Hume, Brit

mma tag Brit Hume | Media Matters for America

hume quit  FOX (b/c he's a jrnlist), replaced by sammon (several 4 fluff books on b2, as well as Wa Times  1st book on how gore tried to steal election

rare dissent on tariff 3 25?

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WITKOFF CALLS HUMANITARIAN, ACCURE WAR CRIMES

Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume put President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff on blast after he praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "humanitarian" during peace talks in St. Petersburg.

When asked about how he felt about the interaction, Hume did not hold back, calling Witkoff’s comment extravagant before adding: "The guy's a war criminal, for God's sake, and he's rained down bombs on civilians without regard to human life."

Hume, speaking with host John Roberts on Wednesday's edition of America Reports, called the Putin praise "absurd," pointing to Russia's war with Ukraine and the high civilian casualty count, with millions more displaced.

Witkoff gave the compliment after Putin announced the release of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who had spent more than four years in Russian custody.

"You are a humanitarian also, sir, and I salute that, I commend you, and I thank you again," Witkoff told Putin during their meeting.

Hubbard, a retired teacher from Michigan, was detained by Russian forces in Ukraine in 2022. Russian authorities accused the then-70-year-old of being a mercenary for Ukraine. He denied the allegations, and the United States determined that he was illegally detained.

Roberts excused Witkoff’s comments as diplomatic flattery, and Hume acknowledged that possibility, while seemingly taking a dig at Trump’s diesel deal with Russia

Hume then discussed Donald Trump’s reason for putting a pause on the Russia sanctions in Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill.

The Fox News star said the president told reporters on the South Lawn that you don’t punish people you’re trying to strike a deal with.

“When you’re trying to get a guy out of what has been locked up for four years illegally, you don’t insult the guy,” Hume said. “Maybe you flatter him.”

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis called the praise "embarrassing and outrageous," mentioning how the comment is insulting to the families of Ukrainian children killed or made homeless by the war.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn offered a rebuke, calling Putin a "stone-cold killer."

The criticism comes as Trump faces criticism for what many believe is capitulating to Putin’s demands and turning his back on Ukraine.

During the Fox News discussion, Hume also addressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's willingness to freeze current battle lines as a potential starting point for peace talks.

Hume said the proposal now requires a response from Putin, who has rejected previous proposals to put the brakes on the fighting. He also noted that it challenges Trump, who has repeatedly blamed Zelensky for the lack of progress toward ending the war that Russia started.

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mma

Trump's tariffs drive a wedge inside of Fox News

Many Fox personalities have supported Trump’s tariff agenda, while others warn his policies will harm American consumers

Written by Zachary Pleat (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/zachary-pleat)

Research contributions from Chloe Simon (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/chloe-simon) & Jack Wheatley (https://www.mediamatters.org/author/jack-wheatley)

:{Published 03/14/25

Fox News and Fox Business personalities have been broadly supportive of President Donald Trump's haphazard and often contradictory tariff policies, but a divide is emerging on air between the hosts and guests backing the president's ever-changing agenda and those acknowledging the economic disruptions these policies are already unleashing.

The art of the deal”: Fox personalities repeatedly celebrated Trump’s erratic tariff rollout as expert negotiation

In just the first two months of Trump’s presidency, he has made numerous announcements imposing, canceling, delaying, and carving out exemptions for his tariffs.

On Inauguration Day, Trump promised (https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/20/economy/tariffs-trump-executive-order/index.html) to impose 25% tariffs across-the-board on Canadian and Mexican imports beginning February 1. Those tariffs were then delayed (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/imposing-duties-to-address-the-flow-of-illicit-drugs-across-our-national-border/) until February 4, and then again until March 4 (https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china-sheinbaum-trudeau-017efa8c3343b8d2a9444f7e65356ae9). On March 5, Trump gave automakers a temporary carveout (https://abcnews.go.com/Business/timeline-trump-tariffs-canada-mexico-china/story?id=119506883) from the tariffs, and a day after that (https://www.axios.com/2025/03/06/trump-tariffs-mexico-pause-sheinbaum), temporarily exempted goods covered under his first-term United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and delayed the tariffs (again) entirely until April 2. On January 26, Trump also threatened tariffs on Colombian imports after Colombia refused to accept military deportation flights, only to later back off (https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/01/26/trump-colombia-deportation-flights-migrants-tariffs/) and declare victory. And on March 12, Trump’s proposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports went into effect, triggering (https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/trumps-steel-aluminum-tariffs-take-effect-us-canada-trade-war-intensifies-2025-03-12/) retaliatory actions from major American trading partners.

All along, many on Fox have praised Trump’s increasingly contradictory tariff announcements as a masterful negotiation tactic and “the art of the deal (https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-lost-mentally-tony-schwartz-art-deal-book-1956809),” much like they did during the 2024 presidential campaign (https://www.mediamatters.org/cnbc/conservative-economic-commentators-have-been-sanewashing-trumps-incoherent-tariff-proposals).

Following Trump’s threats to Colombia, Fox anchor Martha MacCallum called Trump’s tariff threats “foreign policy 101,” and noted “how quickly the turn around happens when there is a financial axe sort of held above your head.” Fox News, America’s Newsroom,[1/28/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028261)]

Before Trump announced a pause, Fox host Steve Doocy called Trump a “master negotiator,” and added that “there is a lot of time between now and midnight. He can make a deal with Mexico and Canada and say, ‘OK, I was threatening 25% … what am I going to get for that?’” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [2/3/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028264)]

Fox host Will Cain pushed back on former Canadian foreign minister John Baird’s reasoning that tariffs are bad, saying, “I think if there is any lesson for us to take it is: Analyze it through the prism of the art of the deal." Fox News, The Will Cain Show, [2/3/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028265)]

Fox host Laura Ingraham praised Trump’s inconsistent trade war policy with a graphic reading, “The Art of the Tariff." She said that “all it took was a few hours, and three phone calls, and lo and behold, President Trump has Canada and Mexico ready to make concessions.” Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, [2/3/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028266)]

After Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada would appoint a “fentanyl czar” and implement a border plan, Fox host Dana Perino called it “the art of the trade war.” Fox News, The Five,[2/3/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028268)]

OnFox & Friends, co-host Lawrence Jones complained that “the media is essentially freaking out, you see people in Congress freaking out,” about looming tariffs, but called the chaos “the results of the art of the deal.” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [2/4/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028269)]

Heritage Foundation economist Stephen Moore argued on Fox that he believes “Trump will prevail” on tariffs because he is a “master negotiator.” Moore said: “I think Trump is going to prevail here. You know, as he said, this might be some short-term pain for much longer-term structural gain in the American economy. … I would never bet against Donald Trump, he's a master negotiator, I think, with countries like Canada, Mexico, China, Europe.” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [3/12/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028270)]

Fox & Friendsco-host Ainsley Earhardt reassured her audience that “this is all part of the art of the deal. And Trump knows what he's doing.”Earhardt continued: “He's saying just trust me, it’s going to be painful in the beginning, you’re going to have to pay more for some items. But, in the end, it's going to be worth it.” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [3/12/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028271)]

