CNN media critic Brian Stelter took on Fox News and the extreme rhetoric coming from right-wing outlets on Reliable Sources Sunday morning.
After playing a chilling compilation of the extremism spewed out of Fox News, Stelter addressed White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham's ridiculous response to John Kelly's statement that he told Trump not to hire a yes-man as Chief of Staff or he would be impeached. Kelly said that if he had still been in the White House, he might have been able to prevent the current impeachment inquiry. (Hmm. I don't think so, but whatever.)
Grisham's retort: John Kelly was "totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President."
Stelter was aghast. Addressing her response, he said, "If you're so proud and confident of his genius, why don't you restore the press briefings? Why don't you come out and talk about the president's accomplishments and take questions from reporters? That would be an actual show of strength."
"But we're seeing Grisham and many others repeat the president's aggressive language about impeachment, Including "lynching," he observed. "It is not that kind of situation."
"The reason why this matters, the reason this rhetoric matters is because the president is hearing it every day and his supporters are hearing it every day," Stelter said. "You have to understand what's being heard in right wing media to understand this impeachment debate."
The whole segment is an excellent indictment of right-wing media and the damage they do every day and night. It seems like we should be running this kind of criticism every single day, not just on cable television, but also on the three main broadcast networks. Every day. Until some of it breaks through, because the extreme nature of the rhetoric is going to destroy this country. For good.
