Fox News: Rah! Rah! War with Iran, A Dance with Defamation and Another Migrant Invasion
A condensed overview of 20 hours of Fox News for the week ending 2/4/24
Last week Fox News tried to terrify its viewers about what it repeatedly called an invasion of migrants at the U.S. southern border. More than one Fox News personality almost defamed writer E. Jean Carroll and several Fox hosts seemed ready to declare war with Iran as the U.S. military engaged in strikes on Iranian militia targets.
On Friday, “The Five” and “Special Report with Bret Baier” broadcast without commercial breaks as both shows threw most of their focus to the military strikes in the Middle East.
While Fox Hosts tore down President Biden’s strategy with Israel and Iran, they praised former President Donald J. Trump as if he was some kind of military Svengali.
Meanwhile the network completely ignored the war in Ukraine while selectively reporting on the conflict in Gaza. While the PBS NewsHour dedicated 5% of its coverage to the Israel-Hamas War, Fox News only spent 1% of its airtime on the conflict.
The only story Fox covered about the Israel-Hamas War was an allegation that 12 employees of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees participated or aided the October 7th attack in Israel.
Shows I covered:
Fox & Friends - 3 hours on Tuesday
The Five
The Ingraham Angle
Special Report with Bret Baier, Jesse Watters Primetime, Hannity - Friday only
The U.S. Military Launched Strikes in the Middle East - The Five Kept Talking about Trump
On Friday the U.S. military launched air strikes on dozens of targets in Syria and Iraq that were associated with Iranian backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The attacks were the beginning of a retaliation for a drone strike that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan.
All told the missile strikes hit 85 targets in seven locations including command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the IRGC’s.
Fox News producers decided to dedicate an entire hour of commercial free coverage on “The Five,” to the attacks. There was plenty to talk about as the network invited Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (retired U.S. Army) and Dan Hoffman, former CIA chief of station, to discuss the situation.
Even though former President Donald J. Trump had absolutely nothing to do with the story more than one Fox News personality found a way to make it about him.
Judge Jeanine Pirro brought up the former president three separate times during the broadcast.
“When Donald Trump was president . . . When Donald Trump was president. And I don't want to make this political. . . Then Trump came in, he gave the generals full authority, go in there and get rid of him and he got rid of them.” said Pirro.
Will Cain evoked Trump multiple times in two opportunities that he had to speak about the attacks.
“I've brought up the instances with Donald Trump making a threat to the Taliban and then striking Soleimani in that backing off the power. What I would offer up is this Donald Trump is an exception to the rule. Donald Trump is one of the reasons he was so hated by both the with the machine that exists within Washington, DC, that is now gearing up for yet another war. Whether it was left or right, Republican or Democrat, there was enmity towards Donald Trump . . .Just for the record, I think this is the philosophical underpinning of what Donald Trump presented to America, that every single calculation, most especially war, should be filtered through the prism of America First,” said Cain.
Joey Johnny Jones, a Marine Corps veteran and Fox News host called in from his home in Georgia. He also brought up the former president.
“I don’t know if President Trump ever had those concerns, and I felt much better about it back then,” said Joey Johnny Jones calling in to the program.
Greg Gutfeld Was Annoyed He Had to Talk About the Middle East
During the same discussion about the military strikes in the Middle East Greg Gutfeld whined that they weren’t covering the U.S. border.
“Why is it that we only have consequences for actions not in the United States? They say, like you said, if we if you harm Americans, there will be payback. Well, there are Americans being harmed in the United States every damn day. We don't do shit about the border. We don't do anything about crime. We are. When will we send a message to the illegal immigrants or the fentanyl suppliers or the smash and grabbers or hell, why not send a message to the people who assault cops?
I'm not saying bombing. I'm saying actually creating disincentives, actually punishing people who deserve punishment in the United States and protecting millions of Americans here. I don't want our troops getting bombed over there. I prefer that they be home here. So you put the sitting ducks out there, then we got to go send some virtue signaling message to show that we're doing something and that we know is not doing anything. And we got to sit here and act like armchair experts talking about this crap for 17 minutes.”
Gutfeld didn’t realize the story would dominate the entire program. A 17-minute segment would be quite long for anything on “The Five,” but this story stretched for a full hour.
Gutfeld Knew What Was REALLY Important
At the end of the program his co-host Dana Perino turned to Will Cain.
“We imagine Fox and Friends weekend is going to be hot,” said Perino speaking of the military strike story.
“I guess I know what we’ll be talking about for four hours,” said Cain.
“There you go, it’s going to be must watch television,” said Perino.
“They better not bump my show,” said Gutfeld.