Fox encourages viewers to embrace the economic pain of Trump’s tariffs

Economists broadly agree (https://www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/broadcast-nightly-news-largely-failed-cover-looming-trump-tariffs#paragraph--section-heading--3469017) that Trump’s tariffs will be devastating (https://www.brookings.edu/articles/trumps-25-tariffs-on-canada-and-mexico-will-be-a-blow-to-all-3-economies/?b=1) for the U.S. economy. And even though most of the tariffs are not in effect yet, their mere threat is creating economic havoc. According to economists (https://x.com/econJaredB/status/1895469819107090756), consumers’ fears (https://www.wsj.com/economy/u-s-consumer-confidence-falls-back-on-fears-of-tariff-induced-price-increases-3ba5693d) of the tariffs caused them to reduce spending (https://x.com/byHeatherLong/status/1895475037286658091), triggering fears of an economic slowdown (https://x.com/DeanBaker13/status/1895468423167213712). The stock market has also lost trillions of dollars in value since Trump took office, due in part (https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-inflation-dow-nasdaq-sp500-03-13-2025) to the repeated contradictory tariff announcements (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-12/stock-market-today-dow-s-p-live-updates?sref=Qjo1tp0z). And the latest University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey came in well below expectations (https://x.com/LizAnnSonders/status/1900548970646053093) due to worries about his tariffs (https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-consumer-sentiment-deteriorates-sharply-march-2025-03-14/). University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers also suggested that some of the January rise in inflation (https://bsky.app/profile/justinwolfers.bsky.social/post/3ljavxyxwg226) could be attributed to extra purchases (https://bsky.app/profile/justinwolfers.bsky.social/post/3ljavyagzbd2e) made before tariffs take effect.

But many Fox personalities are embracing the mayhem (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/maga-media-admitted-trumps-agenda-could-cause-economic-mayhem-indicators-suggest-it-may-be#paragraph--section-heading--3469730) caused by Trump’s incoherent tariff policies (https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/right-wing-media-admit-trumps-drug-war-really-trade-war), suggesting that the damage is necessary for various broader goals.

OnThe Five, co-host Jeanine Pirro pointed to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s praise of tariffs, saying, “Jamie Dimon now saying, well, even if it is a little bit inflationary, if it’s good for national security — everybody’s coming around.” Fox News, The Five,[1/23/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028272)]

Fox Business host Jackie DeAngelis: “If we see a little inflation because we’re going to bring business back home here, and because we’re going to grow the American economy? As Jamie Dimon earlier said, so be it.” Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, [1/23/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4026889)]

On Fox Business, guest Jacob Sonenshine of Barron’s said an additional percentage point of inflation from Trump’s tariffs “doesn’t really matter” because “the market’s going to power right through it.” Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, [2/13/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4027535)]

Fox’s Steve Doocy downplayed the potential negative impacts of Trump’s tariffs on the U.S. economy, noting that “there might be some pain in the beginning, but ultimately this is to help all of us.” Media Matters, [3/4/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-host-trumps-tariffs-there-might-be-some-pain-beginning-ultimately-help-all-us)]

Fox Business guest Mario Veneroso claimed that “at the end of the day, we're going to have a little short term pain for long term gain. We will be fine.” [Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, 3/6/25]

While referring to Trump as “the CEO of our country,” DeAngelis admitted that the president’s economy “might be a little painful” but that he’s “actually doing something that is really courageous.” She added that “what I think Donald Trump is doing here — we have to bear with him while it could be a little painful — is to ride through that time that we bring manufacturing home and we incentivize companies to manufacture here.” Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, [3/10/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-business-co-host-admits-trumps-economy-might-be-little-painful)]

On Fox, Canadian entrepreneur and TV personality Kevin O’Leary celebrated the stock market falling, claiming that “it's very healthy to have a significant correction like this and reset the entire stage.” He added, “I hate to say it — I'm glad this is happening.” Fox News, The Story, [3/10/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028274)]

Fox Business host Taylor Riggs said the equity markets were “on life support – government, public-spending life support — and we’re slowly trying to take the ventilator off the patient,” which causes “moments of transition.” Fox News, The Story, [3/10/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028275)]

On Fox, CEO of Strategic Wealth Partners Mark Tepper claimed, “If there is a 25% universal tariff on every single good we import, that equates to a 3% tax on taxpayers. Not fun, but not the end of the world.” Tepper continued, “Also recognize the fact that if we do extend the Trump tax cuts, that would essentially offset that 3%.” Fox News, America’s Newsroom, [3/12/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-guest-even-if-trumps-tariffs-create-3-tax-americans-its-not-end-world)]

Others on Fox pointed out the downsides of Trump’s tariffs

Not everyone on Fox is embracing the harm from Trump’s tariffs; some are following the example (https://www.mediamatters.org/wall-street-journal/trump-warned-bloodbath-auto-industry-if-he-wasnt-elected-wall-street-journal) of the conservative Wall Street Journal, calling them out as stupid (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/murdoch-media-are-split-their-coverage-trumps-tariffs) and counterproductive.

Fox Business guest Kurt Volker: “To put tariffs on everything, that's going to have a lot of unintended consequences that the American consumers are going to pay for.” Volker added: “To actually go ahead and impose” tariffs “on everything, I think that is overkill.” Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, [2/3/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028254)]

Fox contributor Bill McGurn onFox & Friends: “Let me be clear: I think tariffs are a bad idea all the time.” McGurn added: “They work until they don't work and then they can be catastrophic.” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [2/4/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/media/4028253)]

Fox chief political analyst Brit Hume: “There is no doubt that tariffs in the short run, and perhaps very much so in the long as well, raise prices.” Hume added: “And this is a president who has committed to bringing them down, so I think there is a real challenge there.” Fox News, Special Report, [2/10/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-brit-hume-there-no-doubt-tariffs-short-run-and-perhaps-very-much-so-long-well)]

Economists Jared Bernstein and Douglas Holtz-Eakin agreed during a Fox appearance that Trump’s tariffs are bad for consumers. Bernstein, former Biden administration chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, said: “I'm worried about the extent to which the tariff agenda is going to hurt American consumers.” Conservative economist Holtz-Eakin agreed that costs will rise for consumers, and added: “I don't like giving up control of economic policy, and I don't like this aspect of the administration's portfolio.” Fox News, America Reports, [2/14/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-news-economist-panel-agrees-trump-tariffs-are-bad-consumers)]

Fox Business guest Chris McMahon: “These tariffs are really scary. ... It has a real possibility of bringing on a recession.” Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, [3/4/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-business/fox-business-guest-these-tariffs-are-really-scary-it-has-real-possibility-bringing)]

A car dealer interviewed by Fox said about Trump’s tariffs: “We're afraid. It's going to have a gigantic impact on our business.” Fox News, Fox & Friends, [3/4/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-interviews-car-dealer-about-trump-tariffs-were-afraid-its-going-have-gigantic-impact)]

McGurn on Fox Business: “I can't really say anything nice about tariffs. I think they're anti-growth and a bad thing to play around with, ‘cause they can get out of hand.” Fox Business, Mornings with Maria Bartiromo, [3/5/25 (https://www.mediamatters.org/wall-street-journal/wsjs-bill-mcgurn-trumps-tariffs-i-cant-really-say-anything-nice-about-tariffs-i)]

...[more]

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November 5, 2024, edition of Fox News' Fox News Democracy 2024

BRIT HUME (CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST): The other thing about it that I think is striking is it shows you the power of the media. Because in many ways it's a BS issue when you think about it. When you think about it, go back to January 6, which was supposed to be the moment when we all thought we should fear this, that our democracy was fragile. It was the premise of the January 6 Special Committee that we -- as the co-chairman of the Committee put it, 'We came critically close to losing our democracy.' It's ridiculous. I mean, our democracy is pretty sturdy. Our checks and balances worked. The thing was over in a matter of hours. And yet, here we are, it's still a factor.

