Decyphering "Fox and Friends" with the sound off
An occasional journey into the absurd
I was working at the casino…babysitting the tub game (electronic craps…don’t ask). The casino was fairly empty at 7 am and with no one on my game, I looked up and one of the supervisors put on FoxNews on the TV in my primary line of sight. (Pretty sure it was on purpose).
Casinos, those grand cesspools of humanity, desperation, and degeneracy, usually have sports, local news, more sports, or some station that is rerunning stuff from the 1990s or early 2000s. CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC are usually not seen as brand friendly media.
So Steve Doocy and company of “Fox and Friends” were pushing three stories earlier today:
President Biden’s Hollywood fundraiser, Donald Trump speaking a church in Detroit (complete with video of him being welcomed/introduced by its black pastor), and of course, the border, which FoxNews now brands “Biden’s border crisis”.
Let’s handle the last item first insofar as there was not an actual news story attached to it.
In fact, there is not even a crisis. If there were actually a crisis at the southern border, Congress would do something.
The fact that Congress (the GOP controlled House and the 50-50 split Senate) was poised to do something back in February is telling. The bill to exapand border patrol manpower, tighten the processing of immigrants coming in from Mexico, and increase overall border funding was ready to be passed and President Biden was prepared to sign into law a panopoly of GOP wishes.
Until Donald Trump nixed the whole deal. That’s right. Over fourth months ago, candidate Donald Trump asked key House Republicans and several GOP Senators to kill the legislation.
If you’ve opted to do nothing, it’s not a crisis. The very definition of a crisis is not off-putting dealing with it for a year.
But “Fox and Friends” had some former Deputy Director FBI guy and he talked about it for a couple of minutes. But the border crisis was really just the the steamed broccoli that Doocy and company plated up with its meat and potatoes this morning. It is as if when the news is thin, FoxNews and its various talking heads decide that bright green broccoli should be served up with its red meat of the day.
But the real entree being served up on the June 17, 2024 “Fox and Friends” coffee klatch was Biden doing Hollywood and Trump speaking at a black church in Detroit.
The political fundraiser for President Biden in Hollywood netted nearly $30 million. From the news banner and quotes from the Wall Street Journal (the noted newspaper of choice for blue collar America), Steve Doocy and company were selling the following narrative.
Joe Biden and Hollywood elites hung out and the fact that most of the celebrities were all over 50 is proof that Biden has no connection to younger celebrities and will somehow have issues with getting the millennial and post-millennial vote. Plus, here’s Donald Trump connecting with black voters better than Biden.
A little realism is needed here and you can see that “Fox and Friends” narrative will likely be as well remembered for this dish as all of the other the overcooked chicken and underdone ribs it continues to trowel out onto its viewers plates.
It was a fundraiser not a rally. Movies, TV shows, and concerts get audiences vis a vis some level of popularity. And the name they never pushed (at least in something readable ‘cause the sound was off) was a little song writer and singer and huge influencer to anyone from 15-45 years old. Taylor Swift.
It’s unlikely she will not endorse someone and Donald Trump is below RKF Jr and Charles Oliver (Libertarian Party candidate) on that list. It’s gonna be Joe Biden and I’d put my money on the Democratic National Convention being when she does
But to be honest, given the body language of Doocy and friends, the banner headlines, and the fact that FoxNews was touting an interview with black Republican Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL), the red meat was Donald Trump at a black church in Detroit.
The camera showed the black pastor happily greeting Donald Trump into his church, a weird graphic about Biden’s support with African-Americans1, and constant segues to the non-blue collar/non-youthful Hollywood event that Biden had.
The red meat became unpalatable when it was revealed that the pastor’s congregation and community laughed at him for inviting Trump2, that the inner city Detroit church was filled with white people3, and that Donald Trump seemed unaware of where the pastor was during the event4.
Further media follow-ups included: Whoopi Goldberg attacking the stunt later in the afternoon on “The View”5, Joy Reid of MSNBC going after Trump for “blaxtroturfing”6, and Bakari Sellers going after a black GOP strategist for parsing Trump’s blatant racism.
The best think about casino work is the almost complete absence of anything beyond the present. Last week and next weekend mean nothing to casinos.
Who knows what “Fox and Friends” will be plating up tomorow, but you can be sure they’ll be oblivious to anything other than the daily broccoli of Biden’s border crisis.
I found the fact that “Fox and Friends” did not rerun this graphic disturbing and disingenuous. Very “1984”.
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-detroit-church/
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-detroit-2668533107/
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-detroit/
https://www.rawstory.com/whoopi-goldberg-mocks-crook-trump-for-black-church-trip/
https://www.rawstory.com/msn-uk/donald-trump-joy-reid/