Media Matters for America

Fox guest on possible troop withdrawal from Afghanistan: "The solution is more blood, sweat, and tears"

JOHN HANNAH (FORMER VP CHENEY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER): The president, you know, is signaling that he wants done with this. There may be some kind of remnant of counter-terror mission here, but I think the danger is that once we withdraw our support for the Afghan government on the basis of a very phony promise from the Taliban that they are not going to try and reestablish their jihadist tyranny -- and in very much in cooperation still with Al Qaeda, that once that Afghan government is brought down, Taliban, Al Qaeda come back. It's going to be infinitely hard for the United States to conduct an effective counter-terrorism mission without an Afghan government there.

BILL HEMMER (CO-ANCHOR): I apologize for the interruption there. Do you have a better solution then, John?

HANNAH: No, I mean, listen, the solution is more blood, sweat, and tears. I think the mission in Afghanistan, as frustrating and as long as it's been, Bill, with those several thousand troops there supporting an Afghan government -- we're not in the front lines doing the fighting -- I still think it's a sustainable mission if you believe that things can actually get much, much worse. But it needs a president who actually believes that avoiding a Taliban/Al Qaeda resurgence in the place that spawned 9/11 is important enough to continue this kind of sacrifice.

Previously:

Fox & Friends guest says a war against Iran would be "pretty quick and easy"

The Trump-Fox feedback loop could cause a war with Iran

Tomi Lahren: "If the plan were to send a huge surge of land and war power to wipe out Iran and turn it into glass ... that might actually solve the problem."

Fox host defends Trump: "Just because you use harsh language doesn't mean your intent is to denigrate another race"

Media Matters for America

STUART VARNEY (HOST): Are you a racist if you criticize an African-American politician? The left says, oh, yes you are. The charge, Trump is a racist, is now an established theme in the Democrats' 2020 campaign. I object. Just because you use harsh language doesn't mean your intent is to denigrate another race. Throwing that word around, racist, shuts down the debate. You can't solve problems if you can't speak freely. The word racist is applied to just about anybody. It no longer has bite.

Baltimore has brought the racist charge to a boil. In a series of tweets, the president has criticized Congressman Elijah Cummings. He is a Democrat who has represent a major -- majority Black district for over 20 years. The president described Cummings' district as quote, "A disgusting rat and rodent-infested mess where no human being would want to live." Oh, that caused outrage. The media jumped on it, and from there on out, branded the president a racist and a bigot. Again, I object. The president was describing reality. Bernie Sanders has said exactly the same thing, but he wasn't called a racist. Oh, no, he's a socialist. Now we find that Congressman Cummings himself had used similar language. He said Baltimore was quote, "drug-infested, and the residents walked around like zombies." He was saying same thing as the president. Nobody criticized him for telling it the way it is, but Trump is a racist.

This smearing, this name calling is a deliberate political tactic, and I think it's going to fail. The weak performance of Democrats running big cities can no longer be covered up. This president, unlike any other president, is prepared to call it how he sees it, and damn the consequences. The president wants the votes of African-Americans. He's courting them. Instead of pandering with offers of money, he is asking what happened to the billions already spent? Baltimore got 1.8 billion just from the stimulus package. What happened to it? Where did the money go? The Democrats have opened Pandora's Box without realizing it. They thought that calling him a racist would silence him. Wrong. They've given him a campaign theme. And that theme is, the Democrats failing their own supporters.

Previously:

Fox host defends Trump's racist tweets: He was just saying Democrats and liberal policies have destroyed Baltimore

Fox's Brian Kilmeade on Baltimore: "I don't think anyone passed statewide tests in some of these inner-city schools"

Fox host makes bizarre defense of Trump’s racism: Trump “probably never watched The Wire ”

Fox News is talking more about abortion than the Democratic debates did

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

During the four nights of the two Democratic presidential primary debates in June and July, Fox News outpaced CNN and MSNBC in the amount of time it gave to abortion coverage even though the network didn’t host either debate. CNN moderators failed to ask a single question about abortion during the second primary debate this week. And even though MSNBC moderators asked the candidates questions about the topic during the network’s debate in June, Fox News spent more time discussing the issue than CNN, MSNBC, or the candidates themselves did.

