If you woke up from a coma on Wednesday afternoon and flipped on Fox News, or checked the network’s website, you’d be forgiven if you had no idea the country is currently grappling with a pandemic killing tens-of-thousands of Americans and leaving millions more unemployed.
Fox News hosts such as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham hyped the new developments as part of the supposed “OBAMAGATE” scandal the network has been promoting for the last few days with President Trump. Anchors at the network, such as Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, also elevated the story. And during the day, softball interviews were given to Republican Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson, both of whom have, thus far, declined to appear on CNN.
Online, the Fox News homepage prominently displayed articles on the topic, while barely mentioning the coronavirus or havoc it has wrecked on the nation and world. It looked far more like the front page of the far-right website Breitbart than a credible news organization.
That Fox News would push a dishonest disinformation campaign against Trump’s political opponents is reprehensible, but not surprising. The network has been pumping poison into the national conversation for quite some time. But that Fox is engaging in such behavior as more than 83,000 Americans lay dead from a virus that has upended American life is particularly repugnant.
And while it might be tempting to ignore all of this, and brush it aside, there is a real news story here: It’s that the President of the United States, in conjunction with a major American network, is polluting the information wells during a pandemic to help distract from the bad news and boost his re-election efforts.
Hannity lashes out at judge in Flynn case
“You botched this from day one and you had a bias from day one,” Hannity seethed. “You reek of ignorance, you reek of political bias. So Judge Sullivan, you and you alone from this day forward are responsible for continuing what has been a travesty of justice that destroyed four years of an American hero’s life, and it’s time for a new venue and a new judge and someone unlike you that doesn’t have political bias.”
“The health experts keep saying inconvenient things”
Limbaugh explains Trump’s Fauci strategy
“‘Oh, my God. Tony, you should run for office,’ and then privately you ignore every damn thing he says and implement your own policy,” Limbaugh added. “That’s the only way you can do it.” The caller asked Limbaugh if Trump will pursue such a strategy. “I think he already is,” Limbaugh replied.
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