It is a new level of evil for Fox News to enable an attack on American democracy by creating an alternative reality Russia scandal.
Video of CNN’s Brian Stelter on Reliable Sources breaking down the Fox News Russia scandal alternative reality:
Brian Stelter on Fox News' creation of a Russia scandal alternative reality. https://t.co/OvdQzBd0lb pic.twitter.com/OkdRRw5RqG
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 4, 2018
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Stelter said, “GOP congressmen are promising more memos, more revelations. And Fox is already telling people to stay tuned. Meanwhile, MSNBC is already making fun of it. But, you know, the memo, this entire memo thing, I know it’s confusing, but it gives the Hannitys of the world an alternative reality to live in. It gives trump a way to say he’s vindicated, even though he’s not. It lets trump allies say Mueller’s probe is tainted and needs to be shut down. It allows them to turn every claim around on its head. Collusion, yeah, there was collusion by the Democrats. Obstruction? Yeah, the DEMs obstructed. It’s like that old childhood schoolyard taunt. I’m rubber, you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you. Now the current in vogue talking point is there is an important investigation going on, but it’s not the investigation into Russian interference and election, it’s the investigation into the FBI. That’s that alternative reality.”
The Fox News alternative reality did break into mainstream media, but not in the way that Republicans wanted. There have been headlines all across mainstream platforms debunking the memo and exposing its flaws.
This is not what Fox News and the Republicans wanted. During the Obama years, Fox was able to set mainstream narratives, but they are struggling to break out of their Republican niche while defending the unpopular Trump.
Fox News is committing a moral crime against the United States
Fox has every right under the US Constitution to express their views, but to create an alternative reality to help a president cover-up possible crimes that he committed against his own country with a hostile foreign power is wrong. Fox News is putting Trump ahead of their duty as a supposed news organization to report the facts.
The Russia scandal alternative reality is an attack on facts
The United States arrived at its current point of division when the political right opted out of believing in agreed-upon facts. Everything becomes partisan when one side refuses to agree on the facts. Many Republicans, including Trump, refuse to acknowledge that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. By denying facts, Republicans turn even the undebatable into a debate.
Fox News is the mechanism through which Republicans launch mass attacks on facts, and but using this tactic to creating an alternative reality on something as important as the American system of governance goes beyond political games and into an act of sabotage against the country.
Fox’s alternative reality will keep the right in line, but for the rest of the country, it is more evidence of why the Republican Party must be stopped.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
