Hunter, Hillary and Hysteria - The Week of the Mar-a-Lago Search
A condensed overview of 20 hours of Fox News media for the week ending 8/14/22
A typical Fox News viewer might think that the FBI planted highly classified top secret documents at Mar-a-Lago while at the same time believe that Donald J. Trump declassified the material. A Fox fan might also believe the plot was a part of a vast deep state conspiracy to prevent Trump from running for president in 2024 and that the government was creating a secret army of armed IRS agents who will solely target Trump supporters.
Last week Fox News spent nearly 60% of its airtime dedicated to the FBI search at Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago. In contrast PBS focused about 20% of their coverage on the Department of Justice’s decision to retrieve top secret documents from the property of the former president.
The tone on Fox News went from alarmed all the way to full blown hysterics. The first wave of justifications Fox News used to explain the search was that the FBI would just plant phony evidence to frame Trump.
Laura Ingraham claimed it was all a plot by the mythical “Deep State” to take Trump down. The “Deep State” is a nonsensical conspiracy theory pushed on both the far right and far left that contends low level bureaucrats conspire together to affect everything from domestic fiscal policy to broad sweeping foreign policy decisions.
The “Deep State” is utter nonsense but has become the catch all sinister force to blame when there’s no easy culprit.
Whereas Jesse Watters demonized the FBI, Laura Ingraham instilled fears about a militarized IRS created to solely target conservatives.
Then within a matter of hours the network’s tune changed. The evidence found at Mar-a-Lago wasn’t planted by the FBI. Trump simply declassified the material. Of course there is a process to declassify top secret documents but that was never discussed by anyone with any seriousness or expertise on Fox News.
The following video is a collection of the more histrionic moments from last week’s coverage. I covered “Fox & Friends”, “The Five”, “Jesse Watters Primetime” in addition to five extra hours to get as much coverage of the search of Mar-a-Lago on Monday in addition to Tulsi Gabbard’s guest host appearance of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Friday.
Another theme that was immediately brought up on all shows were comparisons of Trump to Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton.
Hunter Biden so far hasn’t been charged with any crime but that didn’t stop nearly every voice on Fox News from expressing full blown fury that his home wasn’t also raided by jackbooted FBI thugs.
Old tropes about Hillary Clinton were also brought up as multiple personalities falsely claimed her private server had been hacked or that she was never under investigation.
Some even went as far to say then FBI director, James Comey, had somehow put his thumb on the scale for Clinton when many experts believe Comey’s bungling of the case is what cost Hillary Clinton the election in 2016.
Clip of the Week - Fox News Completely Melts Down.
Was Fox News Following a Script?
I have no evidence of coordination between any of the writers on staff at Fox News but there was a great deal of repetition throughout all programs. Certain phrases were repeated by both guests and hosts alike.
Cross the Rubicon
Banana Republic
Praetorian Guard
Third World
Another overriding theme pushed on all Fox News shows was the idea that this raid on Trump wasn’t just a raid on what might be his illegal activities but a stab to the heart of every freedom loving American.
Fox’s reaction was hyperbole wrapped in hysterics dipped in jingoism doused in the tears of freedom loving patriots.
The Fox News approach to critics
In this clip the Jessica Tarlov, on of the liberal voices on “The Five” tries to share her point of view about the search. Dan Bongino basically shouts her down while using insults and slurs.
This clip is reminiscent of how many Fox super fans react to any criticism or dissection of their firmly held beliefs. It’s not just that the liberal or dissenting voice is wrong they are a bad person for every questioning the truth.
The best way to shut up a critic is to simply scream over them. Name calling and slurs are the ultimate win in any argument.
Tarlov does a good job of keeping her cool and trudging forward but it’s a challenge. This is exactly why “The Five” is always four conservatives vs. one liberal or moderate.
If they can’t win an argument they can at least outshout it.
Double Nuclear
In an unexpected twist both Dana Perino and Jesse Watters joked about how the FBI might be searching for sensitive documents pertaining to nuclear weapons just hours before it was announced that’s exactly what the FBI was looking for.
Dana Perino made her comment on “The Five” around 5 p.m. whereas Jesse Watters basically repeated it again at the start of his show at 7 p.m..
What does Steve Doocy know that the other Fox Hosts Don’t?
In one of the strangest clips from last week long-time co-host of “Fox & Friends,” Steve Doocy pushes back on some of the most outrageous claims made by Fox legal analyst, Johnathan Turley.
“They're not just top secret, but they're from the Special Access Program, which is the top of the top these are the biggest secrets. And apparently they involve nuclear weapons. We don't know if they're ours. We don't know if they're theirs. But it is pretty terrifying to think that the secrets, the very biggest secrets for the country, were down in the basement of the of that resort,” said Doocy.
Doocy also pointed out to Fox News contributor Joe Concha that current director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, was appointed by Trump himself.
Bogus Expert of the Week
This clip reminded me of two tenth graders discussing politics. They are both incredibly assured that all it takes to declassify documents is a vague statement by a former president.
