The 'Genius' of Fox News Makes Words Meaningless
Fox co-opts 'democracy' guaranteeing a year of fights and ignorance awaits
If you missed this messaging coup by Fox News, well, here you are. Fox has done it again while CNN and others were trying to maintain journalistic integrity. Fox welcomed Trump “back home” by labeling its town hall with Trump: Democracy *24.
Claiming to be an advocate of traditional American values, Fox struggles with Trump’s promise that he will be a dictator for a day. If Fox even had a carpet fiber of sincerity, it would be challenging to back Trump for the presidency. Opposing him, however, would be too costly. Fox is not an integrous journalistic voice in our nation but a shameless manufacturer of opinions. It nurtures its loyalty by hooking its viewers on the sweetness of its lies and manipulated, hand-spun truths by feeding them regular diets high in sugar and carbs.
How does Fox combat Trump’s proclamations for becoming a dictator for a day? Fox declares itself the arbiter of all things “democracy,” with Trump being the most reliable warrior for protecting America’s democracy. Trump’s message that it’s not him who is the threat to democracy, but Biden is landing with his core herd.
Fox News, on the other hand, has recognized that the Democratic warnings about Trump being a threat to American democracy are also making headway with Democrats and, most importantly, independents. If Trump gets declared early by Dems, Independents, and the Republican establishment that he is dead in the water, then Fox will have a bad financial year.
To protect their investment, which is the sale of all things Trump, it has been decided that the word “Democracy” must be both highly politized and ultimately deflated to become another one of those meaningless, right-wing terms like “death squads,” “right to life,” and, “right to work.” Each time, the right, led more times than not by Fox and other right-wing media outlets, latches onto a term to gut it of its original meaning, and the facts of the problem at hand become lost in the rhetoric and lies.
How many times have you heard right-wingers, when reacting to “gun control measures,” turn it into a “they’re coming for our guns” moment? Combatting climate change becomes a “they are dictating to us what kinds of light bulbs we can use like in a communist country.” When Michelle Obama suggested more vegetables in schools, they screamed that “the socialist nanny state is going to make us weak and commie.”
By co-opting the word “democracy,” Fox has not given every right-winger, every MAGidiot in the country, a new line of defense for Trump.
“Trump says he will be a dictator for a day. He wants to destroy our democracy.”
“Oh, there it is, ‘democracy.’ What is ‘democracy?’ anyway? Trump is trying to defend the democracy I want, and Biden is trying to force a so-called democracy onto us that no one wants. That is why he is trying to arrest Trump! That’s real ‘democratic.’”
I will pay a single dollar bill to the first person who can report that they have heard this kind of off-the-wall rationalizing by a MAGidiot. It’s coming. Last night, with those big words flashing on the screen, “Democracy *24” didn’t appear by chance. Fox is a professional organization, and nothing appears on that screen that hasn’t been vetted, studied, and finalized by Lachlan Murdoch and Suzanne Scott (current CEO).
By taking the democracy banner, Fox has guaranteed that the election will be as bitter and disruptive to our national unity as is productionally possible. Hate and bitterness could rocket Fox’s earnings into the stratosphere this upcoming election year. By pitting the two sides against each other in a steel-cage, no-holds-barred battle to the death to save democracy, Fox has promised that this next year will be one of the ugliest in our nation’s history.
Historians talk about another New Yorker whose thick accent tanked his career. Al Smith was a populist much in the vein of Trump. Once the country heard his voice on the radio, he lost support despite his popular message. The paradox here is that no matter how grotesque or piggish he becomes, he grows in popularity.
I know so many people that I really enjoyed their company throughout the years. Then came Trump with his poodle Fox News. It felt like it was overnight our friends and family would start yelling not talking about the most ridiculous conspiracy theories that had no ground to stand on. In the beginning we would laugh at them sometimes thinking they had one too many martini s The years went by and the only thing my husband and I could do was not speak to them anymore.There was absolutely no other solution. Every once in a while one will stop by and say more stupid stuff like “ I see you put up a pole with a American Flag so you finally came to your senses and understand what Trump is all about” In Bobs mind now only Republicans can put up flag poles. I now can clearly see the danger in all of this and when you say that this year is going to get worse,by all means I believe this next election is the final straw for democracy . What can I do without getting arrested is on my mind 24/7