Fox News has spent much of the day finding ways to not blame Republicans for right-wing media creating an environment in this country that fuels right-wing violence.
As it stands now, a believer in right wing conspiracy theories broke into the home of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, chanting, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” viciously beat her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer, and attempted to tie him up until she arrived back home.
Those are the facts as we know them right now, just hours after what some are calling an attempted assassination of an elected official and the person second in line to the presidency.
READ MORE: Pelosi Home ‘Specifically Targeted’ by Assailant Who Beat Speaker’s Husband With Hammer: Reports
But Fox News viewers are getting fed a different story.
Its own propaganda, right-wing propaganda, had nothing to do with creating the environment of right-wing hate and violence, Fox News would like its viewers to believe, even when their own programming – barely hours after news of the attack broke – appeared to try to justify the attempted murder by labeling it a “wake-up call” for Democrats.
In fact, according to Fox News, President Joe Biden is basically to blame for the attack on Paul Pelosi, who today had to undergo brain surgery.
Co-hosts on Fox News’ “The Five” discussed the Pelosi attack, which is being labeled attempted murder by local police.
“So the big question here is whether this is reflective of political violence that’s happening in the country, or whether it’s reflective of serious mental health issues in the country and violence in general across the country, or some combination of both?”
Co-host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery decided to blame President Joe Biden.
“I think it is a combination of both because I think where we’re at, you know, the President promised to bring down the tenor of political discourse in this country,” she claimed, which is false. “That hasn’t happened.”
So what did President Biden say, in his inaugural address, that Republicans not only got wrong but immediately feigned outrage over and spent months falsely claiming he had attacked them?
“And now, a rise in political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat,” the just-sworn-in President told America and the world.
“To overcome these challenges – to restore the soul and to secure the future of America – requires more than words.It requires that most elusive of things in a democracy: Unity. Unity.”
Quoting Lincoln, Biden said, “my whole soul is in this: Bringing America together. Uniting our people. And uniting our nation. I ask every American to join me in this cause.”
He did not say, “I alone can do it.”
Back to Kennedy.
“People are more divided,” she observed, not for one moment acknowledging that every day Fox News and right wing media stokes, amplifies, and even lies to fuel those very divisions.
“There are people who see words as violence and there are people who it’s very easy for them to cross the line and commit acts of violence like this because they are moved by their politics,” she said, which is true, but she did not tell viewers the other part of that: the vast majority of socio-political violence comes from the right.
“When you combine that kind of rage, that sort of systemic cultural rage that we have right now that, that hasn’t calmed down with untreated mental illness. That’s when you have things like this happen and for them, whether it’s a Supreme Court justice, the Speaker of the House, or anyone who holds visible elective office, it’s a really scary time, and especially in California, where so much money goes to social services,” Kennedy said, pivoting just as the right usually does when there’s a horrific mass shooting.
“They’re not doing it right,” she continued, attacking California, a convenient foil as it is run by Democrat Gavin Newsom, who is believed to be a potential 2024 presidential candidate.
“They really have failed the mentally ill, especially those who are violently mentally ill in that state and they have not created appropriate systems to identify and treat people like this and it’s really sad that after the fact we’re hearing about all of these symptoms, when you know, with all that money and all of those resources, someone like this should have been identified and treated before something this tragic happens.”
What Kennedy also neglected to mention is that time and time and time again, Republicans voted down mental health legislation, while President Joe Biden and Democrats passed and signed into law legislation to improve mental health.
Watch the Fox News clip below or at this link.
Image: Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz via Flickr