Fox joins Donald Trump and Sean Spicer in smearing protests as “fake,” “violent,” and driven by “paid protesters.”
President Donald Trump has been dogged by endless protests ever since he “won” the White House. But instead of seeing that we rejected him by over 2.8 million votes and acting accordingly, he’s doubling down.
After his Muslim ban caused chaos and spawned another round of protests in airports across the country, he fumed:
Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2017
That’s right. Donald Trump can’t handle the fact that most Americans loathe his agenda and see his non-victory as a GOP-led coup. Instead he claims that people who object to his policies are violent “thugs” and “paid protesters” And now he’s gotten the folks at Fox News to help spread his lies.
On Monday morning the crew at Fox & Friends aired a stunning news segment about last week’s protests. First, they smeared the U.C. Berkeley students who opposed Milo Yiannopoulos giving a speech there.
“Violent protests like this [are] not only disgusting but also dangerous.”
Fox & Friends then went on to point their bony white fingers at protesters in New Haven, Conn.
“Now rioters protesting the president’s immigration order are accused of blocking an ambulance carrying a critically ill patient in Connecticut.”
EMTs forced to perform emergency procedure on patient as anti-Trump protesters blocked an ambulance on its way to a hospital pic.twitter.com/KeWFu5cSr4
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) February 6, 2017
But NBC reports the protests were peaceful. Police were able to clear the 100-or-so protesters from the road and only three got arrested.
Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer joined Fox & Friends on Monday and claimed:
“I mean, protesting has become a profession now. They have every right to do that, don’t get me wrong. But I think we need to call it what it is. It’s not these organic uprisings that we have seen over the last several decades. The tea party was a very organic movement. This has become a very paid, Astroturf-type movement.”
SPICER: Protesting has become a profession now. This has become a very paid AstroTurf-type movement pic.twitter.com/Spa2qh3FFe
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) February 6, 2017
No, Sean Spicer. The anti-Trump protests are driven by real people. When you talk about “a very paid AstroTurf-type movement,” you’re talking about the Tea Party, not the Resistance.
Featured image: Composite with photos by cc 2017 Amandalynn Jones via Wikimedia Commons; cc 2017 Jenna Sowry via Facebook; cc 2017 Amandalynn Jones via Wikimedia Commons.