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HUME (GUEST): Given the world situation we face now, with threats coming from multiple directions, climate change is a distraction. Climate change -- worrying about climate change is almost a luxury. These are old fashioned threats that come from, you know, world powers that wish us ill. And, you know, China may say "We'll be competitors and we won't be adversaries," or the rest of it. I think China is an adversary. I think Russia is, too. And I certainly think Iran is.

And those threats are more immediate and more urgent than any threat that I think that climate change poses. So, let's just hope that the administration, you know, doesn't get too carried away with this. I was a little disturbed to see John Kerry at the table there today, our climate czar, because, you know, he thinks that's job one and I guess for him it is. But I don't think in terms of our national defense posture it's anywhere near job one.

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Fox spent only 4 minutes on Trump’s “vermin” rant, repeatedly downplaying the remarks | Media Matters for America

Fox News anchor Bret Baier called former President Donald Trump's promise to “root out” his political enemies, whom he described as “vermin,” the weekend’s “biggest political news” during a Monday segment on Special Report. But not on Fox, where the story has received only 4 minutes of coverage — including repeated criticisms of other news outlets for supposedly covering it too much and too harshly.

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communist, Marxist, fascist and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country,” Trump said in a Saturday speech and post on Truth Social. He added that his foes want “to destroy America and to destroy the American dream” and that “the threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave than the threat from within.”

Experts on authoritarianism warned that Trump’s rhetoric compares to that of fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. But Fox’s zealous support for Trump requires ignoring or downplaying the increasingly unhinged remarks and authoritarian vision of the runaway leader for the Republican presidential nomination.

Fox devoted only 4 minutes to Trump’s “vermin” remarks, according to a Media Matters review. The coverage, all on Monday, consisted of a brief mention on the “news side” program America Reports, a correspondent report and panel discussion on Special Report, and discussion during “opinion side” host Laura Ingraham’s interview with right-wing pundit Tulsi Gabbard on The Ingraham Angle.

:{Video

CitationFrom the November 13, 2023, edition of Fox News' Special Report.

During the Special Reportpanel segment, Baier highlighted a Washington Post report on the comments that, in Baier’s words, “goes on to talk to historians and effectively using the language of Hitler and Mussolini” and added that the remarks had received “a lot of coverage.”

In reality, while CNN and MSNBC both devoted extensive time to the story, Baier’s network, which before his Monday evening program had dedicated only a single brief mention to Trump’s Saturday remarks, was among many major news outlets providing relatively scant coverage of Trump’s “vermin” remarks.

Baier then asked Fox political analyst Brit Hume, “What's your thoughts on that and the framing of it?” Hume replied in part by downplaying Trump’s remarks, saying, “Well, I don't see Hitler and Mussolini. We had four years of Trump; we didn't get Hitler or Mussolini out of it.”

Ingraham’s subsequent broadcast provided nearly half of Fox’s coverage of Trump’s “vermin” remarks. She and her guest criticized CNN and MSNBC personalities for noting that Trump’s rhetoric echoed that of Hitler before engaging in whataboutism regarding “antisemitic loons on college campuses.”

:{Video

CitationFrom the November 13, 2023, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle.

Newsmax, Fox’s primary cable news rival, has likewise minimized Trump’s remarks and lashed out at news outlets for treating them critically.

“You're allowed to talk about draining the swamp,” prime-time host Greg Kelly said on Monday. “They say that Donald Trump is like Hitler, he's using the same words that Hitler used. Well, Hitler used the word chair, OK? I sit in a chair. That doesn't make me – right? You see? But they don't stop, do they?”

Methodology...

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https://www.mediamatters.org/mark-levin/fox-news-host-mark-levin-calls-:{fox-news-contributors-brit-hume:(style="background-color:#ffff66ff"):}:-and-marc-thiessen bastards

https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/mark-levin-ready-to-wrestle/  fox defectors trump

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mma tag Brit Hume | Media Matters for America

random grab 1123

Brit Hume has worked at Fox News since 1996 and anchored its evening news program Special Report for over 10 years.

Featured

Fox Is Replacing Greta Van Susteren With Ailes-Defender And Sexual Assault Denier Brit Hume

09/06/16 1:13 PM EDT

Fox's Brit Hume: Even if the Trump campaign did collude with Russia, “it’s not a crime”

06/25/17 11:41 AM EDT

hume.png

Fox's Brit Hume: Barack Obama enjoyed protected status as president because he is African-American

:{04/03/18

The Latest

Fox News' Brit Hume: “Worrying about climate change is almost a luxury”

11/15/23 7:20 PM EST

still of Brit Hume; chyron: Video fallout Democrats and some Republicans criticize release

Fox News chief political analyst says he doesn’t “think the evidence supports” characterizing January 6 as an insurrection

03/08/23 8:00 PM EST

Fox senior political analyst: “The war on carbon will have to be postponed if, indeed, it should ever be fought”

02/28/22 7:23 PM EST

Tucker Carlson: “I have never figured out what critical race theory is”

11/03/21 8:44 PM EDT

Brit and Bret on Trump CPAC

Fox chief political anchor Bret Baier whitewashes Trump's CPAC election lies

07/13/21 9:22 AM EDT

screen grab

As the economy reopens, Fox News tries to turn brief inflation into a major crisis

05/18/21 3:59 PM EDT

Ben Domenech on left screen, Brit Hume on right while a side box shows video clips of protestors on cars in Minneapolis

Fox's Brit Hume reacts to Chauvin murder conviction by claiming America overcame systemic racism in the 1960’s

04/20/21 8:03 PM EDT

Screencapture of Brit Hume on Fox News

Fox's Brit Hume previews Trump's strategy to steal the election

11/04/20 6:28 PM EST

Fox anchor Shannon Bream and senior political analyst Brit Hume above a chyron reading "Claims adjusters: Twitter changes policy on candidates declaring victory"

Fox analyst Brit Hume defends premature declarations of election victory: “Political campaigns are about extravagant claims”

11/03/20 10:45 AM EST

Fox's Brit Hume: The Supreme Court was "vindicated" after 2000 election

Fox's Brit Hume claims Supreme Court’s 2000 Florida decision has since been “vindicated”

11/02/20 7:22 PM EST

chyron reads: Biden: "If Trump still has COVID-19 we should not debate"

Fox's Brit Hume says Joe Biden must debate Trump in person, even if Trump is still contagious

10/06/20 8:43 PM EDT

Fox's Brit Hume: “I don’t think there’s any doubt Biden’s senile”

09/29/20

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume

Alexander Britton "Brit" Hume (born June 22, 1943) is an American journalist and political commentator. Hume had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline, and This Week.^[1] He served as the ABC News chief White House correspondent from 1989 to 1996.^[2]^

:{Hume spent 12 years as Washington, D.C., managing editor of the Fox News Channel and the anchor of Special Report with Brit Hume.^[3] After retiring as the anchor of Special Report in 2008, he became a senior political analyst for Fox News and a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday.

