easy on a Republican guest, which Fox News does all the time, and which is why Donald Trump loves Fox & Friends in particular. Here, Pruitt’s staff coordinated closely with the Fox & Friends staff to script the actual interview questions and talking points in advance. This throws out any pretense of real journalism, especially in questioning a government official, and turns Fox News into the equivalent of the Russian state-run TASS news agency.

Going on offense at the Thanksgiving dinner table

Peaceful looking Thanksgiving dinner

Each Thanksgiving, we see tips for Democrats on how to react to conservative Uncle Charlie when he starts raising his Republican Fox News talking points at the holiday meal. However, most such tips are reactive, and assume that our conservative relatives get to set the table first by initiating the conversation based on their talking points. We know that it’s tougher to prevail in political discussions that are framed by your opponent. Instead, how about going on offense and bringing up your points first, thereby tilting the field of debate in your favor? Here are some possible points to bring up at the Thanksgiving dinner table tomorrow:

Right wing hate rhetoric and violence top the political agenda

Photo of MAGABomber Cesar Sayoc with photoshopped slogan on sign.

Just days before the 2018 midterm elections, two incidents have pushed the Republican culture of hate and violence to the top of the political agenda. The first incident culminated on Friday, when right wing activist Cesar Sayoc was arrested for allegedly sending approximately 14 package bombs to prominent targets of Donald Trump and the Republicans, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, Florida Congresswoman (and former Democratic National Committee Chair) Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and CNN. Sayoc’s van is covered in pro-Trump and anti-Democratic hate messages, including a picture of Hillary Clinton with gun cross-hairs over it. Sayoc was therefore dubbed the “MAGA Bomber.”

The second incident occurred Saturday morning, when a white man, yelling “all Jews must die!” opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle at the Tree of Life Synogogue in Pittsburgh, PA, killing at least 11 worshippers and wounding several others, including police officers. This comes several days after a Fox Business channel host and other Republicans raised anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the so-called “caravan” of migrants from Central America are dangerous people funded by Jewish billionaire George Soros. Likewise, Donald Trump tweeted on October 22 that the caravan included “unknown Middle Easterners,” a statement with which Vice President Mike Pence agreed. The Pittsburgh killer seemed to synthesize these ideas when he recently posted on his social media:

It’s the filthy EVIL jews Bringing the Filthy EVIL Muslims into the Country!!

This latest right wing violence (it appears to meet the definition of “terrorism,” which is essentially targeting civilians for violence for political purposes) is part of a long history coinciding with Republican hate and death rhetoric. For example, years of Republican anti-government propaganda, including after the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas, culminated in the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building on Oklahoma City on Waco’s second anniversary.

Businesses blaring Fox News

Wisconsin pro-union protest

In many areas of the U.S., as has been reported anecdotally, stores, restaurants and other commercial establishments are airing Fox News at all times from a single TV. We’re not talking about an office building that airs multiple TV news networks from different TVs, or a sports bar that may have 50 TVs, including one tuned to Fox News. This is a conscious decision by the business owners to air only this point of view. It is thus impossible for a customer to avoid hearing and/or seeing the Fox News broadcast at these locations. What should you do when you walk into such a business and are not a fan of the divisive, false Fox propaganda channel?

There are several possible options for the non-Fox consumer in this situation:

Conservatives set fire to their own Nike shoes, get burned

Nike Air Max

Nike has announced that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick will be their new spokesman for Nike’s continuing “Just Do It” advertising campaign. Kaepernick is known for taking a knee before his NFL football games instead of standing during the National Anthem, in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter group, to protest police killing of black civilians. Almost immediately upon Nike’s news, conservatives lashed out at Nike. However, their protest has taken some illogical, dangerous and even hilarious turns.

Trump and Republicans fire up the Culture War

Philadelphia Eagles training camp, 2015 Military Appreciation Day

God, Guns and Gays. Illegal immigration. These are Culture War issues that Donald Trump and Republicans are pushing to stir up Republican voter interest as the 2018 midterm elections approach. The latest Culture War topic is Trump’s revocation of his White House invitation to the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles football team, after Trump heard that some Eagles team members were planning to skip the event over political disagreements with Trump. Moreover, Fox News falsely ran photos of Eagles players kneeling to pray (approved behavior by the GOP) with captions about kneeling in protest (such as in support of Black Lives Matter, a protest against police violence which is disapproved behavior by Republicans). Fox had to apologize hours later for its misleading photos and captions.

Sean Hannity’s giant conflict of interest

Fox News, completely removed from “news”

Yesterday, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Michael Cohen‘s attorney was forced to reveal that Cohen has three clients: Donald Trump, former Republican National Committee Deputy Finance Chairman and donor Elliott Broidy, and Sean Hannity of Fox News. The reveal of Hannity as Cohen’s heretofore mystery third client raises some serious questions:

Why the end of the Trump Shutdown is good for Democrats

National Park closures during 2013 government shutdown

Today, Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed to end the federal government shutdown (known as the “Trump Shutdown”) and keep government running until February 8, by which time Congress hopes to vote on a new long-term spending bill. In return for their agreement, Democrats got a six-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that Congressional Republicans had let expire last September. Furthermore, the agreement includes a promise by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to hold a vote on codifying the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, which Donald Trump ended last September. The agreement can be seen as a net win for Democrats, and they should portray it as such.