Fox News: As the Midterms Approach Fox Turns up the Fear Factor and Tucker Promotes a Nazi...AGAIN!
A condensed overview of 15 hours of Fox News for the week ending 10/23/22
Last week the candidate endorsements on Fox News were so aggressive and brazen that a typical Fox News viewer might have thought the network formally merged with the Republican Party. A Fox fan might also think that every American city was on the brink of destruction due to runaway crime and that inflation and high energy prices were only affecting Americans.
Anyone who exclusively watched Fox wouldn’t know that Lebanon is close to a complete economic collapse, that a cement company pleaded guilty to helping ISIS, or that Sen. Lindsey Graham will be forced to testify in an inquiry surrounding the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
As the midterm election approaches Fox News is on overdrive to demonize Democrats, elevate Republican candidates and scare the ever-living mind out of their viewers. The network is a regular horror movie of invading migrants, marauding bands of criminals, and woke communists that only Donald J. Trump’s hand-picked candidates can save them from.
Shows covered last week
Fox & Friends - 1st hour
The Five
Tucker Carlson Tonight
CRIME, CRIME, CRIME - RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
Fox News has decided the best way to get its viewers out to the polls is to terrify them into action.
Crime stories are always a favorite topic at Fox but as the midterms approach the network has pushed things up a notch.
Most programs include at least one cellphone clip of some brutal attack on the street or a person pilfering an entire shelf of deodorants from a drugstore.
“Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy even decided the New York City Subway system has been renamed the Murder Express by the locals. I did a hashtag search for the term on Twitter and found a murder mystery dinner package.
Also as a resident of New York City for the past 21 years I don’t know a single soul who has ever referred to the MTA subway system as the “Murder Express.” The Metropolitan Transit Authority isn’t really known for speed reliability so the term “express” doesn’t really come to mind.
This is an edit of a larger segment from “Fox & Friends” where Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade actually repeat the same crimes during the short segment.
Although the U.S. is experiencing an increase in crime that started during the worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic most of the excitement around it is hype.
The following chart from the F.B.I. Crime Data Explorer shows the rate of violent crime per 100,000 people from the year 1985 until 2020.
It’s clear that there is a slight uptick from 2019 until now but the overall trend has been a dramatic drop in crime from a height in the early 1990’s. In 1991 the FBI reported around 750 violent crimes per 100,000 people. On the latest date on this chart the number was around 400 violent crimes per 100,000 for the year 2020.
Fox also likes to blame Democrat governors and mayors for the increase in crime. The data shows a much more muddled picture.
Top ten states for crime - via World Population Review
(How each state voted in the last presidential election)
New Mexico - Democrat
Louisiana - Republican
Colorado - Democrat
South Carolina - Republican
Arkansas - Republican
Oklahoma - Republican
Washington - Democrat
Tennessee - Republican
Oregon - Democrat
Missouri - Republican
Top ten cities for crime - via World Population Review
(How each state voted in the last presidential election)
St. Louis, Missouri - Republican
Detroit, Michigan - Democrat
Baltimore, Maryland - Democrat
Memphis, Tennessee - Republican
Little Rock, Arkansas - Republican
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Democrat
Rockford, Illinois - Democrat
Cleveland, Ohio - Republican
Stockton, California - Democrat
Albuquerque, New Mexico - Democrat
Interestingly enough Chicago is ranked 21 with a crime rate of 1099 per 100,000 residents. Fox News tends to trash The Windy City and its mayor often for its crime rate.
The crime stats from Chicago are alarmingly high but the city is the third largest in the country at approx. 2.7 million people. St. Louis by contrast only has 304,709 residents but a crime rate of 2082 per 100,000 residents, nearly twice the rate of Chicago.
The Midterms - Fox Openly Promoted Republicans
Two weeks ago Hannity followed a fairly strong pattern of tearing down Democrats in close races while building up Republicans in races they are unlikely to win.
Last week that pattern was thrown out the window by Tucker Carlson. Carlson made some unexpected choices. He gushed over Arizona Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Lake was the most mentioned GOP candidate on Fox News last week topping the list at 43 mentions.
Carlson’s nearly 13 minute segment on Lake wasn’t so much an endorsement as a coronation. If Carlson could elect this woman as leader of the world he would.
Meanwhile he spent nearly as long trashing Utah Independent senatorial candidate Evan McMullin. According to most polling McMullen is unlikely to win that seat.