In September 2016, he was named the interim anchor of On the Record, after the abrupt resignation of the show's longtime host, Greta Van Susteren, and served in that capacity through the 2016 election.}:

• 1Early life
• 2Print journalism
• 3ABC News
• 4Fox News
  • 4.1*Special Report w/ Brit Hume* (1998–2008)
  • 4.2*On the Record* (2016)
• 5Personal life
• 6Awards and nominations
• 7Bibliography
• 8References
• 9External links

Early life

He was born in Washington, D.C., the son of George Graham Hume and Virginia Powell (née Minnigerode) Hume. Through his father, Hume is of part Scottish descent, descended from George Home (1698–1760), a son of the 10th Baron of Wedderburn exiled to Virginia in the aftermath of the First Jacobite Rebellion.^[4]^

Hume attended St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., at the same time as Al Gore and graduated from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, with a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1965.^[5][6]^

Print journalism

Hume worked first for The Hartford Times newspaper company, and later for United Press International and the newspaper Baltimore Evening Sun.^[7] He then worked for syndicated columnist Jack Anderson from 1970 to 1972.^[8]^

In 1971, Grossman Publishers published Hume's first book, Death and the mines: Rebellion and murder in the United Mine Workers, a work revolving around complicity of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, coal companies, and the United Mine Workers union resulting in the mistreatment of average miners.^[9][10]^

Hume reported a story for Anderson's column "Washington Merry-Go-Round" that after ITT Corporation had contributed $400,000 to the 1972 Republican National Convention, President Richard Nixon's Department of Justice settled the antitrust case against ITT. Anderson published a series of classified documents indicating the Nixon administration, contrary to its public pronouncements, had favored Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. After the revelations, Anderson and his staff, including Hume and his family, were briefly surveilled by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1972.^[11][12] The agents observed his family going about its daily business. The documents were revealed during President Gerald Ford's administration by congressional hearings and as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit and the so-called 'Family Jewels' revelations.

In 1973, Hume became Washington editor of MORE magazine, a press criticism journal,^[13] and in 1974 Doubleday published his second book, Inside Story.^[14]^

ABC News

In 1973, Hume started working for ABC News as a consultant, and in 1976, he was offered a job as a correspondent, covering the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate for 11 years. In 1979, Hume earned television's first Academy Award nomination for his work for ABC's Close-Up documentary program.^[13]^

Hume was assigned to report on Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign, and George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. In 1989, he became ABC's chief White House correspondent,^[7] covering the administrations of Presidents Bush and Bill Clinton and working closely with ABC anchors Peter Jennings and Charlie Gibson.^[8]^

Fox News

Brit Hume andChuck Norris pose in the George Bush Presidential Library Classroom in College Station, Texas, at President Bush's 80th birthday celebration

In 1996, Hume left ABC for the Fox News Network for which his wife had recently become chief of the Washington bureau.^[7][13] At his last news conference as ABC's chief White House correspondent, President Clinton told him, "I think all of us think you have done an extraordinary, professional job under Republican and Democratic administrations alike."^[8] Hume became Fox News's Washington managing editor.

On January 3, 2010, Hume generated some controversy when on Fox News Sunday, he advised embattled golfer Tiger Woods to convert to Christianity to attempt to end his problems. Hume's comments were made after the revelation of Woods' habitual adultery and the resulting deterioration of his relationship with his family.^[15]^

In late May 2020, Hume criticized presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for wearing a face mask during the coronavirus pandemic while suggesting that it was positive for President Donald Trump to not wear one. Experts and public health authorities had advised people to wear protective gear, such as face masks, while out in public during the pandemic to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (which had by late May 2020 killed more than 100,000 in the United States).^[16]^

Special Report w/ Brit Hume (1998–2008)

See also: Special Report (Fox News program)

After he began at Fox News, Hume was in discussions about starting a Washington-based television news program for the 6 p.m. timeslot. The Lewinsky scandal began during January 1998, and Hume's wife told him the story was so well known that he should start the show immediately. Special Report with Brit Hume debuted that evening in that timeslot.^[8]^

Hume said of the start of his time at Fox that "we made some progress and developed some audience and the Lewinsky scandal brought a lot of interest and the 2000 election brought a lot of interest, but what really did it was the Florida recount – that was tremendous for us because the people who were worried about how that would come out wanted some place where they could trust the coverage, people who were conservatives or Republicans or neither but worried. And we really made an effort to cover that story well. And that built our audience."^[17]^

The show was the number one cable news program in the 6:00 p.m. Eastern timeslot for several years.^[18]^

In July 2008, it was announced that Hume would retire as anchor of Special Report at the end of the year, but he would remain on Fox News in a different role.^[19] On December 23, 2008, he hosted his final episode as anchor of Special Report, announcing that Bret Baier, then the chief White House correspondent for Fox News, would be his replacement. Hume also announced that he would remain with Fox News as a senior political analyst and regular panelist for the program Fox News Sunday.

On the Record (2016)

On September 6, 2016, Hume was named the anchor of On the Record after that show's longtime anchor, Greta Van Susteren, abruptly left Fox News. He served as the program's anchor through the end of the 2016 elections.^[20] Hume's first show as host of On the Record drew 2.4 million viewers, a double-digit increase over Van Susteren's average viewing audience in 2016.^[21] On November 4, 2016, it was announced that Tucker Carlson would host a new show in the former On the Record timeslotfrom November 14, 2016.

