Many Americans are spending this weekend sharing their gratitude and hopes for the future around the family table. It’s a tradition that encourages a positive expression of unity and appreciation for the good fortune and fellowship they’ve enjoyed over the past year.
But leave it to Fox News to cast a bleak shroud over these festivities. In a segment they labeled as “Political Thankfulness This Holiday Season” (video below), the wingnutty network set off on a negative course to demean their ideological foes and spread ludicrous analyses of recent electoral events.
The segment began with Fox News anchor Ed Henry exclaiming that there is “So much to be thankful for this time of year, even when it comes to politics, believe it or not.” Then, as an example, Henry cites an op-ed by conservative Marc Thiessen stating the he’s “grateful that Hillary Clinton is not president.” It’s the only example of thankfulness he mentions. With “so much to be thankful for,” he can only come up with something to be thankful against. And of course, it’s a childish swipe at a grandmother in Chappaqua.
From there the segment devolved into an absurd political dialog that featured Julie Kelly from the ultra-rightist National Review. Her remarks demonstrated just how far from reality Republicans have ventured. Referring to the recent election in Virginia where Democrats trounced the GOP, Kelly deliriously mused that:
“I do think that the Virginia elections were a good sign for Republicans in Congress. I mean Donald Trump is far more popular with the Republican base than the Republican Congress is.”
Losing a historic race that put a Democrat in the governor’s office and may have flipped the legislature to Democrats for the first time in years is “a good sign” for Republicans? And if that isn’t enough evidence of a severe cognitive malfunction, Kelly’s reasoning focuses on Trump’s popularity? Doesn’t she know that he has the worst approval ratings of any president in modern times? Yet she regards that pathetic data as positive because her party’s approval in Congress is even worse? Really? At this rate, she’s gonna be downright ecstatic when the GOP loses control of the House and the Senate next year.
Kelly then added that she doesn’t think the losses in Virginia were a wake up call directed at Donald Trump. Never mind exit polls that explicitly cited Trump as a primary reason for their anti-GOP votes. And following that ludicrous election analysis, host Henry agreed saying:
“Julie, you’re absolutely right. The voters are watching. This is a golden opportunity for the Republican Party. We’ll see if they blow it or not.”
Fair and balanced? Henry, who used to be Fox’s White House correspondent, concurs with the utter nonsense Kelly just disgorged. And he revels in what a fantastic advantage it is for Republicans, so long as they embrace it. Happy times all around at Fox News.
There was, however, something significant left out of this Thanksgiving commemoration. And it’s something that a majority of Americans actually are thankful for. It’s the progress being made by special counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into the corruption and treason of Donald Trump and his criminal accomplices in Washington and Moscow. No doubt Fox News will cover any report about Trump’s impeachment as a golden opportunity for the GOP. Either that or they’ll just ignore it, call it fake news, and blame it all on Hillary.
How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.