Neither Watters or Miller has any background with sensitive documents. Miller did work in the White House but he was an advisor and speech writer, he did not work in any intelligence agency.
Watters could have invited on a former FBI agent or someone with the National Archives but asked Stephen Miller instead.
This clip is also quite telling as Watters had made several statements up until this point that the FBI planted documents and evidence at Mar-a-Lago.
So which is it? Did Trump simply declassify top secret documents or did the FBI put them there? Also why would Trump need highly classified top secret documents if all he’s doing now is running his real estate empire? Neither Watters or Miller even come close to answering much of anything in this segment.
Runner up - Comedian Adam Corolla was asked to discuss Hunter Biden during a segment when Tulsi Gabbard was hosting on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
It’s a bit of a stretch to have a comedian come on to break down the Hunter Biden controversy. What would Corolla know more than the average Fox viewer on this subject? Not much of anything.
Stories Fox News Thought were Newsworthy that Weren’t Newsworthy.
Paul Pelosi Jr. accompanied his mother on her trip to Taiwan and other Asian countries - Jesse Watters pretty much is the only person on Fox News who seems to care about this non-story. Although Watters makes a lot of assumptions about the trip and Paul Jr.’s motivations there is no evidence whatsoever that Nancy Pelosi or her son did anything illegal or unethical.
Paul Pelosi DUI arrest - This appears to be another Watters exclusive. So far it seems like a fairly standard DUI arrest. There’s no indication that Pelosi is getting special treatment or that he pulled any favors. It appears more like Watters is trying to make name for himself as some type of investigative reporter when it really just looks like much to do about nothing.
Liz Warren may have made a comment about not having a penis in regards to the 2016 election. Apparently journalist, Ali Vitali at Politico just published a book that contains a quote that Liz Cheney made, “Everyone comes up to me and says, ‘I would vote for you, if you had a penis.’” Vitali’s book is about a lot more than that one line but you’d never know it if you watched Fox News. I think they just really wanted to say the word penis.
Stories Fox News Ignored
The men who were already convicted on state and federal charges of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery were sentenced for federal hate crimes. Since I’ve started this project in mid-Feb. Fox News has established a pattern of ignoring stories where Black people are victimized by law enforcement or killed in a racially motivated crime.
War in Ukraine - There are rising concerns about shelling near a nuclear power plant
Fifth anniversary of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The rally was a culmination of several far right-wing hate groups, many of which held white nationalist views. Counter protester, Heather Heyer, was killed and 35 others injured when James Alex Fields Jr., a man associated with aa Neo Nazi group, intentionally drove his car into a group of unarmed people.
Grand Jury ruled to not charge, Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman who falsely accused Emmett Till of whistling at her in a sexually suggestive way. Her accusations against the 14-year-old Till resulted in his brutal murder.
PACT Act officially signed into law - The law is meant to help veterans harmed by exposure to toxic chemicals while serving in the U.S. armed forces.
Suspect arrested for the killing of several Muslim men in New Mexico
The Polio virus found in NYC wastewater
Member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Charged with Plot to Murder the Former National Security Advisor - John Bolton
Congo – plans to auction land for oil and gas exploration has enraged environmentalists since the land is on rainforests. The war in Ukraine has caused increases in the price of food and energy which has accelerated the push for drilling.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits several African countries. - Africa gets much of its food and energy from Russia so this trip was especially sensitive for the U.S.
Wildfires in Europe and extreme drought – If things continue to worsen the drought is on track to be the worst in 500 years.
Excessive rain in Sudan leaves 25 dead, 5800 homes destroyed
Donald J. Trump pleaded the 5th 440 times a deposition in New York State regarding his real estate business
China is winding down military drills around Taiwan
Iran nuclear deal talks resume - Robert Malley, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran, basically said Trump’s pullout of the original deal was an abject failure. Iran is much closer now to having nuclear weapons now than it’s ever been.
Presidential election in Kenya – Two candidates one from a political dynasty vs. a common man.
By the Numbers
This is probably one of the most lopsided charts I’ve made for Fox News coverage since I started this project in mid-February.
PBS had far more balanced coverage. The search at Mar-a-Lago was a major story but it didn’t dominate everything like it did on Fox News.
This was also probably one of the more extreme word searches I’ve done. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez magically made this list again despite the fact that she played absolutely no role in the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Fox just finds a way to insert her regardless of the subject matter.
Fox News hosts or guests made claims about the FBI planting evidence or electric bugging devices into Mar-a-Lago 21 times. Hillary and Hunter were both mentioned over 100 times and the FBI was brought up a staggering 446 times.
Coming up…
I’m planning on making a cheat sheet of sorts that juxtaposes Fox false claims about Hillary Clinton’s email scandal with the factual information grounded in reliable primary sources. I’m hoping to have that sometime this week. I’ve already down a great deal of research into the story.
I realize the Hillary Clinton email scandal is old news but Fox News has already made a number of false claims about it when they compared the scandal to Trump’s alleged mishandling of highly classified material.
This week I’ll be covering the first hour of “Fox & Friends,” “The Five,” and “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”