The Malignancy At Fox News, Can It Be Cured?

[User.45]

I’m floored that Carlson, for all his craziness, has the gall to travel to the most tyrannical country in Europe and hold it up as a blueprint for America to follow.

I wonder if there’s a percentage of his viewers for whom this is…too much.

It says something that Carlson feels empowered enough that he’s boldly coming out and saying he’d like the US to be a dictatorship. The man seems to be vying with Trump and maybe Michael Flynn for the title of America’s Craziest Would-Be Despot.

Hungary's situation is quite misrepresented by western media though, which is super counterproductive. The often clueless bullshit westerners say is used by the Orban admin as "proof" of a "western industrialist conspiracy against a sovereign East Central European nation." Orban's system should have its own category because it is a nepotistic kleptocracy that is ruled by soft power using the blueprints of post '56 Goulash Communism (Orban started out as a Soros-funded anti-comminist liberal). It was a well-tested system so it required nobody murdered or even imprisoned while lining it out and maintaining it, which is a major major difference from Putin, Erdogan or Lukashenko. Hungary did not have a violent coup d'état, there was a very gradual takeover over 8 years which was enabled by constitutional amendments and gerrymandering harnessing the EU as a pressure valve. The angriest just emigrated within the EU (multilingual young liberals).

Orban can be fervently anti-immigration because Hungary is a transit nation at best, definitely not a destination for immigration (the sophisticated defense is that based on Dublin Treaty II it could be forced into becoming one). So Orban's method is to create a boogeyman that everybody heard of but most (in rural places) hadn't seen. With COVID, they had to find a new boogeyman, hence the attacks on the "LGBTQ lobby" (Orban's admins' terminology). So the recent "child protection" (anti-LGBTQ) law served this purpose. What they didn't seem to realize is that a LOT of gay people live in Hungary, they just aren't necessarily out so they got a lot more backlash than they anticipated.

I'll add that Orban's alliance with the tuckeroids is more pragmatic than ideological. Tucker's stupid shit on vaccinations and COVID would not fly in Orban's regime which is totally against the corporatist libertarian value system.

 

[User.168]

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[User.45]

What's really interesting is that Hungary is the opposite authoritarian government to what Trump was hoping to create when it comes to the economic policy. You have the usual conservative strong man, supported by the church, but their economic policies are firmly pointed towards communist ideals, rather than capitalist. Of course those nuances will go over the viewers' heads.

I have a feeling that what is happening in Hungary is similar to some other Eastern European nations, where the older people in rural areas can be heard saying things like, "With the communists we had nothing to buy in the shops, but we could at least afford to buy things occasionally. Now the shops are full, but we can't afford them."

This, coupled with deeply ingrained religious conservative ideals, especially when it comes to sexuality, makes it easier to understand why characters like Orban have found eager supporters.

Hungary might have a nominal Catholic majority, but unlike the Polish, Hungarians aren't very religious. For example Orban's regime hadn't touched abortion, though there are plenty of reasons for that beyond "morality".

 

[User.168]

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[User.45]

I hear you, but he has a very cosy and deep relationship with the religious leaders in Hungary, which goes back a long way.

Orbán holds the bishops close

Hungary’s PM is exerting a growing influence on church affairs, says Alexander Faludy

www.churchtimes.co.uk

What the article doesn't cover is that the Christian Democrat People's Party (KDNP) could barely if at all meet the threshold to get into the Parliament if it wasn't piggy-backing FiDeSz. The idea is that there is historical Christian upper middle class that is very loyal to them. I think that's the only group of middle class intellectuals that support Orban. So this is actually one of the things that piss people off, there's a lot of Christianity bundled in that most did not sign up for.

 

[User.168]

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[User.45]

This raises more questions for me. Why then does he continue to pander to these relationships, since he is striving to be a "populist" leader. There must be some other reward / reasoning behind it, if the support increase is relatively small.

The Christian upper middle class is made up of former noble families whose wealth was taken away and redistributed during communism and they feel they were prosecuted for their religion (they were to some extent, but many express it like they had it worse than their Jewish countrymen...). So these people are the most fervent anticommunists, this is why it's so ironic that a lot of Orban's system is communism re-imagined. Not that it matters, practically ALL Hungarian politician born before 1970 were secret agents of the communist regime, including FiDeSz the so-called "Alliance of "Young" Democrats".

