Fox News and Tucker Carlson are a national cancer that is profoundly dangerous to American democracy. On Monday night, Tucker Carlson and his team of cynical liars aired the January 6 security footage outrageously provided to him by Speaker in Name Only Kevin McCarthy, and claimed, yet again...
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Tucker Carlson can't stop lying
Fox News and Tucker Carlson are a national cancer that is profoundly dangerous to American democracy. On Monday night, Tucker Carlson and his team of cynical liars aired the January 6 security footage outrageously provided to him by Speaker in Name Only Kevin McCarthy, and claimed, yet again, that the 2020 election was stolen.
Think about the arrogance and hubris required to repeat the lies in the middle of a cascade of revelations that demonstrate Carlson is a liar on par with Trump — whom he hates. He believes nothing, and will say anything. Fox News — from its corrupt president Suzanne Scott, and including its corrupt anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum and the rest of its vile cast — believes they are above the truth and accountability. They have all but declared that the greatest media scandal in American history will be an ongoing one, while secure in the knowledge that the majority of the American media will not condemn them.
Fox News is treated like a news organization because the other media outlets treat them like a news organization — and demand that they be treated as such. Will the American media, through the White House Corespondents’ Association, act with censure and a removal of Fox News as a collaborating partner? The answer is no. Will the parent companies of NBC News, CBS News and ABC News change their deep business relationships with Murdoch’s Fox News empire? No way. Will the American people unplug their cable boxes? Again, no. What about the advertisers? Will they refuse to air ads on a lie machine? You know the answer to that question too.
Watching Fox react to the utter destruction of its reputation for accuracy, fairness and integrity is astonishing. It’s the equivalent of Exxon responding after the Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound with a declaration of “fuck you,” and a commitment to crash 10 more oil tankers in pristine ecosystems. The Fox scandal is peerless, but somehow is eclipsed by the flaccidity of any response to it by America’s leaders.
Senator Mitch McConnell appeased Donald Trump, and by doing so, empowered him. He is responsible for the mayhem that was unleashed because he knew better, but was simultaneously too cynical and fearful to confront it. He is confronting it now as are some other GOP senators who tried to ride the proverbial tiger’s back. It is too late for them to contain the madness.
They aren’t making protests and objections because they have finally come around to the idea that Trump and MAGA are the greatest threat to America since the confederacy. They are worried about one thing, which they care much more about than the country: their party and their power. They understand the overwhelming revulsion of the American people to this madness. They are trying to escape the black hole that they created and formed as they imploded every previous stated principle and belief to follow Trump into the abyss.
They have looked over the edge and seen their future, which is the massive repudiation of MAGA that is foreshadowed by a half-filled room of CPAC extremists, who cheered a fascistic call to violence, revenge, and American chaos. There is no domestic political story that is more urgent, necessary and important to cover. The death of America’s Watergate media and the birth of the access era have obliterated the journalistic ethic, but more importantly, eradicated the ability to report directly, clearly and effectively about what is happening and why.
Nothing Trump says is taken at face value — even though it is clear he means exactly what he says.
The New York Times is a particularly egregious offender of this through the access coverage of one of its journalists, who has long been positioned as singularly being able to interpret his rantings and explain them. For each Trump ramble there have historically been a half dozen blind quotes from a coterie of Trump aides and thus notorious liars attempting to mitigate and soft pedal his clear declarations. The relationship is so toxic, unprofessional and unethical that America’s leading fascist calls his NYT reporter and longtime intimate his “psychiatrist”. It isn’t as disgraceful as Baier being afraid to deliver the news to his audience for fear of upsetting them but it’s up there.
Anybody who listened to Donald Trump’s CPAC speech and doesn’t understand that violence will flow from it is very naive. His address was a declaration of war against the American way of life and system of government. It should be taken very seriously.
The two leading candidates for the MAGA nomination demonstrate their hostility towards democracy and the free enterprise system with each toxic statement aimed at punishing opponents and restricting freedom. Ken Burns couldn’t be more correct as he
weighs in on Florida House Bill 999:
Ken Burns @KenBurns
My thoughts on Florida House Bill 999: America’s greatness stems not from its suppression of our complicated history but our willingness to engage and understand it. Each generation has helped further bring to life the values articulated in the Declaration… (1/3)
5:56 PM ∙ Mar 6, 2023
9,421Likes2,920Retweets
America’s political, media and business elites will not stop America from becoming a banana republic. In fact, they are profiting mightily from it. Anybody who thinks the American media isn’t cheering for Trump to drive new ratings in a new reality season of American politics hasn’t been paying attention.
The result of all of this is growing danger and a crisis that is building towards a terrible end. Democracy, pluralism, truthfulness, civil liberties, rights and America deserve defense from its enemies. There are many of them. Fox News is home base.
