Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Peters, a former Fox News analyst, on Sunday suggested that his one-time colleagues at the conservative network are "prostitutes" for allowing Donald Trump to set their agenda.
During an interview on CNN's Reliable Sources, Peters lamented that Trump has created an "enemies list" of former intelligence officials, who could have their security clearances revoked.
"He is not interested in understanding our government," Peters explained. "He believes the Constitution is a menu from which he can choose only the most electable items."
"The evil twin of that, I believe, as a former Russia analyst for most of my career... I'm convinced that the president of the United States is enthralled to Vladimir Putin," the retired officer continued. "There's no other way to explain his behavior. And he perfectly fits the profile of the kind of people the Russians target."
"This is a distinctly un-American president who doesn't seem to like America very much," Peters added. "I never could have foreseen this Orwellian situation."
Peters told CNN host Brian Stelter that he refused to curb his dire warnings to please the president's supporters.
"What we need is people who will speak honestly," he insisted. "And not worry about who it offends. I'm just sick and tired of people hedging and hemming and hawing. This is a president of the United States who is a danger to the Republic... We all need to do our parts."
"How much to you blame your former network, Fox News?" Stelter asked. "You have called it a destructive propaganda machine when you resigned earlier this year. Are they partly at fault for propping up Trump?"
"Of course," Peters agreed. "I left Fox because as a former military officer who took an oath to the Constitution, I could not be part of a channel that, to me, was assaulting the Constitution, the constitutional order, the rule of law."
"Fox isn't immoral, it's amoral," he pointed out. "It was opportunistic. Trump was just a gift to Fox and Fox, in turn, is a gift to Trump. It's a closed loop. And so people that only listen to Fox have an utterly skewed view reality."
According to Peters, Trump's supporters are "couch-potato anarchists."
"They want vengeance and Trump is brilliant at that," Peters said. "He's told his core supporters, 'You're not to blame for the mistakes you made. You're not to blame for your failures. It's them. It's the minorities. It's immigrants. It's fake news. It's the deep state.'"
"Do you think your former colleagues at Fox are proud of their performance?" Stelter wondered.
"The polite word is 'prostitutes'," Peters said after taking a breath. "So, we'll just leave it at that. I don't want to be the go-to guy for Fox bashing forever. But what Fox is doing is causing real harm to our country right now."