Right-wing media have been regularly dominating the conversation about abortion ahead of the 2020 elections, filling a void of abortion-related coverage by spreading misinformation and stigma about it. Fox News has been a frequent promoter of anti-abortion misinformation -- including the allegation that Democratic support for abortion access is “extreme.” Given this emphasis, as well as the decreasing accessibility of abortion care across the United States, it is essential that moderators ask candidates specific and nuanced questions about abortion during the debates.

This trend of right-wing media dominating abortion coverage continued during three of the four nights of the Democratic debates. Media Matters monitored both debates and live pre-debate and post-debate coverage on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News and found that Fox News discussed the topic for almost 26 minutes total. In comparison, the topic was discussed on MSNBC for 11 and a half minutes and on CNN for about six minutes; this count includes the time when abortion was discussed on the debate stage as well as during pre-debate and post-debate coverage.

CNN's moderators failed to ask the candidates any questions about abortion during the network's two nights of debates. The only time abortion was discussed during CNN’s July 31 debate night was when Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked former Vice President Joe Biden about his different positions on the Hyde Amendment. Notably, even when discussing the Hyde Amendment (which prohibits federal funds from supporting abortion care except in cases of rape or incest), neither Harris nor Biden used the word “abortion.” The topic was also essentially absent from the July 30 debate.

Even though abortion was discussed during both nights of the MSNBC debate in June as moderators questioned candidates about it, Fox News still discussed the topic more each night than the debate participants and commentators on MSNBC or CNN did. During the first night of the June debate, Fox News discussed abortion for about nine minutes and 19 seconds between 8 p.m. and 1 a.m. In contrast, debate participants and commentators on MSNBC discussed the topic for only about four minutes and 15 seconds, and CNN commentators discussed abortion for only two minutes.

This disparity was even greater during the second night of the MSNBC debate. During the same time period of 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., Fox discussed abortion for 15 minutes and 48 seconds, while debate participants and MSNBC commentators discussed the topic for four minutes and 44 seconds. Commentators on CNN discussed abortion for less than two minutes.

Though there are many important topics that moderators should be raising during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary debates, Democratic voters are clear that they want to hear candidates discuss abortion. If moderators continue to prioritize optics, vacuous political theater, and right-wing talking points over substantive questions, right-wing media will continue dominating the discussion and will keep spreading anti-choice misinformation unabated on their own platforms.

Methodology

Media Matters searched the SnapStream video database for mentions of the following keywords: “abortion,” “Roe,” “reproductive rights,” “right to choose,” “pro-life,” “pro-choice,” “anti-choice,” “pro-abortion,” “decisions about her body,” “infanticide,” or “Hyde.” We searched on Fox News Channel, CNN, and MSNBC between 8 p.m and 1 a.m. for the June debates and between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m. for the July debates due to the earlier start time.

We timed segments, which we defined as instances in which a speaker in the debate or on a network discussed abortion or a related topic. Segments included host monologues, news reports or packages, interviews, and guest panels. We did not include teasers for upcoming segments or rebroadcasts.

Fox & Friends touts Trump's "connections to Ohio" without noting they involve housing discrimination

Media Matters for America

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): The president of the United States was in Cincinnati last night. You saw the rally right here on Fox News Channel. There were 17,500 people there at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. The president has connections to Ohio, he’s talked about it in the past. Fifty years ago his father actually owned the Swifton Village housing complex in the Bond Hill area. So he’s got a connection, not only through his family, but also, he won Ohio last time. He needs to win Ohio again this time.

…

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): He’s familiar with Skyline Chili and Graeter’s ice cream because he said to that entire audience, he said, “I worked for my dad in the Swifton Village.” He said, “Does anyone know where the Swifton Village is?” And some people, you know, clapped and got excited about it. It’s always nice when someone famous comes into your town and they can relate to the people, and that’s what he does there.

The only Black Republican in the House announced he will not seek reelection. Fox News covered it for 20 seconds.

