Fox News: Yes, Trump Got Indicted Again but What About Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden
A condensed overview of 22 hours of Fox News for the week ending 8/20/23
Late Monday night former President Donald J. Trump faced his fourth criminal indictment over his attempts to overturn a free and fair election in the state of Georgia. Fox News hosts were instantly filled with a combination of outrage and disgust mixed with resentment towards a complicit media and corrupt Democrats.
Fox News hosts cranked up the hyperbole to apocalyptic levels. This wasn’t just a president facing criminal charges it was the end of democracy and the American way of life.
Mark Levin, never one to handle things calmly, evoked Stalin, Marxism, and a genocidal authoritarian regime. This was the start of a revolution, a bloodless coup and the destruction of Western civilization.
Fox News anchors reacted the same way last week as they had in the first three criminal indictments Trump now faces. The stark difference this time was all of their vigor and enthusiasm for the former president completely diminished by mid-week.
The network pivoted dramatically to any story that did not involve Trump. It was as if a switch was flipped deep within the control room of Fox headquarters.
By Thursday segments about Hunter Biden dominated “Hannity,” while the cast of “The Five,” seemed determined to prove that climate change played no role whatsoever in the devastating wildfires in Maui.
On “Fox & Friends,” they lavished presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy with praise while shuffling through their usual panicked stories about runaway crime and chaos at the Southern border.
Fox News also heavily promoted, “Rich Man North of Richmond,” a somewhat half-baked Bluegrass song with crude lyrics and simple instrumentation that was supposed to be the new blue-collar anthem.
Anyone exclusively watching Fox News would have missed out on new developments in the Ukraine war, various global climate disasters, and an illegal police raid of a small local newspaper.
Shows I covered last week:
Fox & Friends
The Five
Hannity
Mon. & Tuesday - Special Report by Bret Baier, The Ingraham Angle, Jesse Watters Primetime
But Her Emails are the REAL Scandal
Of course no Trump legal scandal can be complete on Fox News without an exhaustive rehashing of Hillary Clinton’s emails. On Monday while a guest on “Hannity,” former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, decided to focus his energy on various Democrats.
“Barack Obama, who corrupts the Justice Department. It is Hillary Clinton who routinely breaks the law and gets away with it. And now we have Joe Biden, who's learned he's learned from Obama. It doesn't matter what you do if you're a liberal Democrat, you will not be prosecuted. He learned from Hillary that a person in high public office can get millions and millions of dollars,” said Gingrich
The next day on “Fox & Friends” Fox News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett also brought up the former Secretary of State after she appeared on “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the night before.
“This is the same person who got away with clear crimes in her email scandal. And also, the same person that got rich off of her foundation by Russian payments. And this is the same person who invented the Russia collusion hoax, funded the phony dossier and had her minions give phony evidence to the FBI to try to drive Trump from office on Meet her. Hypocrisy is pretty rich,” said Jarrett.
On the same program Brian Kilmeade also weighed in on the former First Lady.
“Rachel Maddow says to Hillary Clinton, you know, we have to learn to accept elections. You can't just push back every time you don't like an election the way it goes. Does she even is she that oblivious? She doesn't know what she was talking to a woman that says everybody knows it, that Donald Trump was it was illegitimately elected. He lost the election,” said Kilmeade.
Later that night Sean Hannity even evoked Al Gore.
“He (Trump) is accused of challenging election results. Something Democrats have been doing since Al Gore tried to reverse the 2000 election in Florida . . . America today, if you are a prominent Democrat, last names Clinton or Biden. It's totally okay to deny election results. You can even use Russian disinformation to do it. No problem at all,” said Hannity.
Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, returned to Fox News to express her anger over Hillary Clinton’s appearance on MSNBC.
“You know, it's really incredible to see this stuff happen. And by the way, those clips she played of Hillary Clinton, wow, Let, us never forget all of those. And she led into that interview with Rachel Maddow, by the way, laughing.”
I guess Lara Trump forgot about all of those times her father-in-law encouraged his large crowds to chant, “Lock her up,” in regard to Clinton.
Mark Lavin, a guest on Hannity on Tuesday night, went on one of his signature rants.
