Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:05 pm
On the 69th anniversary of the Screen Actors Guild forcing its members to sign a Loyalty Oath or be blacklisted, Eric “Bully Boy” Bolling called for immigrating Muslims to take a Loyalty Oath. You can’t make this stuff up, but Fox tries every day.
It’s just the latest in normalization on Fox “News” of the hate, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and the other extreme views of Donald Trump and (some of) his supporters. In other words: nothing that should be normal.
Listening to Fox & Friends this morning (or any morning, for that matter) Friday Fox Follies never forgets it was F&F that started that normalization. It’s like waking up in an alternate universe with cooking segments featuring the alleged racist Paula Dean, who hawked her new show and Thanksgiving recipes today.
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More importantly, they were taking President Obama out of context again, attacking him for something he didn’t say, and ‘just asking’ whether that’s censorship. To believe those Foxy Friends, Obama’s blaming Hillary Clinton’s loss on Fake News. Nope. Here’s what the POTUS really said:
Obama Says if We Can’t Tell Serious Arguments
From Propaganda ‘We Have Problems’
It’s par for the Trump Golf Course that this fake news station is making up fake news to falsely attack a president it has falsely attacked for the past 8 years. But, for those paying attention — or care — here’s the real problem, with facts and figures:
The top 20 fake news stories outperformed
real news at the end of the 2016 campaign
That’s why there’s a petition to Tell Facebook: Fix Your Fake News Problem and why On All In, A Former Facebook Employee Criticizes Zuckerberg’s Hypocritical Stance On The Site’s Fake News Epidemic, because This Viral Lie About Denzel Washington Is The Perfect Illustration Of Facebook’s Fake News Crisis.
One Facebook fake-news writer [says]: ‘I think Donald Trump is in the White House because of me’, and I agree. [Read the interview.] Paul Horner started the lie that anti-Trump protestors were paid operatives, something I have heard repeated on the Fox “News” Channel more than once. It’s also taken hold in the Right Wing’s fevered imagination.
This HIGH-LARRY-US segment encapsulates the entire blame-dodging. First regular Friday visitor Geraldo Rivera laughs (sardonically, I believe) at Steve Doocy’s description of Fox as “real news” as opposed to fake. When Geraldo starts to provide facts and figures from the same study linked above, Doocy interrupts to claim the fake news comes from “teenagers in Macedonia who realized they were putting out fake stories on Bernie Sanders, but they weren’t getting the clickbait, and so they switched to Donald Trump and started making more money.” You can’t make this stuff up, but Fox tries every day. Rivera never gets to make his point. Watch:
Fox “News” is simply freaked that more people will start to correctly label it The Fake News Channel. Oh! Wait!
NORMALIZING RELATIONS: The entire station — Not just F&F — has been working hard to normalize the Trumpster Fire. To that end there is tonight’s big special (taped more than 2 months ago and shopped around until now):
FOX News Channel to debut ‘OBJECTified: Donald Trump’ special
Fox News Channel To Air Harvey Levin
Tour Of Donald Trump’s Home And Keepsakes
More of this week’s normalization process:
Fr. Jonathan Morris Defends ‘Close Friend’ Steve Bannon From Racism Charges • Fox’s Laura Ingraham Defends ‘Good Friend’ Steve Bannon From Racism Charges • On Fox, Trump Supporter Carl Higbie Cites Japanese Internment Camps As “Precedent” For Muslim Registry • Fox Hosts Defend Trump Administration’s Proposed Muslim Registry: “Whatever They Decide†Will Be Constitutional • Trump Considering Nut Job, Violence-Endorsing, Anti-Free Speech Sheriff David Clarke For DHS Secretary • Right-Wing Radio Host And Frequent Fox Guest With A History Of Inflammatory Rhetoric Being Considered For DHS Head • Fox’s Kurtz Laments Media Criticizing Trump’s Racial Appeals To White Nationalists • Fox’s Doocy Cites The Apprentice To Defend Trump Amid Reports That His Transition Is In Chaos • Fox & Friends Attacks Anti-Trump Protesters As Unpatriotic ‘Crybabies’ • On Fox & Friends: Billy Graham’s Granddaughter Endorses Trump Cuz Jesus And The Supreme Court • Fox & Friends Is “Amazed” At Negativity After Trump Makes Anti-Semite, White Nationalist Steve Bannon His Chief Strategist • Fox’s Chris Wallace Questions Whether It Is “A Bad Thing” For Trump To Attack The New York Times • Fox’s Kurtz Attacks Those Who Think Racism Won With Donald Trump
Let’s not forget that as Fox “News” is normalizing Trump, Agent Orange is normalizing Alex Jones:
Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Says President-
Elect Trump Called To “Thank” His Audience
Trump Adviser Roger Stone: Alex Jones Will
Be A “Valuable Asset†For New Trump Admin.