Media Matters for America

Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX) announced on August 1 that he is not seeking reelection in 2020.

I have made the decision to not seek reelection for the 23rd Congressional District of Texas in order to pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security. https://t.co/GeZ4Hh264f

— Rep. Will Hurd (@HurdOnTheHill) August 2, 2019

Politico described the importance of Hurd’s retirement:

If you are a House Republican, this has been an absolutely gutting few weeks. And, truly, if someone is trying to spin you on how the political picture is not that bad for the House GOP right now -- at this moment -- you ought to discount them as a political professional or analyst. Because it’s really, really bad, deflating and discouraging.

On Thursday night, Texas Rep. Will Hurd -- the only black Republican in the House -- announced he would not run for reelection. He beat Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones by fewer than 1,000 votes in 2018 in a large district that runs the stretch of the Texas-Mexico border -- and she is running again. Republicans like to say this is an R+1 -- fine, perhaps -- but it’s an R+1 that Hillary Clinton won by 3 points, so it’s not much of an R+1.

Others agreed.

But while much of the political world is talking about the retirement announcement, Fox News is not as interested. Hurd was not mentioning at all during Thursday’s evening programming or Fox & Friends on Friday, and he has received only 20 seconds of coverage so far during Friday’s America’s Newsroom:

Both CNN and MSNBC covered Hurd's announcement on Thursday and Friday.

Fox News has spent plenty of time touting President Donald Trump’s alleged support in the Black community despite polls showing widespread disapproval of the president.

Hurd spoke about his decision not to run again with The Washington Post, calling out Trump’s racism:

In an interview Thursday with The Post, Hurd criticized Trump’s racist tweets last month in which the president said four Democratic minority congresswomen should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Three of the women are from the United States; a fourth, Rep. Ilhan Omar (Minn.), is a Somali refugee who became a U.S. citizen as a teenager.

“When you imply that because someone doesn’t look like you, in telling them to go back to Africa or wherever, you’re implying that they’re not an American and you’re implying that they have less worth than you,” Hurd said.

Hurd recently told Meet The Press, “I shouldn't be the only African-American Republican in the House of Representatives."

Fox's Newt Gingrich complains about Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren: "I don't remember us electing an angry president literally in my lifetime"

Media Matters for America

BILL HEMMER (CO-ANCHOR): Go ahead and frame the argument that the president is making there from last night, sir.

NEWT GINGRICH (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): Look, I think Kim Strassel did a great job with the column where she said the choice is between the left and the crazy left, and the crazy left is winning. I watched the first night. It was amazing the level of anger that you got out of Bernie Sanders and Senator [Elizabeth] Warren. I mean, these are really angry people, and it was kind of amazing to watch them. It's the opposite of how people normally win the presidency. You go back and you watch Barack Obama with a big smile. You watch Ronald Reagan with a big smile. I don't remember us electing an angry president literally in my lifetime. And yet you have these people who were almost in a rage. You also had the fact that they're all drifting towards cloud cuckoo land. I mean, when you have a number of moderate Democrats on the stage -- and they'll all be gone soon because they're not getting enough support to survive. But they're on the stage and they're saying -- one of them said if we go down this road of taking away everybody's health insurance we'll be lucky to carry two states. Now that was a Democrat in the debate warning his follow Democrats that they could be throwing away the presidency. And I think we have to take that seriously.

And of course, the president is watching all this and he's exactly right, and he wants to stoke the fire a little bit about Obama. What's turned out is that President Obama is no longer radical enough for the left wing of the Democratic Party. So you're going to end up with Biden defending Obama while the rest of the party attacks him. The truth is, on things like deportation, President Obama deported more illegal immigrants than any other president in American history. In terms of the Affordable Care Act, which was not affordable, but it didn't cover everybody that left-wingers want to cover. And so you can go down a list and you realize there's a real fault line in the Democratic Party, and we're watching it play out in these debates.

