Fox News Hack Defends Trump for Making 2019 the ‘Darkest Year Yet for Journalists’

After three years of bootlicking fealty to Donald Trump, there are very few people who would dispute that Fox News is serving as the Ministry of Propaganda for the Trump regime. There has never been a “news” organization more tightly aligned with a political leader and party than Fox News. They even regularly exchange personnel who seamlessly work for both the network and the White House. Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, and others are card-carrying members of Trump’s “Shadow Cabinet.”

Donald Trump, Fox News, White House

Other than Fox News, Trump has been relentlessly hostile to the press from the beginning of his presidency. He routinely refers to it in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the people,” and dismisses any less than adoring coverage as “fake news.” Michael M. Grynbaum of the New York times took note of this in a year-end column that accurately described 2019 as the darkest year yet for journalists He elaborated…

“On Twitter, President Trump deployed the phrase ‘fake news’ 273 times this year — 50 percent more often than he did in 2018. He demanded ‘retribution’ over a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch, declared that Washington Post reporters ‘shouldn’t even be allowed on the grounds of the White House,’ and accused The New York Times of ‘Treason.’ […]

Mr. Trump’s vilification of the news media is a hallmark of his tenure and a jagged break from the norms of his predecessors: Once a global champion of the free press, the presidency has become an inspiration to autocrats and dictators who ape Mr. Trump’s cry of ‘fake news.'”

Trump has terminated the daily press briefings that were a decades-long part of White House operations. He replaced them with his “Chopper Talk” harangues on the lawn of the White House where he’ll berate reporters and lie unashamedly while dodging their questions. And his constant assaults on the press creates an environment of imminent risk to the lives of reporters. Trump even whined to Vladimir Putin that he would like to “get rid of them,” expressing his envy of Putin’s ability to assassinate journalists who offend him. That’s the sort of loathsome rhetoric that caused the Committee to Protect Journalists to issue a long and detailed condemnation of Trump as “an unprecedented threat,” and went on to say…

“Donald Trump, through his words and actions as a candidate for president of the United States, has consistently betrayed First Amendment values. […] A Trump presidency would represent a threat to press freedom in the United States.”

In response to the article in the New York Times (a frequent victim of Trump’s attacks), right-wing media hack Joe Concha appeared on Fox News to defend Trump’s malicious behavior (video below). However, he proffered a badly mangled argument that Trump was justified in criticizing the press because they were so critical of him. The problem with that is that no one was suggesting that Trump couldn’t offer his own criticisms. But there is a difference between pointing out what he believes are inaccuracies, and accusing reporters of treason.

Likewise, Concha argued that Trump couldn’t be considered a threat to journalists because he speaks to them directly from time to time. Once again, that doesn’t excuse what he’s actually saying in those encounters. If you threaten reporters with cancellation of their credentials, or with prosecution and imprisonment, you cannot simultaneously claim you’re not a threat because you spoke to them.

Fox and Friends co-host Steve Doocy eagerly agreed with Concha’s premise, saying that Trump often approaches reporters at Mar-A-Lago and takes questions. What Doocy didn’t acknowledge is that those avails are always designed to give Trump the advantage. He takes only the questions he wants, and pretends he didn’t hear the others. And if his answers are insufficient, or totally irrelevant, he refuses follow-ups or any effort to clarify.

The problem with what Concha and Doocy are saying is that they regard Trump’s insults and threats as legitimate critiques of the media. They ignore Trump’s menacing outbursts that cast journalists as criminals and traitors. And they don’t seem to comprehend that labeling everything you disagree agree with as “Fake” isn’t a coherent rebuttal. It’s a flagrant attempt to demean an honorable profession, and the only one protected by the Constitution.

Trump’s purpose is to destroy the public’s confidence in the only institution they can rely on to keep them informed and hold the powerful accountable. In this way Trump hopes to get away with his criminal, amoral, and disloyal, activities. And Joe Concha and Fox News are right there to back him up.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.

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11 thoughts on “Fox News Hack Defends Trump for Making 2019 the ‘Darkest Year Yet for Journalists’

  1. You totally nailed it here!
    “Trump’s purpose is to destroy the public’s confidence in the only institution they can rely on to keep them informed and hold the powerful accountable. In this way Trump hopes to get away with his criminal, amoral, and disloyal, activities.”
    And for a significant number of people, he has succeeded. He wants all to believe that ONLY FauxNews, the info branch of Rethuglican propaganda & Trumpian lies, can be trusted to deliver “truth”. Ha! Nothing could be further from the truth!
    In addition to those who dumbly choose FauxNews for news source, there are also 100,000’s of public locations that run FauxNews channel constantly! Why? One can only guess. Maybe they get a kickback? IDK
    I wonder if subliminal messages are at work here ~ would explain how come viewers refuse to watch anything but the propaganda network! I can’t imagine being satisfied with any 1 news source, to exclusion of all others.
    Someone should investigate if there really are quick flashes of subliminal messages on various FauxNews shows. Seriously. Funny on SNL skit, but not in real life! Nothing else is a viable explanation for why millions of people would choose to be lied to & never consider checking out any other news source. “Check your brain at the door.”
    It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s going on, not in the current climate of lies & manipulation. What does surprise me is how many fairly smart, supposedly Christians, watch that drivel w/o ever questioning it at all. The Bible does say that in the End Times there will be false prophets, evil men able to trick the masses & that even learned men will be fooled by the devil in disguise. Ah yes, so I see.