“Don't tell me that this is the party protecting documents and emails and texts when it's the party of Hillary Clinton that destroyed 30,000 of them and was never charged with obstruction. And Bill Clinton is still free to roam the countryside when he had classified information in his sock drawer,” said Lavin.
Lock Them Up! - Joe and Hunter Biden
Fox News hosts were more than happy to focus on their second favorite topic since the 2016 election - the many unproven and unverified nefarious plots and crimes of Hunter Biden.
On Tuesday, while sitting in on “The Five,” Charlie Hurt, of the Washington Times, got extremely creative.
“You could go into my county in southern Virginia and you could line up a grand jury that would could somebody who overdosed on fentanyl that Joe Biden allowed into the border, somebody who was murdered by an illegal alien that Joe Biden waived into the country, and you could come up with charges of accessory to murder for President Biden and you could charge him,” said Hurt.
While a guest on “The Ingraham Angle,” earlier that same evening Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) also brought up Hunter Biden.
“We have real evidence that the Biden family made tens of millions of dollars from corrupt business deals with wire transfers from country after country and the fake LLC paying out Biden family members. And we're working very hard to link this directly with proof to Joe Biden,” said Greene.
The so-called “fake LLC’s” were actual legitimate companies according to reporting at the Washington Post. Glenn Kessler went into exhaustive detail about each entity involved with payments to Hunter Biden.
Sean Hannity also expressed his disgust.
“President Biden, he's not been charged with any crimes. Welcome to Joe Biden's America. In fact, as far as we know, he's not even under investigation. Instead, it's former President Trump,” said Hannity.
They are Coming for Parents at School Board Meetings, Catholics, and Pro-Life Protesters
Fox News hosts and their various sometimes sounded as if they were reading the same script when they described how Trump’s indictment would affect every conservative American.
Dana Loesch, Radio host and former NRA spokesperson, was the first guest on Monday night to bring up the larger MAGA movement.
“People who may not even support Trump in the primary or in the election at all, are stopping. And they're taking inventory of all of this. And they're thinking to themselves, wait a minute, we remember what happened with the FBI and DOJ, with parents who spoke up at school board meetings. We remembered what happened with and is ongoing with ATF and federal firearms licenses and all of these other innocent individuals. They go over this catalog of situations in their mind, Pete, where it really seems like you had a weaponized government go after individuals over ideology,” said Loesch.
Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign manager and convicted felon, echoed her statements.
“And parents at school board meetings, Catholics at the at pro-life conferences. They're starting to see the infiltration of what is the abuse of Donald Trump's constitutional rights. And I think as a result, that's why he's getting stronger, not weaker with these charges,” said Manafort.
Outkick host and political commentator, Tomi Lahren, also put her focus on how this might affect Trump’s supporters.
“The American people need to understand how this applies to their lives, not just Donald Trump, who some people see as a billionaire, some people see as a man that they hate. The American people need to understand how this banana republic, how these charges, this weaponization, is going to impact them, their daily life,” said Lahren.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) repeated the same themes and phrases as the other guests.
“So, Catholics who have had their parishes infiltrated, it's also pro-life demonstrators who had SWAT teams sent to their doors. It's also those who have protested peacefully that the FBI show up and knock at their doors. It's parents who've gone to school board meetings and now been labeled domestic terrorists . . .If you challenge them on this stuff, if you challenge them on these policies, they hold dear, they will come after you,” said Hawley.
Pete Hegseth, the substitute host of “Jesse Watters Primetime,” reinforced the same ideas.
“While they're doing this to Trump right now, if it works, they will come for his supporters next,” said Hegseth.
No one could quite top the master of outrage and condemnation, Fox’s own, Mark Levin. Not only was his language heated but most of his statements were bellowed at an ear-splitting volume.
“It's an attack on the people. . . censorship, destroying, free speech, destroying the right to protest, and the pro-lifers attacking faith. Ask the Catholics . . . this is a revolution . . . People better wake the hell up. Every revolution doesn't have to be violent. But they're doing the Donald Trump they're doing to America; they're doing to the American people. And I don't know if we're going to claw our way out of it, but enough of our fellow citizens better understand that this is about them and their liberty,” said Levin.