Previously:

After Democratic debate, Fox's Newt Gingrich calls Democrats "an anti-American party"

Fox's Jason Chaffetz on Democratic debates: "They were doing everything they could to take away your freedoms"

Fox & Friends complains that "the thing that was lacking" in Democratic debates over immigration "was the word illegal"

Fox's Stuart Varney: Electing a Democrat as president will lead to an economic contraction

Media Matters for America

AINSLEY EARHARDT (CO-HOST): The president was touting the economy last night.

STUART VARNEY (FOX BUSINESS HOST): No wonder the Democrats failed to mention the strong economy in their two debates this week, because they don't have a growth plan, and obviously, President Trump does. The Democrats seem to me to have a contraction plan. No fossil fuels, no private health insurance. That's a contraction of the economy, rather than the expansion that President Trump's got.

...

EARHARDT: Stuart, you mentioned jobs reports, they're coming out this morning. What can we expect?

VARNEY: I think you'll see the unemployment rate stay around 3.7%.

EARHARDT: It's amazing.

VARNEY: Do you realize how low that is? I mean, I have lived in America for 40 odd years, I haven't seen 3.7% before. Maybe [3.6%] under Trump, I don't know, but that's near historic level.

EARHARDT: The president said 7 million Americans are off food stamps. Think about that. That's wonderful.

VARNEY: That's right. That's right. That's right. And what is it, 125,000 extra employed people in the state of Ohio?

STEVE DOOCY (CO-HOST): And the job number today is expected to be about 164,000 new jobs.

VARNEY: About that. That's still pretty strong. It might be stronger than that. But here's something that was buried by the media.

DOOCY: Shocking.

VARNEY: Right. In the first two years of the Trump presidency, wages and salaries increased 42% more than in the last two years of the Obama administration.

EARHARDT: That's great.

VARNEY: Forty-two percent more.

EARHARDT: So people can ask themselves are you better off today?

VARNEY: How about that? Yes.

EARHARDT: Are you better off today and the answer for most people is yes.

VARNEY: Well, it shows you -- it's the Trump presidency which turned the economy around. Don't give me this, that Obama started the recovery. Well, maybe the recovery started in the Obama years, but the expansion, that started with President Donald J. Trump.

Previously:

Fox Business host Stuart Varney says repealing Trump's tax cuts for the rich and corporations "would ruin the economy"

After first Democratic debate, Fox's Stuart Varney lashes out at candidates for promising to tax the wealthy: "They attacked the rich"

Fox Business host blames stock market decline on House Speaker Pelosi's press conference

New Bureau of Land Management head complained that federal employees aren’t held “personally responsible for the harm that they do”

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

William Perry Pendley, the new head of the Bureau of Land Management, complained in a 2018 interview that employees like the ones he now manages aren’t held “personally liable” or “personally responsible for the harm that they do” regarding federal land management. He also said that one thing that would prevent such problems in the future “is the federal government owning less land.”

President Donald Trump’s administration this week appointed Pendley, a right-wing lawyer and commentator, as the acting head of the Bureau of Land Management after he worked at the agency for just a few weeks. Media Matters documented that he has argued that climate science isn’t real, claimed that environmentalists want to “destroy” civilization, and once asked, “How many have died and how many more will die because of diversity and race-based decision making?”

Conservation and environmental groups have heavily criticized Pendley’s hiring. Kayje Booker, the policy and advocacy director at Montana Wilderness Association, said: “It’s hard to imagine anyone in this position more dangerous or more conflicted than William Perry Pendley.”

Members of the Blackfeet Nation have also criticized the appointment. As The Washington Post summarized, Pendley is “still the counsel of record representing an aging businessman, Sidney Longwell and his small company Solenex. Solenex leased 6,247 acres in northwest Montana in 1982 during the Reagan administration for about $1 an acre. Longwell wants permission to build a six-mile service road and bridge over the Two Medicine River on lands considered sacred by the Blackfeet tribe. Interior wants to cancel the lease. He would use the road to bring in drilling rigs and other oil exploration equipment.”