“Gutfeld!,” is often bumped when Fox News executives have decided a breaking news story is more important to cover than an almost late night talk show hosted by a man who refuses to be photographed standing up.
Judge Jeanine Dehumanizes Migrants
On Thursday on “The Five,” Judge Jeanine Pirro verbally unloaded during a segment about a group of migrants who were caught on camera beating NYPD officers.
“And let me say one more thing about this. These I don't even want to call them people because they're not people. These people come here, and they say they want asylum, and we suckers believe it. They don't respect authority. They take authority down. One of the other ones we didn't know about yesterday was charged with resisting arrest. He pushed a cop last time a cop arrested him in addition to their beating down the arrest.
So, I'm sick and tired of hearing this nonsense. They travel 3000 miles to the Darien Gap. It's one of the most dangerous places in the world because they want to be part of the American dream. Bull baloney. They don't want to be part of the American dream. They don't want to swear allegiance. They don't show up for their asylum hearing. And 85% of them who do don't get asylum,” said Pirro.
Poor People Never Steal out of Desperation According to The Five
On Thursday on “The Five,” Richard Fowler, a liberal who was sitting in for Jessica Tarlov, mentioned during a segment about shoplifting that sometimes people steal out of desperation.
“Look, I've said all along on this particular issue, I think we have to even when you think about cash bail, which is one of the issues that get us to people committing the theft that you see happening at this Walgreens, I think you have to make a distinction between crimes of desperation and people just doing stupid things. If a mom walks into a Walgreens and steals baby formula . . . “ said Fowler.
He was interrupted by Dana Perino
“I don’t think we’re talking about Jean Valjean,” said Perino referring to a character in the famous Victor Hugo novel “Les Misérables.”
Greg Gutfled spoke over her.
“That argument is so old.”
Fowler went ahead and spoke over him.
“It might be old, but it doesn’t take away the truth.”
Gutfeld looked directly into the camera waved his hand and said, “that’s not true.”
“There was a time when people were getting arrested for stealing baby formula.” said Fowler.
“AOC got laughed at about two years ago for saying that.”
“Someone was stealing bread. Like ‘Les Misérables.”
Of course, no one on “The Five,” who insisted poor people don’t steal food out of hunger offered any proof that it wasn’t happening.
This boils down to common sense. If someone wanted to steal an item and then resell it for cash, they wouldn’t steal food. Stolen food is difficult to re-sell for cash.
It’s much easier to sell a set of headphones or a pair of sneakers on eBay or another online marketplace for cash. A person is much less likely to purchase a perishable food item from a random stranger. There’s also not much incentive for stealing a $4 box of crackers if the penalty is the same for stealing an expensive electronic device.
According to reporting by The Washington Post, there was a sharp increase of people stealing food during the pandemic. The retailers interviewed by the Post said the top items stolen were bread, pasta, and baby formula.
Laura Ingraham Implied Biden was the Reason Military Recruitment is Down - She was wrong.
On Monday on “The Ingraham Angle,” Laura Ingraham implied the U.S. military hasn’t hit its recruitment goals due to the Biden Administration.
“We have a massive recruitment shortfall for a reason. I think a lot of families are very afraid to send their sons and daughters into the military with these this crew in charge.”
The next day she repeated her claim with a slightly new spin.
“Well, there sick social justice project in the military has coincided with a jaw dropping shortfall in military recruitment.”
I remembered a clip from the “PBS NewsHour” from October 2023. During a much longer segment about the U.S. military Nick Schifrin made a statement about problems with recruitment.
“The United States Army has not met its recruitment goals since 2014.For the fiscal year that just ended, the Army fell short of its 65,000 goal by 15,000.”
The U.S. Army is the largest branch in the U.S. military. I also found another source that showed the U.S. Navy and Marines were also having problems with recruitment as far back as 2014. According to the U.S. Naval Institute,
“top recruiters told the House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee that they are concerned about the future: the economy continues to improve, fewer young people are interested in enlisting, and marketing and bonus budgets hang in the balance.”
According to the same source another obstacle for the military is a smaller group of qualified young people.
“The 17 to 24 age group is a shrinking population pool, and only one-quarter to one-third of them meet the necessary physical, mental, and moral standards for enlistment.”
Fox News Got Incredibly Close to Defaming E. Jean Carroll On Air
Last year Fox News paid $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems in the largest defamation settlement in history. The network is still facing another lawsuit from Smartmatic, another voting systems company that claims Fox News knowingly promoted lies about its company.