Concern about Climate Change Caused the Wildfires in Hawaii
On Thursday, on “The Five,” the four conservative hosts decided that the wildfires in Maui were caused by a misguided concern for climate change. Their basic argument was that various government agencies and a public utility all failed to properly prepare for and then battle the wildfires because they had invested too much in green energy.
It was an exercise in next level gaslighting by the network.
Charlie Hurt summed it up best by being outraged that anyone would even mention climate change as a possible cause for the fires.
“So, I find that very disingenuous. But also, John Podesta sit there in the White House and exploit this more shamelessly than Democrats exploit school shootings to push their creepy gun agenda. It's and it's and they don't they never get called on it. They're not apologizing for it. And I don't think it's going to quit because it works,” said Hurt.
As the sole liberal on the panel, Jessica Tarlov was the only cast member of “The Five,” to push back on the absurd theory.
“Hawaii is literally paradise, right? This is a well-managed state where people are happy there. It's like the Denmark of America, right? People who are indigenous to being there are people who travel there. It's a wonderful place that is typically well-managed. And I don't think that it's part of the liberal agenda to let an electric company off the hook.
We hate big business, too, right? So we're not like, predisposed to love Hawaiian Electric or whatever it was called. And obviously there was a mismanagement of the problem, but that did collide with drought conditions. The soil wasn't just dry, it was drier than normal. And then Hurricane Dora was stronger than normal. Those winds that picked up the electrical short circuiting is what made it a disaster of this proportion. And that's why Lahaina is gone, which is a complete travesty.
There must be, or at least the vibe that I'm getting from the table, that there is a refusal. And you said, I'm not saying that climate change isn't real, but it is an important piece of this puzzle. I mean, we had these record heat waves and the leaders of Republican states in the last month have all been on TV talking about the precautions they have to take, that they are making sure that there's water available to people like it's real,” said Tarlov.
Charlie Hurt interrupted her.
“I don't think that people are suggesting that this was intentional. It's that you get blinded by this ideology like the Green agenda in the power companies, and then you don't take care of the important business that ends up causing catastrophe,” said Hurt.
Finally, Tarlov had to point out the obvious.
“I mean, that's pretty I don't think anyone is disagreeing with that is just the point that these things can coexist, that there is a climate change problem and there was a mismanagement of this problem that has led to a complete tragedy,” said Talov.
A New Blue-Collar Anthem for MAGA
Oliver Anthony, an unknown singer/songwriter found overnight success after he downloaded a fairly basic bluegrass tune, Rich Men North of Richmond” to YouTube.
The lyrics are clunky and heavy-handed. The cords are and fingering are so basic that most amateur guitarists and banjo players could learn to play it in an afternoon. Fox News hosts acted as if Anthony was the next great poet of his era even with lyrics like,
“Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat/ And the obese milkin’ welfare. Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds/ Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of Fudge Rounds.”
The tune quickly went viral and Fox News was quick to promote it as much as possible. The first segment about the song was on “The Five” on Monday. Producers led with an even longer segment about the tune on Friday. “Fox & Friends,” included one segment about the song on Friday and “Hannity,” had two segments one on Wednesday and another on Friday.
On “The Five,” Harold Ford Jr. kicked things off.
“It's the blue-collar anthem that's sending a shiver down the spine of millions. Virginia based musician Oliver Anthony, going from a complete unknown country singer to racking up, get this, millions of hits and surging to number one on the iTunes charts,” said Ford.
His co-host Dana Perino added her insight.
“But they wonder why they've lost rural America. And you look at the Electoral College map and when Hemmer shows you the map on election night and it's red across America, this is one of the reasons why because people like Oliver Anthony get dismissed,” said Perino.
I’m pretty sure at this point in her career Dana Perino has heard about the Southern Strategy and the Republican parties attempts to win over white southern voters by playing into their racism and anxiety towards their Black neighbors.
Judge Jeanine Pirro blamed tribalism.
“Part, though, is that the left is so outraged by this, it's like everything is affected by politics and tribalism today, whether it is music or whether it's sports or whatever,” said Pirro.
Pirro wasn’t the only Fox News hosts who claimed that liberals and progressives were angry about the song. I’m not sure if people were angry as much as they just weren’t impressed by a fairly rudimentary song with mean-spirited lyrics.