As an independent McMullin is more likely to appeal to Republican voters but he’s running against an incumbent. In the last election incumbent senators held onto their seats 83.9% of the time.
Carlson also lambasted Georgia gubernatorial Stacey Abrams at length. Currently her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, is polling seven points ahead of her. Abrams was mentioned nearly twice as often as Kemp.
The constant bashing of Democrat Pennsylvania senatorial candidate John Fetterman continued across multiple programs. Fetterman was mentioned 41 times.
The network largely ignored the senate race in Nevada which is puzzling since it’s currently polling as one of the tightest senate races in the country. Neither candidate, Catherine Cortez Masto or Adam Paul Laxalt were mentioned once during the 15 hours of coverage I analyzed.
The Breakdown *indicates incumbent
(Polling from www.FiveThirtyEight.com)
NY - Governor race - Democrat up - 12.2 points
Kathy Hochul* - Democrat - 13 mentions - 48%
Lee Zeldin - Republican - 14 mentions - 52%
UT - Senate race - Republican up - 12.2 points
Evan McMullin - Independent - 23 mentions 88%
Mike Lee* - Republican - 3 mentions - 12%
FL - Governor race - Republican up - 10.8 points
Charlie Crist - Democrat - 1 mention - 7%
Ron DeSantis* - Republican - 13 mentions - 93%
GA - Governor race - Republican up - 7.1 points
Stacey Abrams - Democrat - 26 mentions - 63%
Brian Kemp* - Republican - 15 mentions - 38%
MI - Governor race - Democrat up - 6.9 points
Gretchen Whitmer* - Democrat - 3 mentions - 33%
Tudor Dixon - Democrat - 6 mentions 67%
AZ - Senate race - Republican up - 5.1 points
Mark Kelly* - Democrat - 1 mention - 25%
Blake Masters - Republican - 3 mentions - 75%
OH - Senate race - Republican up - 4.6 points
Tim Ryan - Democrat - 25 mentions - 68%
J.D. Vance - Republican - 12 mentions - 32%
WI - Senate race - Republican up - 4.2 points
Mandela Barnes - 0 mentions
Ron Johnson* - 1 mention - 100%
AZ - Governor race - Close race Republican up - 1.2 points
Katie Hobbs - Democrat - 18 mentions - 30%
Kari Lake - Republican - 43 mentions - 70%
PA - Senate race - Close race Democrat up - 1.2 points
John Fetterman - Democrat - 41 mentions - 67%
Dr. Mehmet Oz - Republican - 15 mentions 33%
GA - Senate race - Close race Democrat up - 1.2 points
Sen. Raphael Warnock* - Democrat - 9 mentions - 43%
Herschel Walker - Republican - 12 mentions - 57%
NV - Senate race - Extremely close race Republican up - 0.7 points
Catherine Cortez Masto* - Democrat - 0 mentions
Adam Paul Laxalt - Republican - 0 mentions
Inflation is destroying everything
Judge Jeanine Pirro reads off a few countries and declares that inflation isn't a global problem. Any rate above 2% is considered less than ideal. I've included data from TradingEconomics.com that shows 58% of countries have an inflation rate as high or higher than the U.S.
The global rate of inflation is 8.8% with the United States slightly lower at 8.2%.
Most economists would argue a healthy rate of inflation is at about 2% or slightly lower. About 96% of all G20 countries are experiencing inflation above 3%. Roughy 46% have inflation at the same rate or higher than the United States.
Out of all 186 economies, about 92% have inflation rates of 3% or higher and 58% have rates as high or higher than the United States.
During the segment Pirro mentioned France as one of many countries that is not experiencing high inflation. She didn’t mention that French people took to the streets of Paris last week to protest the ever-increasing cost of living and high inflation in their country.
Inflation very much is a global problem.
Tucker Carlson is really angry you can’t buy this Nazi’s books on Amazon
Tucker Carlson is outraged that Amazon doesn't carry the books of Alexander Dugin, a Neo Nazi, fascist philosopher who believes Russia should conquer Europe.
Amazon doesn't carry every book. Amazon is not the only book seller in America. This is not censorship.
Tucker can’t help himself and throws in an antisemitic remark
During a rant about Tiffany Cross of MSNBC, Tucker Carlson tossed an aside that seemed to resemble the centuries old blood libel conspiracy theory used against Jewish people.
Are they poisoning the wells? Are they baking bread with the blood of your children?