 

[User.168]

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[User.45]

Ah, that makes more sense now. Thanks for the valuable and insightful info. Appreciate it.

There's a lot of strategies there, as FiDeSz used to be a liberal party in the 90s then migrated into central right in the 2000s, and then they felt they had to "out rightwing" their 2010s primary rival, Jobbik which was founded by former neo-nazi skinheads (...absurd as fuck...).

BTW, Orban is scared shitless about the 2022 election. I suspect their internal forecasts suggest they have a very real chance of losing (despite the gerrymandering and other shenanigans). They follow the same geographic strategy as the GOP, they've given up on the biggest cities so they focus on the rural population that is easier to manipulate through controlling 90% of news they consume. But they also have a plan B, the funding of all previously state-operated cultural and educational institutions (Museums and Universities) is now distributed into foundations that are operated by cronies. So if they lose the next election, the new right-left wing coalition (which includes former communists, liberals and the now tame[r] Jobbik), FiDeSz will still control most resources and wait out until the powerless coalition destroys itself and then come back to take over again.

 

[Yoused]

Meanwhile, compared to the intense analysis in the last few posts, the einsteins at Fox keep pumping out the hits

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1425102126460588034/

 

[Deleted member 221]

An authoritarian state doesn't just grow overnight!

You have to cultivate it for years and years and Fox "News" has been doing yeomen's work to try to absolutely destroy the United States.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Here’s a good argument for a solid “no” in answer to the thread title question.

Internal Emails Reveal Fox News Tried to Book DeSantis 113 Times in 4 Months

The Tampa Bay Times obtained 1,250 pages of emails between Fox News and Florida Governor Ron Desantis, which reveal the extent to which network producers worked to promote the potential 2024 presidential contender. One staggering statistic: in less than four months, between the 2020 election and...

www.mediaite.com

One staggering statistic: in less than four months, between the 2020 election and the end of February, Fox News requested that DeSantis appear 113 times. That’s almost once a day for the governor, who was recently picked by CPAC attendees as the 2024 favorite among candidates not named Donald Trump.

Also of note are the interviews that DeSantis agreed to. He has an overwhelming preference for Fox’s prime time opinion shows, according to the Times, which obtained the emails through a records request:

In the first six months of 2021, DeSantis had scheduled as many appearances with top Fox hosts Hannity (8 times), Tucker Carlson (6) and Laura Ingraham (7) as he had meetings with his lieutenant governor, Jeanette Nuñez (7), according to his public calendar.

He is less fond of the network’s daytime news programs, and dodged interviews with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace — who has a reputation for tough questions — as well as Special Report anchor Bret Baier:

Dozens of appeals by Fox’s newsier daytime programs and lesser-watched weekend shows were turned down.

DeSantis has a real symbiotic relationship with Fox’s prime time fantasy shows. Not so much the daytime shows where the snowflake might get asked an inconvenient question.

How douchey of both of them, Fox and DeSantis.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Oh Faux news...

A Fox News headline receives backlash for highlighting that Senator Tammy Duckworth has not paid property taxes since 2015, *but noting later in the article that* she is exempt from doing so in Illinois as a US military veteran with a 70% or higher disability rating

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1444662791693078537/
https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1444685187762302979/

It must be a slow news day or someone is getting something done they don't like, so they need to make up & stir up some shit like this.

FFS

 

[SuperMatt]

Oh Faux news...


https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1444662791693078537/
https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1444685187762302979/

It must be a slow news day or someone is getting something done they don't like, so they need to make up & stir up some shit like this.

FFS

They support the troops - if they’re not woke, or black, or basically anything other than white men who vote Republican.
They support the police - until they try to protect the Capitol from mouth-breathing white supremacists.
They support the Afghans who helped our troops - until they want to come and live in America.

 

[Yoused]

They support the troops - if they’re not woke, or black, or basically anything other than white men who vote Republican.

