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Trump is Trump. There is nothing new to say about this man. But there is still a lot to learn about its catalysts. So many people, from GOP officials to Fox News hosts, are helping it undermine democracy by denying elections and attacking reality. So many people are accomplices.
People like Maria Bartiromo. Once an acclaimed journalist, known the world over for making CEOs tell the truth, she now asks Trump to recite lie after lie. His Sunday morning call with Trump on Fox News was his first “interview” since losing the election, but it was not a real interview at all. He wasn’t ready to admit that he had lost, and neither was she. He posted
delusional weakness. She was an accomplice. And she is far from the only one.
Ron Brownstein on CNN Sunday Night: As Trump’s “rigged” election conspiracy theory grows more fantastical and far reaching, involving DOJ, FBI, and Republican governors, Republicans keep silent in Congress – Mitch McConnell in particular, Kevin McCarthy in particular, who allow this poison to spread through the American political system – increasingly looks like a modern analogue of the silence of the Republican leaders of Congress during Joe McCarthy’s rampages in the early 1950s. I think history will have no trouble finding a parallel between Mitch McConnell’s efforts to look away and what so many Republican leaders did until Joseph Welch said, well, sir. ‘have you no decency?’ “
Trump backs off
He lost the election almost four weeks ago, but he refuses to admit it. Judging by his tweets, he sinks even deeper into denial. Bartiromo’s interview was a sign that he was ready to fight in public – a disturbing display of weakness that some people interpret as strength. Her Q&A on Thanksgiving night with reporters was another sign of the same. After holding a call with members of the military, he answered questions for the first time in three weeks – the
“longest gap” of his presidency – mainly by hijacking and deceiving. When he got out, a reporter asked “Is this the language of a dictator?” and another said, “Mr. President, some people say you are denying reality.”
In Sunday’s “reliable sources”, Jonathan Rauch placed Trump’s recent statements in the context of the information war. Trump is leading a “classic Russian-style disinformation campaign” known as the “Lies Fire Launcher”, which involves “spreading as many stories and conspiracy theories, lies and half-truths as possible “said Rauch. “The point here is to confuse people, and he’s doing it very well. It’s a classic propaganda tactic.”
>> Craig Mazin, the creator of HBO’s “Chernobyl”,
reacted to my segment with Rauch, repeating one of the most memorable lines in his series: “The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all.”
The Murdochs have this
Trumpism is an integral part of Fox’s business model. The men who control Fox, Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, were obviously quite happy with Bartiromo’s propaganda, proud enough of his Trump sycophancy, that they broadcast his time from 10 a.m. ET to 3 p.m.
Right after, at 4 p.m., news anchor Eric Shawn dismantled what Trump and Bartiromo had just built. (No wonder Trump continues to attack Fox weekend presenters.)
Shawn said Trump “doubled down on his allegations of widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 election, even as local and state election officials as well as federal and state courts in several states – and in some cases Trump’s own advocates – have said ‘there was no evidence to prove it. “He added:” Experts say these claims are simply unsubstantiated lies that are not supported by any fact.
It is clear and convincing language. So why did Fox broadcast all of Trump’s claims without any real-time tracking? A Fox spokesperson did not respond to my requests.
Trump said Hannity “ gets it ”, but …
In Sunday morning’s phone conversation with Bartiromo, Trump praised Mark Levin’s show “last night,” even though Saturday’s broadcast was just a repeat of a six-day-old episode. from the Levin show. He also said “Sean Hannity, he knows it, he understands. He understands.” Which means? That Hannity thinks Trump won the election? On Sunday evening, Hannity posted a tweet that the media had helped “kick Trump out of office,” which stood out primarily for his admission that Trump’s presidency was over. To understand some of the rage on the far right,
Take a look at the responses to Hannity’s tweet.>> A few days ago, I quoted a longtime Fox staff member saying that “our audience has been radically radicalized”, and that’s what it’s about in large part. The audience. Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning show has a much larger audience than Fox’s news reports later in the day.
Darcy’s questions
Oliver Darcy writes: “In the past, Maria Bartiromo has been described as a member of Fox’s ‘Straight News’ division – an arm of Fox for which Bret Baier and Chris Wallace serve as faces. So it is worth asking: where are they? colleague fanning the flames of those deranged conspiracy theories? Do they think disturbed behavior represents them well? “
>> More questions from Darcy: Is “Trump” coming out of his shell “so to speak? Will he call on Hannity and” Fox & Friends “in the next few days?”
Irony is rich
Oliver Darcy adds: “If you’ve watched Fox News in the past week, you’ve no doubt seen a segment or two attacking reporters for pitching supposed ‘softball’ questions at Biden. These segments have dominated Fox talk shows in recent years What made Bartiromo’s “interview” a stunning display of double standards and loads of hypocrisy. Think about Bartiromo’s “interview” the next time Fox has the nerve to attack reporters for the questions they ask Biden or members of his future administration … “
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