Smartmatic is suing Fox News for $2 billion the case is moving its way through the court system. A private citizen, Ray Epps, is also suing Fox News and Tucker Carlson for defamation for promoting lies about his role in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6th.
On Monday, on “The Five,” during a discussion about Taylor Swift’s opinion of President Joe Biden Greg Gutfeld almost defamed E. Jean Carroll.
Jesse Watters started the discussion.
“I read this article in The New York Times. This is the Biden reelection strategy. Are you ready? Don't run on Bidenomics. Leave the White House more than once a week. Ask Bill and Barack to raise money for you and hope a pop star endorses you. Jessica, this is not the reelection strategy of a winning campaign. This smacks of desperation and the fact that he's clinging to Taylor Swift, who he couldn't even pick out of a lineup without Jill going like this,” said Watters as he gestured with his elbow. Then he whispered as if he was Jill Biden, “that’s Taylor.”
Jessica Tarlov interrupted him.
“Is the strategy to owe $83 million for defaming a woman that you sexually assaulted?”
“I would love Taylor Swift's endorsement. Any politician would. But I like people like Kid Rock. Authentic endorsements.” said Watters.
“I love you how you just ignored what I just said because that was the news from the weekend on that side and then Joe Biden was fifteen minutes late to church and you think it’s the end of the world,” said Tarlov.
“Church, he goes to church?” asked Watters.
Greg Gutfeld interrupted.
“Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that lawsuit. Go ahead, Jessica. What are your thoughts?”
“My thoughts are that you shouldn't sexually assault people and that you shouldn't defame them,” said Tarlov.
“Okay. What's he found guilty of? Sexual assault?”
Tarlov responded.
“Yes, he was. He was by a jury.”
“Was it criminal? Criminal?” asked Gutfeld.
“It was civil,” said Tarlov and Judge Pirro at the exact same time.
“So that means it doesn’t count? Okay.” said Tarlov.
“It means it's not a guilty verdict,” said Pirro.
“Anyway, it's always nice to bring something up that has nothing to do with the topic,” said Gutfeld.
“It does. He said the campaign strategy,” said Tarlov.
“You, Jessica, just stop interrupting everybody,” said Watters right before they cut to commercial.
Some Background on the E. Jean Carroll Defamation Case
Carroll accused Trump in 2019 of sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room decades earlier. He publicly denied he had ever met her and called her a ‘whack job.”
She sued him in civil court for defamation. The first jury found that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll and ended up awarding her $5 million in damages. Immediately following the first verdict Trump continued to make defamatory statements about Carroll at campaign events and on social media so she sued him again.
On Friday January 26 a jury awarded E. Jean Carroll $83 million in a second defamation case against Donald J. Trump.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I take the hours I’ve watched and analyzed on Fox News and compare them to five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following list are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Updates in the war in Ukraine
Leaders of 27 European counties agreed to a deal to provide Ukraine with 50 billion Euros ($54 billion). Hungary, a strong ally to Russia, had threatened to veto the measure. The package includes loans and grants that are meant to rebuild the country and set it up for future EU membership. The EU has a separate plan for suppling military support.
PBS included an extended interview with Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO. Stoltenberg stressed that the Ukrainian military was in great need of weapons and military support. He also emphasized that European countries and Canada had sent more support to the beleaguered nation than the United States.
The United Nations international court rejected large parts of a case filed by Ukraine alleging that Russia bankrolled separatist rebels in the country’s east a decade ago and has discriminated against Crimea’s multiethnic community since its annexation of the peninsula.
PBS also included an interview with, Sergei Medvedev, a local Russian politician who had fled to Georgia due to his opposition to the war with Ukraine. Over 20,000 Russians have been detained for protesting the war.
Ukraine said that Russia is refusing to turn over the bodies of 65 prisoners of war who Moscow claimed were killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine has denied the allegation and called it rampant Russian propaganda.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war last week. Russia received 195 soldiers while 207 people, including soldiers and other prisoners were returned to Ukraine.
Updates in the Israel-Hamas war
Israel said it killed 2000 Hamas gunmen in Khan Younis. Some Hamas members surrendered to IDF troops giving the Israelis valuable intelligence.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry 27,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas War. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatant deaths.
Israeli special forces disguised as women and healthcare workers assassinated three militants in a hospital in the West Bank. There was no return fire as this was a targeted strike.
President Biden issued an executive order that targeted Israeli settlers who have been accused of attacking Palestinians and peace activists in the West Bank. The EO is meant to prevent the settlers from entering the United States, using American financial systems or working with U.S. companies.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netahyahu met with 26 representatives from eight hostage families. The families pressed for him to define the return of the hostages as the primary aim of the war. Netahyahu refused to do so but he did say “our commitment is to bring everyone back.”