Pendley takes over an agency that’s responsible for managing public lands even though he once wrote a 2016 National Review opinion piece which argued that the federal government should sell its public lands. In response to concerns about Pendley’s views, an Interior Department spokesperson claimed: “This administration has been clear that we are not interested in transferring public lands.”

However, Pendley also said in a previously unreported television interview that one of the ways to solve alleged problems with land management is for the government to own “less land.” He also criticized his future employees, saying they’re not held “personally liable” or “responsible for the harm that they do.”

Pendley appeared on the January 26, 2018, edition of the Colorado-based libertarian show Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara and talked about his cases against the federal government and the Bureau of Land Management. During the show, he said that “the federal government is the world’s worst neighbor. It absolutely is the worst neighbor.”

Later during the program, Pendley said that unlike private individuals, the federal government can dodge responsibility for their problems, alleging: “These agencies, these employees, they’re not personally liable, they’re not personally responsible for the harm that they do. They’re going to move down the hall, they’re going to move across the country.”

Pendley was then asked how to prevent such alleged problems with the federal government. He responded: “One of the things that prevents it is the federal government owning less land. We recognize the federal government, the United States government owns a third of the country, including especially here in the West.”

Sean Hannity says one of his main criticisms of Republicans is that they aren't more like Rush Limbaugh

Media Matters for America

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): I actually see similarities between you and Trump. Let me tell you what two of them are. Number one, you've got to be able to take a punch. You paved the way for a lot of us that are conservatives in the media. You've taken more than your fair share. And then, you've got to fight for what you believe.

My biggest criticism of Republicans is they are weak, a lot of them, and timid and afraid to do what you do every day. To do what Trump is doing. You're right, showing them the way. Just fight for what you say you were going fight for.

...

RUSH LIMBAUGH: This fear of the media, this fear of being called a racist, everyone needs to get over that now because all of us are racists. Everybody's racist, they can't talk about anybody now without labeling them racist.

Previously:

Rush Limbaugh has ramped up his Fox News appearances in 2019

On Fox News, Rush Limbaugh says that "climate change is what allows them to poison the minds of young kids”

On Fox, Rush Limbaugh complains about efforts to address the climate crisis: "There is no man-made climate change"

Media Matters for America

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Three words I want to throw at you -- Green New Deal.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Well, it's -- it is a trick, the Green New Deal. Even Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, her chief of staff, sackrat -- sakreet -- sakrot -- whatever, Chakrabarti, admitted that it's not even about the climate. It's not even about the weather. It's an economic plan, and it is. It's designed to get massive federal power, grow the federal government, under the pretense that average Americans cannot be left to live their lives without ruining things, especially for the Democrat Party. It's unaffordable, it will never happen, and the premise behind it is bogus.

There is no man-made climate change. There is nothing we can do to stop whatever the weather is going to do. We can't make it warmer, we can't make it colder. We can't change hurricanes' directions, we can't dissipate them. We can't create them. And yet, they are campaigning and trying to convince people.

I mean, look at millennials. It's really sad, there's a lot of young people that really think this planet is not going to be habitable by the time they hit 65. These people are ruining people's lives, they're ruining their futures all in the pursuit of power for themselves. It's disgusting on one level to me, and I think that they need to be called out and I think they need -- this stuff needs to be said point blank to them, because the media it is not -- the media's their best buddies, the media is their support group, and so forth. It's a big battle. I'm just -- I'm just optimistic, I'm confident that these people can be beat back.

Previously:

In Hannity segment attacking Green New Deal, climate denier Joe Bastardi says “people are ungrateful” for fossil fuels

Hannity invites climate denier Joe Bastardi on his show to deny link between climate change and extreme weather -- again

Rush Limbaugh on Hurricane Florence: "The forecast and the destruction potential doom and gloom is all to heighten the belief in climate change"

On Fox News, Rush Limbaugh says that "climate change is what allows them to poison the minds of young kids”

Media Matters for America

RUSH LIMBAUGH: Climate change is what allows them to poison the minds of young kids. To blame people for causing a problem and then offer them redemption, make them feel like they have meaning in their lives by saving the planet.

