Fox & Friends Desperate To Keep Afghanistan In The News

By NewsHound Ellen — September 4, 2021

The conspiracy theories spouted about Afghanistan, COVID, the jobs report and the Texas abortion law and more in just one Fox & Friends segment sounded like a brainstorming session for QAnon.

It started with cohost Pete Hegseth suggesting that the media or maybe the Deep State, the left, the Biden administration or all of the above are doing “anything to distract our attention away” from Afghanistan.

Media Matters recently reported that Fox News, like CNN and MSNBC, mostly ignored Afghanistan for the last 20 years. But now that Fox sees it as an opportunity to bash Biden, the Murdoch propagandists think it should have priority over just about everything else.

WILL CAIN (CO-HOST): Whether or not we are talking about the Texas abortion law or Delta variant or even the jobs report, there is anything to distract our attention away from what happened in Afghanistan. And, by the way, if you want to point to the jobs report, have at it because it wasn't exactly beautiful.

Cohosts Pete Hegseth and Rachel Campos-Duffy picked up on Cain’s mention of the jobs report to paint an even bigger conspiracy theory: suggesting the COVID-19 delta variant is little more than a trick to cover up the Biden/Deep State/socialist plan to turn everyone into welfare queens “hooked” on government.

Hegseth (the guy who advocates for war criminals) gloatingly noted that the latest jobs report was a third of the 10.1 million jobs available. “I wonder why,” he said, all but jabbing an elbow into Campos-Duffy’s ribs to pick up the propaganda ball.

Had Hegseth really cared, he could easily have found the answer right under his own nose at FoxBusiness.com: “As coronavirus cases spiked and Americans pulled back on spending, hiring in the leisure and hospitality sector – which includes restaurants, bars and hotels – fell to zero last month, after previously driving job growth.”

But why look for facts when you can make them up? Campos-Duffy promoted an unsubstantiated rumor to gaslight Americans from thinking the pandemic is to blame: “Other people are saying, ‘Listen, it’s because you are paying people not to work,’” she said.

Campos-Duffy went even further down the rabbit hole. She quoted Biden saying his “plan is working” – meaning, of course, vaccinating Americans and boosting the economy – as further proof of some big anti-American plot. She even worked in some nativism into her spiel:

CAMPOS-DUFFY: This is a plan to get people hooked on government because we're basically paying people not to work, they become dependent and then they become beholden to the Democrat party. Just as I think the mess in Afghanistan, I also think that's deliberate. You know, they're bringing in all -- it seems to me that the only thing the Biden administration seems interested in, in terms of the whole debacle is the immigration part of it, you know, the refugee part of it and, you know, many of these refugees, just like the ones coming across the border, have no documentation. Again, this is all part of a strategy. We look at it and we go, “Wow, that doesn't make any sense. Why would they do it this way? Why would you pay people not to work when businesses are dying for workers?” There is a plan behind everything these guys do.

Cain validated her evidence-free rant to further the anti-Democratic fear mongering and to downplay the pandemic.

CAIN: You are exactly right. The larger scheme, the larger plan, the larger project is on track. The larger project is going according to plan. And it is the redefinition of the relationship between the average citizen and the state. And, look, the delta variant, the pandemic it’s the forever crisis, it’s the excuse for every single wish list on the Democratic agenda. It's not going away, by the way. Meaning they are not going to let go of this pandemic because it is the Trojan horse for every single thing that they want. And the truth is the reason job numbers are like this is because of this disincentive that’s been put in place in the economy.

Hegseth was pleased. He looked forward to the ending of extended unemployment benefits and forcing people back into the workforce in the middle of a pandemic, whether or not they have child care or vulnerable relatives.

The Murdochs and Fox News would rather kill their viewers than say anything not focused on tearing down Biden and the Democrats at any given moment.