Trump Ally Alex Jones Doubles Down
On Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theories
Is it any wonder that “post-truth” is the OED’s 2016 Word of the Year?
THE BOOK REPORT: It seems like everybody at Fox was on a book tour this week. Ainsley Earhardt is making the rounds pimping her children’s book on which her name is not only above the title but bigger. Dana Perino has thrown her fans a bone with a book all about her dog Jasper. [She’ll be in my neighborhood on Sunday. The last time I confronted a Foxite at a book signing was The Day I Shook Hands With Glenn Beck.] Brain Brian Kilmeade, who is promoting the new paperback edition of last year’s book, signed some copies in The Villages earlier this week.
However, it’s the rival book tours of Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly that has media insiders’ keyboards wagging. What had been rumored to be quiet sniping in the hallways at Fox has broken out into open warfare between the 2 highest rated Fox “News” personalities. Neither will come out at the other end unscathed.
Kelly is already being attacked for holding back info about backroom bullying by candidate Trump that could have been useful for voters during the election cycle; only to write about it in her book, far too late for it to have any influence. Then she went on other networks and spoke openly about her sexual harassment by Roger Ailes that had been rumoured, but not confirmed until her book release this week — again after it might have done some good.
That was a Falklands too far for Bill O’Reilly, who has his own legacy of sexual harassment. While flogging his new children’s book (?!?) on CBS, he got totally pissed off that Kelly was making Fox look bad. For a sec it felt as if he was going to break into another neck-throbbing “We’ll do it live!” rant. But it looked more like this:
Before Kelly could even respond, O’Reilly used the last minutes of his show, which immediately precedes hers, to attack Kelly again, without naming her.
Kelly was far more diplomatic on The View. Joy Behar loaded up a softball concerning Loofah Lad’s own history of sexual harassment. She danced around it. Watch:
Kelly rightly pointed out that the only person who made Fox look bad was Ailes himself. Then she took this beautiful shot across the bow of the S.S. Spin Zone:
Megyn Kelly Says She Has the Number One ‘News
Show’ With an Extra Dose of Shade at O’Reilly
Megyn Kelly says Bill O'Reilly might have No. 1 show in news but she has the No. 1 "news show" in news, referring to Factor as opinion show.
— Brian Flood (@briansflood) November 16, 2016
Oh, snappity, snap snap. Megyn Kelly will win this war. The Murdoch boys are betting on the future, not the past. Unless Kelly signs with another network, that is.
PASSAGES: Fox elevated 2 backbenchers this week:
Janice Dean, Meghan McCain Take New Roles at Fox News
Meanwhile, Tucker “with an F” Carlson left F&F to whine from his new perch at 7PM on the tediously titled Tucker Carlson Tonight. Watch the tearful goodbye:
While the ratings for the 7 o’clock slot have improved, he’s already being attacked for stacking the deck against Obamacare and WHITEwashing Trump’s American Nazi Party and KKK support.
Headly Westerfield removed entire sections on Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and other fake news to keep this to a reasonable word count.