Previously:

Rush Limbaugh has dramatically ramped up his Fox News appearances in 2019

Less than 10% of questions were about climate change at CNN's two-night debate in Detroit

Rush Limbaugh shares fake story that sharks are flying around in Hurricane Florence

Lou Dobbs says Donald Trump can’t be racist because Mexico is helping the United States

Media Matters for America

LOU DOBBS (HOST): This fellow can't be too much of a quote-unquote "racist," in point of fact embracing Mexico, its president, its government, because of all of the help they are providing America, acknowledging it, and doing so warmly.

Previously:

Lou Dobbs laughs at Fox’s effort to restrain anti-Semitism on his show

Lou Dobbs guest: "We've seen this in Europe, we're seeing it here, and they are attempting to replace us"

Lou Dobbs Says People Should Credit Obama's Race For His Election

Lou Dobbs attacks the media for reporting on DeSantis' racist comments

Lou Dobbs asks if it's "time for the Trump administration to outright defy the activist" Supreme Court over census ruling

Tucker Carlson: Cory Booker was "trying to sound like a Nation of Islam recruiter"

Media Matters for America

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Cory Booker meanwhile is in the process of transitioning to a brand-new identity, he spent most of the evening trying to sound like a Nation of Islam recruiter rather than the deeply privileged son of two IBM executives which is what he is.

Previously:

Tucker Carlson's descent into white supremacy: A timeline

Tucker Carlson touts hardline approach of far-right ethnonationalists to immigration

Tucker Carlson and guest mock the term "person of color," call it a racist term because "everyone has a color"

Amid unprecedented attacks on reproductive rights, CNN debate moderators completely ignore abortion

Media Matters for America

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

During the July 30 and 31 presidential debates, CNN moderators Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, and Don Lemon failed to ask 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls a single question about abortion.

Nationally, as state legislatures continue to push an increasing number of abortion restrictions -- and with right-wing media already amplifying anti-abortion misinformation ahead of the 2020 elections -- the primary debates are a crucial opportunity for moderators to ask precise, nuanced questions about how presidential candiates would protect abortion access. CNN’s failure to ask about abortion was out of step with what Democratic voters wanted to hear about during the debates and was a missed opportunity to break right-wing media’s dominance of abortion-related conversations on cable news.

Abortion rights garnered hardly any recognition from moderators or candidates alike during the July 30 Democratic primary debate. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock briefly referred to himself as “pro-choice” in his opening statement.

The only substantive conversation about abortion happened during the July 31 debate. On stage, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) confronted former Vice President Joe Biden over his past support of the Hyde Amendment, a legislative provision that forbids the allocation of federal funds for abortion care except in limited cases. This amendment disproportionately affects people of color and those of lower socioeconomic status who might depend on federal support to access health care. Although this short exchange was the only discussion of abortion during both nights of the CNN moderated debates, neither candidate said the word “abortion.” In fact, five hours of political discourse yielded a mere two minutes of abortion conversation without anyone -- the 20 candidates or three moderators -- saying the word “abortion.”

This is not the first time CNN moderators have excluded discussion of abortion during presidential debates. After a 2016 Democratic primary debate, critics called out the network for not asking any questions about abortion despite coming days after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt, a case concerning anti-abortion restrictions in Texas. After this week’s debates, abortion rights groups were confounded again by the lack of action

Given the already precarious state of abortion access, debate moderators need to ask candidates specific and nuanced questions on abortion -- otherwise right-wing media and anti-choice outlets will continue to dominate the conversation with harmful misinformation.

Fox hosts shout down colleague Juan Williams when he notes that Trump's racism is a fact

Media Matters for America

JUAN WILLIAMS (CO-HOST): Let me tell you, it's a fact, it's a fact, it is a fact.

GREG GUTFELD (CO-HOST): No, Juan, it's an opinion, it's an opinion.

...

That's called an opinion Juan, it's not a fact. I could keep saying it, he won't listen.

Previously:

Fox & Friends guest attacks news outlets noting Trump's racism: It is "an opinion, not a fact"

Tomi Lahren previously pushed the same sexist smear about Kamala Harris on Fox Nation