Personal life

Hume is a conservative,^[22] remarking in 2006: "Sure, I'm a conservative, no doubt about it. But I would ask people to look at the work."^[8]^

Hume is divorced from his first wife, Clare Jacobs Stoner.^[23] Their son, Sandy Hume, was a reporter for the newspaper The Hill and first publicized the story of the aborted 1997 political attempt to replace Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. In February 1998, Sandy Hume committed suicide. The National Press Club honors his memory with its annual Sandy Hume Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Journalism.^[8][24]Brit Hume has said that he committed his life to Jesus Christ "in a way that was very meaningful" to him in the aftermath of his son's suicide in 1998.^[25]^

Brit Hume's daughter,^[26] Virginia Hume (born 1965^[27]), was a contributor to The Weekly Standard.^[28] She worked for 25 years as a public relations, political communications and traditional marketing professional.^[29] Her political experience includes serving as a deputy press secretary for the Republican National Committee in 1996.^[30]^

In 1993 Hume married Kim Schiller Hume, who was a Fox News vice president and Washington bureau chief before she retired in 2006.^[23]^

Awards and nominations

• Emmy Award for coverage of the Gulf War (1991)^[31][32]^
• American Journalism Review "Best in the Business" award (twice) for White House coverage^[33]^
• Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism (2003)^[34]^
• Writer of The Killing Ground (film), which was nominated for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature^[35]^

Bibliography

• Death and the Mines – Rebellion and Murder in the United Mine Workers. New York: Grossman. 1971. ISBN 0-670-26105-X. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
• Inside Story (1st ed.). Garden City, New York: Doubleday. 1974. ISBN 0-385-06526-4. Retrieved December 31, 2008. (a memoir of his days working with columnist Jack Anderson)

References

1. ^ "Brit Hume reflects on his life in the media". University of Virginia Reporter. Spring 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
2. ^ Huff, Richard (October 15, 2008). "Why Brit Hume will quit anchoring at Fox News". New York Daily News. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
3. ^ Gough, Paul (November 5, 2008). "Fox News' Brit Hume leaving for family, religion". Reuters. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
4. ^ "Hume, Alexander Britton". Ancestry.Com. RootsWeb. Retrieved December 12,2014.
5. ^ Vogel, Chris (May 1, 2006). "Prep Schools of the Power Brokers". Washingtonian. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
6. ^ Bedard, Paul (August 19, 2012). "Brit Hume: I stumbled into journalism". Washington Examiner. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
7. ^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-foxbio_7-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-foxbio_7-2) "Brit Hume". Fox News Network. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
8. ^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-Kurtz2006_8-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-Kurtz2006_8-2) ^d(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-Kurtz2006_8-3) ^e(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-Kurtz2006_8-4) ^f(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-Kurtz2006_8-5) Kurtz, Howard (April 19, 2006). "Moving to the Right: Brit Hume's Path Took Him from Liberal Outsider to the Low-Key Voice of Conservatism on Fox News". The Washington Post. p. C01. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
9. ^ "Death and the mines: Rebellion and murder in the United Mine Workers by Brit Hume". goodreads.com. Goodreads, Inc. (Grossman Publishing). Retrieved June 16, 2020.
10. ^ "Hume, a young investigative journalist who works with Washington columnist Jack Anderson, propounds the coal conspiracy..." kirkusreviews.com. Kirkus Media LLC. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
11. ^ "Documents Show CIA Spying on Journalists, Including Brit Hume and Michael Getler". Associated Press (via Editor & Publisher). Associated Press. June 21, 2007. Archived from the original on January 16, 2009. Retrieved December 31,2008.
12. ^ Wilderotter, James A.; Colby, William; Warner, John (January 3, 1975). "CIA Matters (memorandum for the file)" (PDF). p. 2. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
13. ^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-encyclopedia_13-1) ^c(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-encyclopedia_13-2) Murray, Michael. Encyclopedia of Television News. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 100. ISBN 1573561088.
14. ^ "Inside Story by Brit Hume". goodreads.com. Goodreads, Inc. (Doubleday). Retrieved June 16, 2020.
15. ^ Pulliam Bailey, Sarah (January 7, 2010). "Q & A: Brit Hume The former news anchor for Fox News explains why he told Tiger Woods to turn to the Christian faith". Christianity Today. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
16. ^ "Trump, who spent Memorial Day without a face mask, shares tweet criticizing Biden for wearing one". The Washington Post. 2020.
17. ^ http://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/brit-hume/
18. ^ Bret Baier, the Successor to Brit Hume on Fox's 'Special Report'
19. ^ Kurtz, Howard (July 16, 2008). "Fox's Hume to Step Down". Washington Post. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
20. ^ Kurtz, Howard (September 6, 2016). "Van Susteren leaving Fox News, Hume tapped as replacement through election". foxnews.com.
21. ^ Hume increases Van Susteren audience on first night (The Hill)
22. ^ Kurtz, Howard (January 6, 2009). "Bret Baier, the Successor to Brit Hume on Fox's 'Special Report:{':(style="padding-right:0.2em"):}:". Washington Post. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
23. ^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_Hume#cite_ref-The_Kim_Hume_interview_23-1) "The Kim Hume interview". Washington Whispers. U.S. News & World Report. September 25, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
24. ^ Tapper, Jake (March 13, 1998). "Suicide Watch". Washington City Paper. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
25. ^ Shales, Tom (January 5, 2010). "Brit Hume's off message: Have faith, Tiger Woods, as long as it's Christianity". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27,2010.
26. ^ Hume, Brit (September 14, 2018). "This, from my daughter, on how the letter for Kavanaugh came about". Twitter.
27. ^ Hume, Virginia (February 8, 2018). "Yeah, well try being born in 1965". Twitter.
28. ^ Hume, Virginia (September 14, 2018). "About That Letter From Women in Support of Brett Kavanaugh". The Weekly Standard. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
29. ^ "Virginia Hume". boylepublicaffairs.com. Boyle Public Affairs, LLC. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
30. ^ "Virginia Hume on the C-SPAN Networks". c-span.org. C-SPAN. December 14, 1996. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
31. ^ "Q&A – Brit Hume". C-SPAN. July 20, 2008. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
32. ^ Wallace, Lena (May 26, 2014). "Brit Hume to be 2014 Speaker". The Yellow Jacket. Randolph-Macon College. Archived from the original on December 13, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
33. ^ "Alexander (Brit) Hume | University of Virginia Bicentennial". bicentennial.virginia.edu. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
34. ^ "Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism - National Press Foundation". National Press Foundation. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
35. ^ Priestley, Tom; Singer, Steve, *The Killing Ground*, Brit Hume, retrieved June 8,2018

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brit Hume.

• Brit Hume on IMDb
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Authority control

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=='

many neo-con all stars

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Report_(TV_program)

special Report with Bret Baier (formerly Special Report with Brit Hume) is an American television news and political commentary program, hosted by Bret Baier since 2009, that airs on Fox News Channel. It is broadcast live each Monday through Friday at 6:00 p.m. ET. The program focuses on both reporting and analysis of the day's events, with a primary focus on national American political news. The show has been a part of the Fox News program lineup since 1998 and is the number one cable news broadcast in its time slot.^[1]

• :{1:(style="display:table-cell;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0.5em"):}::{Format:(style="display:table-cell"):}:
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• :{3:(style="display:table-cell;padding-left:0px;padding-right:0.5em"):}::{Program Origins & Changes/Announcements:(style="display:table-cell"):}:
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Format

The program reports on the day's events, usually focusing on political stories out of the nation's capitol, particularly on the President, Congress, and the Supreme Court.

A typical show begins with news stories featuring various Fox News correspondents, followed by an interview conducted by Baier with political newsmakers or pundits. After the halfway point in the program, and after a short break for current headlines, Baier presents a segment referred to as "the Political Grapevine" — a collection of short items, sometimes humorous, about minor political happenings. Baier sometimes uses this segment to point out oddities in coverage of a story by competing news media. (In the early days of the Iraq War, this segment was referred to by Brit Hume as "the Wartime Grapevine.")