One version of the blood libel myth promoted the idea that Jewish people were baking the blood of Christian babies into their matzoh bread. Several generations of Jewish people were persecuted and murdered due to a deep-seated hatred towards them across Europe.
Tucker Promotes Christian Nationalism
A guest on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Jason Whitlock of Blaze Media, goes on a two minute tirade filled with Christian Nationalism imagery and themes. MSNBC isn’t just bad, it’s demonic and Satanic.
A Fox Guest Goes Rogue!
It doesn’t happen often but every now and then Fox News will invite a guest on who does not follow their playbook. In this clip Rachel Campos-Duffy asked small business owner Chad Pritchard why he was struggling finding employees. He answered that it was due to the high level of education and tech jobs in his area.
Campos-Duffy didn't like that answer so she just inserted her own about government handouts.
Stories that Fox thought were Newsworthy that were NOT Newsworthy
Surveillance video from a Whole Foods that showed murder victim Gabbie Petito with her fiancé hours before she was most likely killed. Although this story is quite tragic it’s not exactly newsworthy. Petito was murdered in August 2021 by her fiancé who later committed suicide. The press seemed to really want to run with this story as the Petito was a young attractive blonde woman but it was over almost as soon it the story broke. `
Dustin Hopkins, the kicker for the Los Angeles Chargers NFL team, thanked Jesus after he kicked the game-winning field goal. In a country where Christianity is the dominant religion this probably happens quite often. I also doubt the network would report on this if he praised Allah or another deity from a non-Christian faith.
Fox News still hasn’t even mentioned the anti-government protests in Iran.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare 15 hours of Fox News coverage to five hours of PBS NewsHour. The following are stories covered by PBS that Fox News ignored.
The War in Ukraine - Russia declared Martial Law in the areas that it recently tried to illegally annex through a referendum.
Israel offered Ukraine early warning technology that would help the Ukrainians detect incoming drones.
In less than two weeks Israel will have its fifth general election in less than four years. Most polls show Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just shy of a majority.
The U.S. accuses Iran of selling drones to Russia for the war in Ukraine in violation of a U.N. ban.
The anti-government protests in Iran continued across the country. A fire broke out in a Tehran prison which is known for housing political prisoners.
Elnaz Rekabi, a female Iranian rock climber, competed in South Korea without wearing a headscarf as required from the Islamic Republic. She returned home to cheering crowds. Rehabi insisted the lack of her headscarf during competition was an oversight and not part of a political protest.
The economic crisis in Lebanon continues to worsen. Citizens are robbing banks to get their own money.
Increased prices for food and energy are causing severe food insecurity in Chad. The shortages and inflation is a direct result of the war in Ukraine.
Tribal clashes killed 170 over two days in the Southern part of Sudan.
Thousands march in Paris to protest increased costs of living.
Suicides among active duty service members in the U.S. military dropped in 2021.
Trump hotels charged Secret Service agents exorbitant' rates - The Secret Service was charged as much as $1,185 per room per night, nearly five times the government rate.
Former President Donald J. Trump made antisemitic comments in a Truth Social post.
A federal court ruled that Sen. Lindsey Graham must testify in a Georgia elections inquiry.
Amazon workers near Albany, New York voted against joining a union.
First trial over a state ban on trans youth gender affirming care began in Arkansas.
Lafarge, a cement and construction company, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations. - This is the Justice Department’s first coporate material support for terrorism prosecution. Lafarge and its Syrian subsidiary admitted to a revenue-sharing agreement with ISIS and agreed to pay $778 million in fines and forfeiture.
A federal jury found that actor Kevin Spacey didn’t molest fellow actor Anthony Rapp in the 1980’s, bringing an end to a civil trial.
The National Weather Service predicted another dry and warmer winter this season.
The U.S. budget deficit was cut in half last year.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy laid out a road map for companies to improve the mental health of their employees and create a healthier work environment.
By the Numbers
Fox is basically one big advertisement for Republican candidates at this point. All of the smaller categories were some form of fear-mongering about the upcoming midterm elections.
Interestingly the upcoming Israeli election was in the top five for PBS NewsHour. Fox News hasn’t even mentioned it. The network has an established pattern of ignoring Israel-Palestine.
Coming up…
This week I’ll be covering the first hour of “Fox & Friends,” “The Five” and “Primetime with Jesse Watters.”
The cities you named for crime all vote Democrat in local and state elections. That was dishonest or FOXlike of you.