On Wednesday, Kaylee McGhee White, a guest on “Hannity,” made several broad sweeping assumptions related to the song.
“If you want to work hard and just pay your bills, raise your kids according to your values. Well, too bad the Biden administration is also going to force you to pay off the student loan debt of college graduates who decided that they didn't want to pay their own debt anymore.
It's also going to force you to buy an electric vehicle. It's going to restrict your use of a gas stove. You want to send your kids to a good school? Well, too bad they're going to get their heads filled with nonsense about sex and gender that no one believed until 2 seconds ago. You want to live according to your faith.
You want to be a practicing Christian. Too bad you're going to be forced to bake a cake. You're going to be restricted from fostering or adopting. I mean, there are so many,” said White.
On Friday, Ainsley Earhardt really dug into the lyrics.
“The lyrics are so not only powerful but very clever when he talks about the rich men north of rich men, and then he talks about I wish politicians looked out for miners, meaning the coal miners, and not just minors on an island. Talking about Jeffrey Epstein and his illicit activities involving minors,” said Earhardt.
Fox News LOVES Vivek Ramaswamy
During an extended segment on “Fox & Friends,” on Thursday, the Fox hosts and correspondents expressed their excitement about Vivek Ramaswamy, 38, a political novice who just edged into third place in the GOP presidential primary in some polls.
The Fox News hosts enthusiasm for the largely unknown Ramaswamy seemed a bit forced as if it was all way to goad Trump into joining the Republican presidential debate on Fox on Wednesday.
Steve Doocy started the segment.
“Donald Trump will have to keep these numbers up as candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy,” said Doocy.
Griff Jenkins was equally excited.
“There's a lot of interesting things in this new polling. No surprise here now that Trump remains the runaway frontrunner. However, you go a little deeper in the numbers. And guys, you got to wonder if there's a Ramaswamy revolution brewing with. . .Vivek Ramaswamy coming to life as a potential GOP breakout star, more than doubling his position. You see, he climbed six points to 11%,” said Jenkins.
Brian Kilmeade joked abut how Trump might respond to Ramaswamy.
“Hey, Griff, I don't know if you have those numbers in front of you, but do you know how close Ramaswamy needs to get to Trump before we get to nickname? Do you know? I mean, if this continues to happen.”
Earhardt interrupted.
“His nickname could be vice president.”
Then Doocy added a joke.
“You look, Ramaswamy is really starting to come to life and you know, when he was Vivek was on our show last week, week before, and he did a little rap and he said, you know, my name is Vivek it rhymes with cake. So maybe that's his nickname,” said Doocy.
Earhardt added some recent polling data.
“Yeah. And make man when asked about because we've been talking about Vivek Ramaswamy and his popularity recently, when asked, who do you prefer your choice for president if you had to vote right now, Joe Biden versus Vivek Ramaswamy and out of all of the voters, 42% said Biden and 38% said Vivek. So that's pretty close,” said Earhardt.
Doocy bolstered her statement.
“If we look at the bottom number, those are the people who pick the president, the independents. If they were voting right now, 30% would take Vivek over Democrat Joe,” said Doocy.
Earnhardt went on to praise the young candidate.
“And that's the number you really have to look at, because all the Democrats, of course, are going to choose Joe Biden. Look at that number. The Republicans are going to choose Vivek, the Independent, who really could go either way. The majority of them want Vivek Ramaswamy. He's so brilliant. He's, you know, Ivy League educated,” said Earhardt.
Stories Fox News Ignored
Every week I compare the hours I watched on Fox News with five hours of the PBS NewsHour. The following are stories that PBS covered that Fox News did not.
Northern India was hit with record breaking monsoon rains causing the death of at least 100 people in the past two weeks.
An airstrike in Ethiopia killed at least 26 people and injured 55. It is the worst crisis since the end of the civil conflict in the northern Tigray region.
Six white former police officers in Mississippi pleaded guilty to state charges for brutally torturing and abusing two Black men.