The best-known part of Special Report is Baier's discussion with "The Fox All-Stars", a two-segment roundtable with a panel of three political reporters and columnists.

The program ends with a comedic clip, known as "the kicker", usually taken from the preceding night's shows by David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, or sometimes Saturday Night Live. Brit Hume would usually sign off with, "That's Special Report for this time, please tune us in next time, and in the meantime, more news is on the way — fair, balanced and unafraid." When Bret Baier became host, he signed off with, "Your source for news, tonight and every night,"^[2] which he later changed to, "Straightforward news in uncertain times." As of May 2020, Baier uses Hume's classic "fair, balanced and unafraid" sign-off.

"Fox All-Star" Panel members

• George Will - Washington Post columnist
• Fred Barnes - Editor of the Weekly Standard
• Nina Easton - Washington Bureau Chief for Fortune Magazine
• Stephen F. Hayes - Weekly Standard columnist
• Bill Kristol - Editor of the Weekly Standard
• Mara Liasson - NPR national political correspondent
• Tom Rogan - Washington Examiner columnist
• Judith Miller - Journalist for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
• Kirsten Powers - Democratic political analyst and New York Post/Daily Beast columnist
• Bill Sammon - Fox News' Vice President of News and Washington Managing Editor
• A. B. Stoddard - Associate Editor of The Hill
• Juan Williams - Fox News senior correspondent
• Elliott:{Abrams - senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations}:
• K. T. McFarland - Fox News national security analyst
• Michael E. O'Hanlon - senior fellow at The Brookings Institution
• Paul:{Wolfowitz - visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute}:
• Karen Tumulty - Washington Post national political correspondent
• Jonah Goldberg - National Review contributing editor
• Charles Lane - Washington Post Staff Writer
• Lisa Boothe - Washington Times contributor
• Charles Krauthammer - Washington Post political columnist

Program Origins & Changes/Announcements

The show originated in 1996 and was originally hosted by Brit Hume, who was, at the time, Washington, D.C. managing editor for the network. Hume hosted the program through December 23, 2008, when he hosted his final show before officially stepping down as anchor. The last fifteen minutes of Hume's final program served as a tribute to Hume, including kind words from former President George H.W. Bush, then-President George W. Bush, then-Vice President Dick Cheney, and then-ABC News anchor Charles Gibson, as well as several Fox News reporters, and allowed him some final thoughts. Hume announced Bret Baier, who substituted for Hume on Fridays beginning in fall 2007,^[2] would become the full-time host after the holidays,^[3] while Hume moved to a new role as senior political analyst for the network. Chris Wallace and Shannon Bream are occasional substitute anchors.

Brit Hume hosted the show from its debut in 1996 until his retirement in December 2008. He has since appeared on the program as a panelist commentator.

On June 15, 2009, the show launched in high definition with new music and graphics.^[4]

From its inception, Special Report has broadcast live from the network's Capitol Hill studio in Washington. However, on some occasions, such as the night of a significant election, the program will broadcast from the network's New York studios.

The program is among the top five of all ad-supported news shows on cable, and draws more than two million viewers per evening.^[5]

On January 13, 2020, the show launched new graphics and a new logo.

References

1. ^ on
2. ^ :{Jump up to::(style="user-select:none;top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important"):}:^a ^b(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Report_%28TV_program%29#cite_ref-washingtonpost_2-1) Respectfully, Hume Torch Is Passed - washingtonpost.com
3. ^ Bret Baier to be Named Host of "Special Report" TVNewser. Retrieved on December 23, 2008. Archived January 24, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
4. ^ Taxes, reform, protests and…freedom - FoxNews.com
5. ^ Fox News' Audience Doubles Down on MSNBC, CNN in August Multichannel. Retrieved on September 23,2012.

External links

• Official website
• The Daily Bret on FoxNews.com
• About *Special Report with Bret Baier* on FoxNews.com
• *Special Report with Bret Baier* on IMDb
• Fox News Live Stream

Categories: 

• Fox News original programming
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• 2020s American television talk shows
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• 2020s American television news shows
• English-language television shows

==

https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trumps-death-cult-finally-says-it-time-to-kill-the-useless-eaters-for-capitalism/

no lnx

Trump’s death cult finally says it: Time to kill the ‘useless eaters’ for capitalism

Brit Hume Fox News Screengrab

Written by Chauncey DeVega / Salon March 27, 2020

435

Donald Trump has given the Democrats a gift — if they are brave enough to use it.

Last Sunday, Donald Trump declared on Twitter: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”

This slogan, imported from the libertarian far right, signaled an important shift toward ending social distancing and “reopening” the economy, even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread Trump’s mouthpieces at Fox News and elsewhere then began to parrot the same macabre and disturbing argument.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican, told Fox News: “Let’s get back to living… And those of us that are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves.”

Right-wing propagandist Glenn Beck told viewers of his BlazeTV show that Americans who are older should just go back to work and prepare to die: “Even if we all get sick, I would rather die than kill the country.”

Brit Hume of Fox News told Tucker Carlson that he supported Dan Patrick’s view of this potentially lethal transaction:

What we’re living in now, this circumstance as we try to beat this virus, is not sustainable — that the utter collapse of the country’s economy, which many think will happen if this goes on much longer, is an intolerable result… [H]e is saying, for his own part, that he’d be willing to take a risk of getting the disease if that’s what it took to allow the economy to move forward. And he said that because he’s late in life, you know, that he would be perhaps more willing then he might’ve been at a younger age, which seems to me to be an entirely reasonable viewpoint.

What are they really saying? Donald Trump and the Republican Party are now openly willing to sacrifice those Americans they consider to be “useless eaters” — in this case older people, people with pre-existing health conditions and anyone else who may die from the coronavirus pandemic.

On Wednesday, Trump said the quiet part loud, basically admitting on Twitter that his electoral fortunes are tied to the pandemic’s impact on the American economy:

The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP.  We will be stronger than ever before!

To paraphrase the character Ivan Drago in the movie “Rocky IV”: “If they die, they die”. Or as another famous Russian, Joseph Stalin, is reported to have said: “One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.”

For Trump and his allies, worsening the coronavirus pandemic, even at the risk of many lives, is of little importance compared to keeping him in office to continue a regime of looting, extortion and massive corruption.

The Democratic Party needs new slogans for the 2020 presidential election, I would suggest these:

Trump wants you to die — so he can stay in office forever.

Trump and the Republicans are trying to kill you — for money.

Are you 60 or older? Have a pre-existing health condition? Donald Trump and his Republican Party don’t care if you die from the coronavirus.

Donald Trump could have stopped the coronavirus. He lied, and people died.

Yes Trump and the right are embracing and celebrating death. It is ghoulish. It is also one more illustration that the Age of Trump is an American dystopia where what was previously unimaginable (for most decent people) has become “normal.”

Yes, Trump and his movement’s death impulses are part of a natural progression in which an authoritarian regime maximizes its power by terrorizing the public.

