Last summer conservative groups secretly trained countless right-wingers to swarm local school board meetings across the country to drum up fake opposition to “Critical Race Theory,” a college-level discipline that examines institutional racism. The right-wing media outlets like Fox News seemingly almost nightly aired the out-of-control ginned up protests.
At no point did Fox News denounce them.
In fact, fast forward to October of last year, when Fox News falsely characterized a memo from Attorney General Merrick Garland, claiming he called parents protesting CRT “domestic terrorists.”
Here’s Fox News propagandist Peter Doocy challenging White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on that very issue last year:
“Does the President support the fundamental right of these parents to protest at these school board meetings?” he asked.
Parents protesting nonexistent “CRT” in schools have a “fundamental right” to protest, Doocy says.
On Thursday, however, Doocy said President Joe Biden should stop peaceful protestors – protestors who are angry and terrified after a draft of a Supreme Court opinion striking down Roe v, Wade leaked – from exercising their First Amendment rights by merely (allegedly) planning to voice their concerns in front of Supreme Court justice’s homes, and even in front of the Supreme Court itself.
“Do you think the progressive activists that are now planning protests outside some of the justices’ houses are extreme?” Doocy on Thursday asked outgoing White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
“Peaceful protest? No. Peaceful protest is not extreme,” she replied.
“Some of these justices have young kids, their neighbors are not all public figures. So, would the president think about waving off activists that want to go into residential neighborhoods in Virginia and Maryland?” Doocy asked, literally urging the President to violate the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution – something these Americans are already seeing happen, which is why they’re protesting.
“Peter, look, I think our view here is that peaceful protests – there’s a long history in the United States, in the country of that, and we certainly encourage people to keep it peaceful and not resort to any level of violence.”
“These activists posted a map, with the home addresses of the Supreme Court justices, is that the kind of thing this president wants to help your side make their point?” Doocy demanded to know.
“I think the President’s view is that there’s a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many many people across this country about what they saw in that leaked document. We obviously want people’s privacy to be respected. We want people to protest peacefully if they want to, to protest. That is certainly what the President’s view would be,” Psaki said, dressing down Doocy.
“So he doesn’t care if they’re protesting outside the Supreme Court or outside someone’s private residence?” Doocy continued to press.
“I don’t have an official U.S. Government position on where people protest. I want, we want it of course to be peaceful, and certainly the President would want people’s privacy to be respected, but I think we shouldn’t lose the point here. The reason people are protesting is because women across the country are worried about their fundamental rights that have been law for 50 years, their rights to make choices about their own bodies and their own health care are at risk. That’s why people are protesting, they’re unhappy, they’re scared.”