Tag: Fox News

Tucker Carlson attacks Michelle Obama and says she’s trying to ‘destroy’ American democracy

AlterNet logoFox News host Tucker Carlson claimed Tuesday that former first lady Michelle Obama’s support for mail-in voting could “destroy” American democracy.

“Former first lady Michelle Obama is using this crisis to promote the radical expansion of nationwide voting by mail,” Carlson said. “Citizens could request ballots online and then print them at home. Now, no serious person at the national level has ever suggested doing that before, because of course, it would instantly destroy the public’s faith in election outcomes, and hence, our democracy. But if there was ever a time to sneak something this disruptive past a beleaguered and distracted population, this is it.”

Obama and When We All Vote, the non-partisan voter registration organization she co-chairs, released a statement Monday arguing that “Americans should never have to choose between making their voices heard and keeping themselves and their families safe. Expanding access to vote-by-mail, online voter registration and early voting are critical steps for this moment — and they’re long overdue.” Continue reading.

Fox News’ Brit Hume goes off on Trump for his ‘ridiculous’ boastful tweet

AlterNet logoThe love affair between President Donald Trump and right-wing media may be hitting a rough patch.

Fox News analyst Brit Hume called out the president on Thursday for a tweet in which he lashed out at the Wall Street Journal. The paper had on Wednesday evening published a piece from the editorial board criticizing Trump’s daily coronavirus briefings that have been filled with misinformation.

“Mr. Trump opens each briefing by running through a blizzard of facts and numbers showing what the government is doing—this many tests, that many masks, so many ventilators going from here to there, and what a great job he’s doing,” wrote the editorial board, which is typically a prominent defender of the president. “Then Mr. Trump opens the door for questions, and the session deteriorates into a dispiriting brawl between the President and his antagonists in the White House press corps.” Continue reading.

Fox News is ‘lawyering up’ and readying for battle over potential coronavirus lawsuits: report

AlterNet logoBack in January and February, Fox News’ coverage of the coronavirus pandemic often downplayed the severity of the virus and claimed that Democrats, liberals and the mainstream media were exaggerating the dangers as a way of attacking President Donald Trump. Critics of Fox News, however, are divided on what is and isn’t an appropriate response to its abysmal coverage of the pandemic: some view Fox News’ coronavirus coverage as appalling but constitutionally protected speech, while others are asserting that lawsuits are appropriate. And journalist Caleb Ecarma, this week in Vanity Fair, reports that Fox News’ legal department is ready to go to battle if necessary.

Coronavirus was hardly the “hoax” that Trump and Fox News claimed it was. According to researchers at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, the pandemic has killed more than 76,300 people worldwide and more than 10,900 in the United States alone (as of early Tuesday morning, April 7). In other words, MSNBC and CNN’s coverage of the dangers that coronavirus posed were much more accurate than what Fox News hosts Trish Regan, Sean Hannity, etc. claimed. And Ecarma notes that the Washington League for Increased Transparency and Ethics (WASHLITE) has filed a “consumer protection complaint” naming Fox News and others as defendants. The lawsuit asserts that the “defendants acted in bad faith to willfully and maliciously disseminate false information denying and minimizing the danger posed by the spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, which is now recognized as an international pandemic.”

WASHLITE’s Arthur West told the Times of San Diego, “That’s the real evil of this type of programming. We believe it delayed and interfered with a prompt and adequate response to this coronavirus pandemic.” Continue reading.

Christian evangelist Franklin Graham spins a theological theory about the coronavirus origins on Fox News

AlterNet logoChristian evangelist Franklin Graham told Judge Jeannine Pirro on Fox News that the coronavirus pandemic happened because the world “has turned its back on God.”

“Well, I don’t think it’s God’s plan for this to happen,” Graham told Pirro after she asked Saturday why God would allow a pandemic to occur. “It’s because of the sin that’s in the world, judge. Man has turned his back on God, we have sinned against him and we need to ask for God’s forgiveness. And that’s what Easter is all about — it’s about God so loving the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but should have everlasting life.”

He added, “Jesus Christ came to save sinners. He didn’t come to condemn the world but to save the world. And if we put our faith and trust in him, he’ll forgive our sins. And he’ll heal our hearts, and he’ll change the course of our lives. And this pandemic — this is the result of a fallen world. A world that has turned its back on God. And so I would encourage people to pray, and let’s ask God for help.” Continue reading.