Emotionally, anyway. If the troops or veterans need medical care, hey, why didn't you just die over there, insteada getting hurt? "Support", as long as it does not cost them anything.

 

[SuperMatt]

Emotionally, anyway. If the troops or veterans need medical care, hey, why didn't you just die over there, insteada getting hurt? "Support", as long as it does not cost them anything.

Support means the magnetic yellow ribbon on the back of their SUV. Magnetic because they can always take it off when convenient.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Unless one believes in 'divine intervention', you can't cure a malignancy that's actively cultivated.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1459243351258144771/

‘Fox & Friends’ Deceptively Edits Biden to Tar Him as Racist

The popular morning show giddily parroted the latest invented controversy, omitting key context to try and paint the president as having made a racist gaffe.

www.thedailybeast.com

Fox & Friends on Friday morning took part in some heavy-handed editing of Joe Biden's Veteran’s Day speech to seemingly jump aboard the latest invented right-wing controversy painting the president as having made a racist gaffe while discussing baseball legend Satchel Paige.

“I have adopted the attitude of the great Negro at the time pitcher... his name was Satchel Paige,” Biden said in the footage presented by Fox News before co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy claimed that “Biden’s choice of words” had landed him “in hot water.”

Of course, the Fox News edit of Biden’s remarks (clearly visible when the president’s hand disappears in a jump cut) removed key context showing he stumbled over explaining that Paige was a pitcher in the Negro Leagues before joining Major League Baseball. As The Washington Post reported, the Fox & Friends edit was just one of many instances (including several others on Fox News’ air) in which right-wing media figures ran with the deceptive cuts to Biden’s speech.

Following publication, a Fox News spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the clip in question "was shortened due to time constraints." "The clip aired in full during the 5AM/ET and 8AM/ET hours of FOX & Friends this morning," the spokesperson added.

 

[SuperMatt]

Unless one believes in 'divine intervention', you can't cure a malignancy that's actively cultivated.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1459243351258144771/

 

[Huntn]

They support the troops - if they’re not woke, or black, or basically anything other than white men who vote Republican.
They support the police - until they try to protect the Capitol from mouth-breathing white supremacists.
They support the Afghans who helped our troops - until they want to come and live in America.

Pravda West intent on stirring the pot, destabilizing the country for the corrupt Right Wing win, more like the breakdown of society.

 

[JayMysteri0]

Better late than never?

2 Fox News commentators resign over Tucker Carlson series on the Jan. 6 siege

Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg have resigned after the Fox News star hosted a series that relied on fabrications and conspiracy theories about the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

www.npr.org

Two longtime conservative Fox News commentators have resigned in protest of what they call a pattern of incendiary and fabricated claims by the network's opinion hosts in support of former President Donald Trump.

In separate interviews with NPR, Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg pointed to a breaking point earlier this month: network star Tucker Carlson's three-part series on the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol that relied on fabrications and conspiracy theories to exonerate the Trump supporters who participated in the attack.

"It's basically saying that the Biden regime is coming after half the country and this is the War on Terror 2.0," Goldberg tells NPR. "It traffics in all manner of innuendo and conspiracy theories that I think legitimately could lead to violence. That for me, and for Steve, was the last straw."

Hayes has been a close friend of Fox News political anchor Bret Baier since their college days at DePauw University; both he and Goldberg were mainstays of Baier's Special Report since joining the network in 2009. Together, Hayes and Goldberg co-founded the conservative news site The Dispatch.

According to five people with direct knowledge, the resignations reflect larger tumult within Fox News over Carlson's series "Patriot Purge" and his increasingly strident stances, and over the network's willingness to let its opinion stars make false, paranoid claims against President Biden, his administration and his supporters.

Senior Fox News journalists warned network executives​

Veteran figures on Fox's news side, including political anchors Bret Baier and Chris Wallace, shared their objections with Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and its president of news, Jay Wallace. Those objections rose to Lachlan Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of the network's parent company, Fox Corporation. Through a senior spokeswoman, Scott and Wallace declined comment. Murdoch did not return a request for comment through a spokesman.

Goldberg says that he had been assured by Fox's news leaders that, as Trump left Washington D.C. following his defeat, the network would tamp down on incendiary commentary and claims.