  2. I don’t see trumpty-dumpty as any kind of real threat to the press. As his term has rogresses, it’s the journalists like Maddow, that have taken a “f***-you” attitude toward the orange foolius that have done the best.

    Much of the rest of the press has brought any trumpty-related woes on themselves, by allowing this phony, tinpot dictator to cow them into their silly bullsh*t both-siderism. For them, having taken leave of both their brains and their huevos, they get what they deserve. If you are an 800-lb gorilla, and you let a 98-lb weakling kick sand in your face, don’t come whining to me.

    The only journalist for whom trumpty has been a dark influence is Khashoggi, in whose vicious murder and its attendant cover-up, trumpty is surely complicit.

  3. Posted this earlier today:

    So, the Tyrant may have just instigated an undeclared war in Iran by ordering the murder of an Iranian official.

    How long do you think the Tyrant Worshiping F*cksPods will take to compare this to Obama ordering the death of bin Laden?

    #GOPHypocrisy #GOPCorruptionOverCountry

    What do you think about that?

    • Oh shit! He did what?!
      I shouldn’t be surprised, since Bolton, Cheney & rest of nasty men from Dubya’s reign are determined to get war with Iran that they’ve wanted since Iraq, & are also the power behind Trump’s throne.
      Meanwhile, Trump “holding court” at his resort & raking in emoluments $$$. Not a care in his world.

      • And then the Tyrant posted an American flag on his Twitter. Just. The man’s an arsehole….

        • Totally sh*tty arsehole!
          That must be his 1st ever tweet w/o words — how not at all like him. But, maybe that’s cuz’ he hasn’t a clue what’s going on. Hasn’t been told yet by those really in charge. Sure ain’t that arsehole! What? Him work? Hahahahahaha! Works at fattening his pockets. Lying isn’t work for him; comes naturally, like cheating & stealing & self-love. (Eww! That grossed me out!)
          “Happy New Year Kali!”

  4. This all (gaslighting) began very early in his campaign for President when he called Obamacare a disaster, when he called immigrants thieves and rapists, when he called climate change a Chinese hoax, etc., etc., and all of which are not true and just because the donald said they were did not make it so. The dotard 45 has always been disingenuous, willfully ignorant, denigrating, uncaring, unethical, unempathtic while sowing discontent, innuendo, discord and dissension in his wake.

  5. Meanwhile, surprising nobody….

    Fox News is already accusing Democrats who question Trump of being aligned with Iran

    Just as a reminder, the Tyrant Worshipers are praising Their Beloved God for the use of drones against Iran that resulted in the death of Qassem Soleimani, even though they constantly condemned Obama for his use of drones on the battlefield and called him a murderer.

    Hypocrisy. Without it, the Tyrant Worshipers and FucksPods would have nothing….

    • OMG! It’s the same bullshit going on now as was with Iraq War! Lies, more lies, & some stupidly blind loyalty to person in WH… & The liars therein. Speaking the truth, or questioning anything, makes a person “in bed w/the enemy”.

      How many will die for the lies this time?
      How many 10’s of Trillions of dollars (debt) this time? (We still owe from last time.)
      Are we to be lying & dying for their oil, like last time?
      Will the media be complicit, as they were the last time? (yes)
      Sorry folks, but starting a war illegally & not for our defense, makes us as bad as any we call enemy. After all, we went over there to kill – they didn’t come here.
      Let us not forget WHO broke the multi-national “no nukes” treaty with Iran…Trump killed it! Why? Just cuz’ Obama negotiated it, that’s why. Guess it’s really Obama who knew how to negotiate deals; not Trump at all. War is the absence of negotiating skills. Drones dropping bombs on people is a lousy “New Year’s surprise”! Bombs don’t negotiate. They kill. This isn’t a friggin’ video game, folks!
      Same guys. Same lies. Who dies? (Not them.) We will understand that when we’re on receiving end, huh?
      Let the mindless flag waving begin…again.

  6. Ask yourself, who benefits?
    This is a huge f*ck-up.
    All ye Trump-thumpers had best get down to recruiting office & sign you, or your children up, to fight & die for what/whom you believe. “Put your money where your mouth is!”
    Hey, Cheney, Rove, Pompeo, Bolton, Miller & the rest of you…step out into the light & take a bow. Show your ugly mugs & take credit for your 2020 war…

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