PBS produced an extended interview with a conservative Judge J. Michael Luttig. Luttig spoke at length about how he thought former President Donald J. Trump had corroded and corrupted American democracy. Luttig was a prominent witness during the United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
Clarence Avant, who was known as The Godfather of Black entertainment, died at the age of 92. Avant, who started his career as a music producer, worked behind the scenes to boost the careers of many who became superstars in music, sports and politics.
A small Kansas newspaper, the Marion County Record, and the home of its publisher, were raided by police who claimed they were searching for evidence they believed was illegally obtained. Officers also seized the personal cell phone and computer tower of a reporter who was investigating the police chief. Joan Meyer, 98, the co-owner of the paper, died soon after the raid on her home. A prosecutor in Kansas said the police should return items taken during the raid.
New developments in the Ukraine War
In Ukraine the western region of Lviv and the northwestern region of Volyn were bombarded with Russian air strikes. Although some missiles were shot down a few hit civilian targets including a kindergarten playground.
In Russia the central bank raised interest rates to 12% as its currency, the ruble, has dramatically dropped in value.
Russians shot down Ukrainian drones over Moscow.
An explosion at a gas station in Russia left 35 dead and dozens injured. It’s unknown if the explosion was related to the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. approved a plan that would allow Denmark and Netherlands to donate up to 61 F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
A Libyan militia leader, Mahmoud Hamza, whose detention sparked violent clashes that resulted in the death of 55 people, was released from custody.
North Korea released a statement about, Travis King, the U.S. soldier who walked into North Korean territory during a tourist visit to the demilitarized zone, saying he did so after being disillusioned at the inequality of American Society.
Deja Taylor, the mother of a six-year-old who shot his first-grade teacher pleaded guilty to a state charge of felony child neglect.
The United States and Iran have reached an agreement on the release of five imprisoned Americans in exchange for jailed Iranians and access to $6 billion dollars in oil revenue.
Paul Whelan, an American citizen wrongfully imprisoned in Russia, spoke to Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week. Whelan has been detained in Russia since 2018. Blinken was able to tell Whelan that the U.S. remains committed to his release.
A federal appeals court ruled that mifepristone, a medication used for early term abortions, should remain available with strict restrictions on its use.
Sam Miele, a former fundraiser for George Santos, has been charged with wire fraud and identity theft.
The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) said that Japan’s plan to release treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the sea is consistent with its standards. Local fisherman are frustrated by the decision fearing it will destroy any attempts to restore fishing the area.
PBS featured a segment about the Boston Renegades, a professional women’s tackle football team that dominates the league.
In Pakistan authorities have arrested 129 Muslims following mob attacks on Christian homes and churches. Christians make up only 2% of the population.
President Biden held a summit at Camp David with leaders from Japan and South Korea. The two countries have had uneasy relations for decades but are seeking to solidify their alliance against Chinese aggressions.
An emergency order was issued in Northwestern Canada as wildfires threatened the city of Yellowknife. Residents of the area evacuated ahead of the government’s deadline. Canada has had a record number of wildfires this year with 5700 across the country.
A boat carrying 101 migrants from Senegal capsized off Cape Verde, 38 were rescued with over 60 feared dead.
Last week marked the 10th anniversary of a massacre in Egypt where over 600 people were killed when security forces dispersed a sit-in protest in Cairo. The civilians had gathered to protest the removal of democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsy.
More than 26,000 people evacuated the Spanish island of Tenerife as a wildfire raged out of control.
Rosalynn Carter, the wife of former President Jimmy Carter, celebrated her 96th birthday.
The White House is working on a pact between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The two countries would need to agree on the territorial rights of Palestinians, nuclear enrichment and weapons sales.
PBS produced a segment that featured Tammy Patrick of the National Association of Election Officials to discuss continued threats of violence that civil servants have faced since former President Donald J. Trump made false claims about the 2020 presidential election.
By the Numbers
Coming up…
Next week I will be in Philadelphia for a journalist conference. I’m not sure if I will be able to do my usual weekly newsletter/podcast but I will be covering the GOP Republican debate on Fox News.
Does the person on "Five" who is there to provide balance (and is eloquent, thoughtful, direct, and impressive) really provide balance? As articulate as she is, she seems to be drowned out by others, and attempts at off-beat humor or quasi-sarcasm, make the show unwatchable. She is thoughtful and timely, by the rest is drivel.