PBS produced an extended interview with Majed Bin Mohammed Al-Ansari, a Qatari Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, he spoke at length about Qatar’s role in a cease-fire negotiation between Israel and Hamas. Although there is not definite deal at the moment some progress has been made.
Khan Younis, the second largest city in Gaza, has experienced tremendous damage. According to reporting by the BBC at least half the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed. According to the United Nations about 1.7 million people or 80% of the population has been displaced with nearly half crammed into the southern portion of the strip.
The CEO of Alaska Airlines said the company found loose bolts on many of its Boeing 737 Max 9s. This was his first interview since a door plug on one of its Max 9 airplanes shot out from the side of the fuselage only a few minutes into a flight, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the state's constitution guaranteed a “fundamental right to reproductive autonomy,” which included the decision on whether to have an abortion.
The Supreme Court of the United States should rule on a case that involves access to a drug used in medication abortions in March.
A Hong Kong court ruled that Evergrande Group, a large real estate developer in China, must liquidate its assets after the company was unable to obtain $300 billion from investors. The company’s demise is a sign of China’s slowing economy.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled last week that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics for using a banned heart medication during the competition. She will be stripped of her Gold medal and the United States second place winner is set to be named the Olympic champion.
PBS produced a full length segment on the state of the electric vehicle market in the United States. Demand for the cars is growing but it’s slower than automakers and the Biden administration had hoped for.
Consumer confidence is up for the third month in a row. It is at the highest level since December 2021.
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Khan and his wife were accused of retaining and selling state gifts in violation of government rules. Khan was also disqualified for holding public office for 10 years.
The French government announced new controls on cheap foreign imports after a series of farmer protests in the country.
Musician Elton John and his longtime lyricists Bernie Taupin received the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. They will both be honored in a tribute concert in April.
A federal study from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found high rates of eight cancers linked to contaminated water at a U.S. Navy and Marine base Camp Lejeune. Tens of thousands of troops and civilians drank contaminated water at the base from 1975 to 1985.
PBS produced a segment about an investigation by The Washington Post into the payout the NFL has paid players for brain trauma (CTE) they received while playing in the league. The NFL has awarded $1.2 billion to more than 1,600 athletes but the Post found that only 15% of the claims were approved. The investigation also found that doctors discovered CTE cases during autopsies in some players who the NFL said did not qualify for a settlement.
As reported last week an extreme drought in Panama has caused reduced shipping in the Panama Canal. PBS produced a longer segment about the problem that went into more depth about possible causes and solutions.
The number of Americans getting health insurance through the Affordable Care Act has hit a record high with more than 21 million people signed up through the marketplaces. The segment explored how the ACA is once again a campaign issue as Trump and Republicans have vowed to dismantle the program.
A fire started by liquid natural gas canisters in Kenya killed three and injured at least 280. The explosion happened at an illegal gas depot in a residential area near the capital.
North Korea fired cruise missiles off its Western coast. The launch on Friday marked the fourth time in just over a week that Pyongyang has launched such missiles.
Tesla issued a recall for nearly every car its sold in the United States because some warning lights on instrument panels are too small.
PBS produced a segment about various conspiracy theories circling in right-wing media over Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl. PBS even showcased a brief clip from Jesse Watters Primetime in its segment. Watters has promoted the idea that Swift was a PSYOP (Psychological Operation) working for the Department of Defense.
Chita Rivera, a Broadway actress, singer and dancer died at the age of 91. She was best known as an original cast member in the Broadway production of “West Side Story.” She also appeared in “Bye Bye Birdie,” “Chicago,” and as the title role in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” Newsweek called her “only the greatest musical-theater dancer ever.”
N. Scott Momaday was an Pulitzer-Winning Native American Novelist who also wrote poetry, memoirs and essays. He was best known for his novel “House Made of Dawn.” He died on Wednesday at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 89.
Carl Weathers, actor and former professional football player died at the age of 76. Weathers played opposite Sylvester Stallone in the triple-Oscar winning film “Rocky.” He also appeared in “Predator,” “Happy Gilmore,” and was the voice of Combat Carl in the Toy Story films. He also appeared in a self-deprecating fictional version of himself in the television series “Arrested Development.”
Joe Madison, radio host and civil rights activist died at 74. Madison was ranked the No. 6 most important talk show host in the country in 2023 by Talkers magazine. He once interviewed Barack Obama in the Oval Office. President Biden called him, “The voice of a generation.”
I recommended your substack to Eric Wemple, WaPo. ‘Hope it gets you more subscribers. This is so helpful.