Trump continues to base policy on what he hears on Fox News

AlterNet logoOn Thursday night, Donald Trump finally invoked the Defense Production Act. He made the announcement on Twitter, of course.

We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks. “P Act” all the way. Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing – will have a big price to pay!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 3, 2020

According to a report from Kevin Breuninger, the president issued an order on Thursday night directing Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to “use any and all authority available under the Act to acquire, from any appropriate subsidiary or affiliate of 3M Company, the number of N-95 respirators that the Administrator determines to be appropriate.” Continue reading.

Report: Fox News is worried about legal action after misleading viewers about coronavirus

Vanity Fair’s Gabe Sherman: Fox News is concerned their downplaying of Coronavirus exposes them “to potential legal action” from misled viewers

JOY REID (HOST): People who are watching cable news are a lot more, you know, in the “news junkie” category right?

And then in the case of that, your choices are MSNBC or CNN or, if you’re choosing Fox, it’s because it favors the Republicans. It’s because it’s news that favors your world view. That’s why you’re watching it. So, I think that people assume that everyone knows the failures of the Trump administration in dealing with this. They’ll find out eventually when it hits them. But just in watching — depending on what you’re watching, you know more or you know less.

GABE SHERMAN (SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, VANITY FAIR): Oh, without question, I think that has been a fixture of this presidency from day one. If you look at polls that show Republicans’ views on certain issues, it’s a completely different reality than people who gather their news from a wide array of sources. Continue reading.

‘Beyond parody’: Fox News host blasted for saying ‘people are dying’ — but my friends ‘can’t get their nails done’

AlterNet logoThursday’s “Fox & Friends” featured insight into how the rich on the right a struggling to deal with the coronavirus pandemic that has killed over 1000 people in the U.S., where there are more than 68,000 confirmed cases. A record 3.3 million people filed for unemployment this past week.

“I live in the city,” Ainsley Earhardt told her co-hosts. “You can’t go back to the city – you can, but I don’t want to, I don’t want to be around the area that’s infected the most,” she said. The New York City region is now the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S.

“But I’m thinking like all the bills that are stacking up at my apartment. You know, we’ve got to think about that kind of thing. If you bought clothing before all this happened and you want to return it, are stores going to, you know, waive that 30 day period where you can get your money back if you need to return something?” Continue reading.

Trump’s faux facts on Fox News

Washington Post logoOver the course of a day, President Trump appeared in a virtual Fox News Town Hall, in a Fox News interview and in the daily coronavirus task force briefing. During the hours before the camera, he mused about packed churches on Easter Sunday, seeking to jawbone the country back to work despite the advice of medical professionals who fear it may be too early to return to normalcy to halt the spread of the virus. Here’s a guide to 11 of Trump’s claims on March 24, most of which were false or misleading.

“I had to make a decision: Do I stop people from China and specifically that area, but from China to come into the country? And everybody was against it. Almost everybody, I would say, was just absolutely against it. We’ve never done it before. We never made a decision like that. … It was instinct.”

Trump’s recollection — that his “instinct” led him to take action over the advice of “everybody” — conflicts with reporting on the decision-making that led to the administration, effective Feb. 3, to bar foreigners (with many exemptions) from traveling to the United States from China. The New York Times reported the plan was initially recommended by staff from the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Department, and they were soon joined by public health experts. Trump was reluctant at first when the idea was presented to him. Continue reading.

The Fox News whipsaw on coronavirus: In another swerve, hosts push Trump to abandon shutdown

Washington Post logoViewers following Fox News’s stars for the latest in the coronavirus story may have felt a bit of whiplash over the past several days — again.

For weeks, hosts scoffed at the looming coronavirus crisis, only to make an abrupt about-face last week when President Trump acknowledged the severity of the pandemic and declared a national emergency to fight it.

But now, Fox’s pundits have changed their minds once more — and Trump is listening. Continue reading.

The Fox News moment that revealed a dangerously confused president

Trump wants Americans to flock to churches on Easter Sunday.

One moment during President Donald Trump’s Fox News appearance on Tuesday served as the starkest example yet of how much he does not understand the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic: He urged Americans to flock to churches on Easter Sunday, just 19 days away.

Trump told Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer he selected Easter as the day he wants businesses to reopen, saying he’d like to see “packed churches all over our country” — the exact type of large gatherings that the CDC, the WHO, and Trump’s top health advisers have all urged suspended to help stop the spread of the virus.

“I would love to have it opened by Easter,” Trump said, speaking about when he sees the country returning to normal life. Continue reading.