These calls by Trump and his allies for millions of Americans to sacrifice themselves for such abstractions as “the country,” “the economy” and “the market” should not be a surprise. Such madness and cruelty are the logical and inevitable result of decades of right-wing strategy and policies.

These plans were never hidden. Indeed, they were clumsily obvious. Since the 1970s, predatory gangster capitalism has been accepted as either “normal” or “inevitable” in the United States (as well as the United Kingdom and elsewhere). To that end, the “free market” was presented by the news media, many Democrats and virtually all Republicans, and most of the educational system as somehow synonymous or interchangeable with “freedom” and “democracy.”

This form of predatory gangster capitalism, now often called “neoliberalism,” rests upon several basic tenets:

Profits are more important than people.

Every part of human life and existence should become a commodity or a financial instrument.

Society should be organized around the “survival of the fittest,” in Malthusian or social-Darwinist terms: Those who cannot survive and prosper under “free markets” will be abandoned, quite likely to die.

Notions of the collective good, the commons, the social safety net and other aspects of social democracy, as well as the very idea of government and collective action, are to be undermined and eventually eliminated in service to “freedom” and “individual liberty.”

There should be few if any restrictions on the behavior of corporations, banks and the ultra-rich, or on the financier class.

There are “winners” and “losers” in society, “makers” and “takers” in society. These are natural and almost inexorable categories. The winners are to be subsidized by the state and the public. The losers are to be punished, and if possible eliminated.

Capitalism and democracy are the same thing.

Of course the harsh realities and negative consequences of predatory gangster capitalism have been effectively concealed from the public, which has come to accept this ideology through the use of anodyne language like “entrepreneurship,” “efficiency,” “transparency,” “accountability,” “public-private” and “opportunity.”

All claims that this system has been successful are dubious. Serious economists and other intellectually honest policy experts have repeatedly proven that its premises are fundamentally incorrect.

Gangster capitalists exploit system shocks and other crises (sometimes crises they themselves have caused) as a means of advancing their agenda.

Consider the coronavirus relief bill as originally submitted by the Republicans, which proposed creating a $500 billion slush fund to subsidize the richest corporations and wealthiest Americans, with no accountability and no oversight – a fund that Donald Trump and his vassals could loot at will — while handing out much smaller sums to ordinary Americans who are struggling to survive in a moment of economic calamity.

The moral obscenity of that bill even included petty cruelty: The poorest Americans would receive little if any money in direct payments, while money flowed to corporations and the ultra-rich by the billions.

These disparities have been somewhat painted over in the Democrats’ counterproposals in the House and Senate. But on a grand scale, the picture is not that different: The largest corporations will still receive at least $500 billion — with minor oversight and a few insignificant restraints — that they will inevitably use to enrich their shareholders at the expense of their employees and the public.

In practice, neoliberalism amounts to socialism for the rich and the powerful and the harsh medicine of the “free market” for everyone else. The coronavirus relief bill is more proof of that fact.

This is the logic of “too big to fail.” It’s also a function of the moral hazard that allows a plutocrat like Donald Trump to gain control over a so-called democracy with the goal of funneling resources (through tax policies, government subsidies and other laws) to themselves and other members of his class, while denying resources and opportunities to the vast majority of Americans.

Donald Trump’s proposed 2021 federal budget is a statement of values. As with the coronavirus relief bill, it punishes the poor and vulnerable by gutting the social safety net and transferring more money, both in the form of tax cuts and direct subsidies, to huge corporations and the richest Americans.

As documented by Dr. James Gilligan in his book “Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others” the policies of the Republican Party on issues ranging from health care to guns, the environment and tax policy have shortened the American people’s lifespans and caused other forms of physical harm.

Predatory gangster capitalism needs agents and other actors to advance its goals. The corporation is one of the primary means through which this form of capitalism wages its “revolutionary” struggle against a humane and democratic society.

As has been widely noted, if the corporation was a person, it would be a sociopath. This makes the corporation an indispensable part of Donald Trump’s coronavirus death cult.

James Gamble, a retired corporate attorney who is now director of the National Center for Access to Justice, offered a warning, in a recent article at Medium, about “the extraordinary power of corporate ‘persons’ who are legally obligated to act like sociopaths”:

Sociopath? Yes. The corporate entity is obligated to care only about itself and to define what is good as what makes it more money. Pretty close to a textbook case of antisocial personality disorder. And corporate persons are the most powerful people in our world.

The “maximize rule” does its damage in two ways. Corporate entities are direct actors in the world. A decision to build a factory in a place with weak environmental laws, low wages and poor worker protection matters. Preferring share buybacks to increased wages or lower prices matters. Lobbying for taxpayer subsidies that transfer wealth from poor to rich matters. They contribute to the problems listed in paragraph one in obvious ways. More damaging: the maximize rule infects real people with tragic faith in the magic of markets.

A recent Business Insider article sheds further light on the corporation as sociopath:

The coronavirus crisis in the United States is only just beginning. But it’s not too early for some Americans to flout social distancing and isolation guidelines and return to work, according to some executives.

Dick Kovacevich, the former CEO and chairman of Wells Fargo, told Bloomberg News that healthy workers under the age of 55 should return to work in April if the outbreak is controlled, saying that “some may even die” with his plan.

“We’ll gradually bring those people back and see what happens. Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don’t know,” said Kovacevich, a current executive at Cisco and Cargill. “Do you want to suffer more economically or take some risk that you’ll get flu-like symptoms and a flu-like experience? Do you want to take an economic risk or a health risk? You get to choose.”

While this iteration of capitalism sells itself to the public as indispensable to “liberty” and “freedom,” its ultimate tendency is authoritarian and fascistic. Such traits and goals make it a natural tool and weapon for Trump and his allies.

While the American people and the world are paralyzed the coronavirus pandemic, Attorney General William Barr is refusing to let a good crisis go to waste. As reported by Betsy Woodruff Swan for Politico, the Trump regime wants to use the coronavirus to enact a de facto state of martial law where basic legal rights are suspended:

The Justice Department has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the novel coronavirus spreads throughout the United States….

The move has tapped into a broader fear among civil liberties advocates and Donald Trump’s critics — that the president will use a moment of crisis to push for controversial policy changes. Already, he has cited the pandemic as a reason for heightening border restrictions and restricting asylum claims. He has also pushed for further tax cuts as the economy withers, arguing it would soften the financial blow to Americans. And even without policy changes, Trump has vast emergency powers that he could deploy right now to try to slow the coronavirus outbreak.

Swan explains that these Justice Department requests “span several stages of the legal process, from initial arrest to how cases are processed and investigated,” and appear to have important implications for habeas corpus, “the constitutional right to appear before a judge after arrest and seek release.”

According to Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, this means that “you could be arrested and never brought before a judge until they decide that the emergency or the civil disobedience is over. I find it absolutely terrifying. Especially in a time of emergency, we should be very careful about granting new powers to the government. … That is something that should not happen in a democracy.”

This union of neoliberal gangster capitalism and authoritarianism can result in a society ruled by “inverted totalitarianism.” In his seminal book “Democracy Incorporated,” philosopher Sheldon Wolin explains how this happens:

Antidemocracy, executive predominance, and elite rule are basic elements of inverted totalitarianism. Antidemocracy does not take the form of overt attacks upon the idea of government by the people. Instead, politically it means encouraging what I have earlier dubbed “civic demobilization,” conditioning an electorate to being aroused for a brief spell, controlling its attention span, and then encouraging distraction or apathy. The intense pace of work and the extended working day, combined with job insecurity, is a formula for political demobilization, for privatizing the citizenry. …

It works indirectly.

Citizens are encouraged to distrust their government and politicians; to concentrate upon their own interests; to begrudge their taxes; and to exchange active involvement for symbolic gratifications of patriotism, collective self-righteousness, and military prowess. Above all, depoliticization is promoted through society’s being enveloped in an atmosphere of collective fear and of individual powerlessness: fear of terrorists, loss of jobs, the uncertainties of pension plans, soaring health costs, and rising educational expenses.

Will the American people follow the commands of Donald Trump’s coronavirus death cult? Are they willing to sacrifice their lives on the altar of “the economy” and Trump’s re-election campaign by returning to work, ending social distancing and ignoring the warnings of scientists and public health experts?

Some will. Trump’s cult members will follow his commands without question. They have been systematically programmed by Trump’s cult and its disinformation machine. They understand that protecting and defending the cult leader must always come first.

Many Americans who do not have sufficient savings, live on stagnant wages, have little if any job security, are not union members, cannot work from home and are otherwise stuck in a precarious economic conditions may well be coerced into risking their lives, because they lack other options.

If public opinion polls are correct, Trump is becoming more popular because of the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying stagecraft and spectacle of his lie-filled “daily briefings.” Despite his incompetence, a new Gallup poll reports that 60 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s response to the pandemic. (Including nearly all Republicans, of course.)

This evidence suggests that Trump, the Republican Party, the right-wing media and their corporate allies are effectively leveraging decades of programming in which most Americans have been taught to believe that patriotism, capitalism, freedom and consumerism are inexorably connected, if not in fact the same thing. In the Age of Trump and his pandemic, such beliefs can kill.

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https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/longtime-fox-news-producer-i-cant-tell-you-how-unpopular-trump-is-here/

no lnx

Longtime Fox News producer: ‘I can’t tell you how unpopular Trump is here’

Written by Dana Kennedy / DC Report September 12, 2019

Does Fox News need President Donald Trump? Or does President Trump need Fox News? If former Fox News strongman and Trump supporter, the late Roger Ailes, were still running the network, those questions might never come up.

But as Trump himself tweeted in June after Fox reported that Trump was trailing five presidential candidates in the polls, “Something weird is going on at Fox News.”

True enough – and Trump seems unable to stop it. And it’s not just that his longtime ally Rupert Murdoch turned the leadership of Fox over to his son Lachlan last year. “I can’t tell you how unpopular Trump is here,” a longtime Fox News producer told DCReport, “and people are getting bolder about saying so.”

The soap opera within a soap opera at Fox News isn’t hurting ratings. Far from it. Even though Trump began criticizing Fox back in January, which in turn kicked up bitter in-fighting between Fox’s on-air talent and producers,FNC was the most-watched basic cable network in America for the 34th week in a row the week of Aug. 26, TVNewser reported.

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Compared with the same week one year ago, Fox was up 6% but MSNBC and CNN were down 24% and 21%, respectively.

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“Trump’s base has been with Fox News longer than they’ve been with Trump,” veteran TV critic Bruce Fretts (TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly), told DCReport.

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‘Loyal to Fox, Not Trump’

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“They’re still probably going to vote for Trump but their real loyalty is to Fox. Trump still needs Fox to speak to his base. So he’s got to either bite the bullet and say these are my guys—or totally shoot himself in the foot.”

But for now, Trump’s strategy is to increase the potshots at his once-favorite network.

“Sharpiegate,” the inane media storm over an actual hurricane that Trump furiously insisted all week could have hit Alabama, is the latest presidential debacle to further divide not just the country–but the once-faithful at Fox.

In recent months, longtime FNC anchors Shepard Smith and Neil Cavutohave broken rank spectacularly with what Smith calls “Trumplandia” while Fox’s pro-Trump (and prime-time) stalwarts, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson, the network’s biggest moneymakers, along with Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs, have defiantly backed him.

At the end of August, evenFox’s longtime political analystand frequent Trump supporter Brit Hume fired back at Trump after Trump ripped the network for hiring left-wing panelists like former DNC chair Donna Brazile and Juan Williams.

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“The New Fox News is letting millions of GREAT people down!” Trump tweeted. “We have to start looking for a new News Outlet. Fox isn’t working for us anymore!”

Tweeted Hume in response, “Fox News isn’t supposed to work for you.”

Last week, Fox’s White House correspondent John Roberts got dragged into the middle when he was summoned to the Oval Office after his afternoon live shot. According to an internal Fox email from Roberts that was obtained by CNN, Trump wanted Roberts to acknowledge that the original forecasts for Hurricane Dorian “had Alabama in the warning cone.” CNN also quoted a White House aide privy to the meeting saying that Trump called Roberts in to “hit back at Shepard Smith.”

Doctored Hurricane Map

Earlier that same day, a visibly disgusted Smith lit into Trump over both his refusal to admit he was wrong about Alabama being in the path of Dorian–and for whipping out a clearly doctored hurricane map during a White House briefing Tuesday.

“Why would the president of the United States do this?” Smith said. “He decries fake news that isn’t and disseminates fake news that is. Think China pays the tariffs. The wall is going up. Historic inauguration crowds. The Russia probe was a witch hunt. You need an ID to buy cereal. Noise from windmills causes cancer. It’s endless!”

Smith may not be Fox News’ highest-rated personality but he is among the most respected at the network and his relentless fact-checking of Trump carries considerable weight.

“There’s a real downside to being in the tank for Trump,” said Fretts. “Fox News went all-in on him at first. They thought hey, this guy we propped up got elected—and we can exploit this power. Then Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and Bill Shine were brought down but it was too late. They had created a monster. And now those with some integrity at the network, like Shep and Cavuto, are distancing themselves bigtime and calling Trump out.”

Last spring, Trump began threatening to look for “another network” and repeatedly cited One America News Network, a relatively tiny right-wing news network based out of San Diego possibly best-known for hiring a young Tomi Lahren to host a talk show right out of college.

OANN, launched in 2013, has been relentless in their favorable coverage of Trump.The Washington Post reported in 2017 that “On One America newscasts, the Trump administration is a juggernaut of progress, a shining success with a daily drumbeat of achievements.”

Oddly, Charles Herring, president of OANN, was less than effusive when discussing Trump in both a telephone conversation and email with DCReport.

“Since 2015, before Mr. Trump announced that he was running for President, the network has been aware that Mr. Trump is an avid viewer,” Herring said.

“Our mission has not changed since the inception of the network and has not been influenced by our Presidents since launch. One America News Network appreciates the support from all of our viewers.”

Editor’s Note: Dana Kennedy is a former Fox News anchor, as well as a former reporter for MSNBC, CNN and ABC News.

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