The legacy media spent the weekend continually conflating criticism of the Biden administration with terrorist propaganda. In three days of nearly identically worded attacks, CNN and MSNBC likened FNC programming to ISIS recruiting films, accused 90-year-old Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch of being a “threat to democracy,” and mused about revoking the Australian native’s U.S. citizenship.
The personal assaults on the Murdoch family emanated from MSNBC’s Joy Reid, as well as CNN’s Jim Acosta and Brian Stelter.
Reid began the media pressure campaign by first targeting FNC, comparing Tucker Carlson’s Fox Nation programming to ISIS propaganda videos. “I used to watch, for my job, those ISIS little mini-films they would make to try to recruit young [involuntarily celibate males] to join ISIS. They would have the same sort of live action, try to incite, try to excite, like, young men kind of vibe that Tucker is creating in his trailer,” she said on Friday’s episode of “The ReidOut.”
“Arguably the greatest threat to our democracy continues in its quest to rot this country out from the outside,” she said. “No, no, not the Republican Party this time. I’m talking about Fox News.”
She then targeted the network’s owners, Rupert Murdoch and his son, Lachlan. “The Murdochs are undermining democracy here and around the world,” said Reid. “The Murdoch empire is just injecting anti-democratic propaganda straight into the veins of millions [of] people, night after night.”
“This is worse than Al-Jazeera after 9/11, what FOX News is,” agreed her guest, Dean Obeidallah. Al-Jazeera regularly aired videos produced by al Qaeda, including messages produced by the terrorist group’s founder, Osama bin Laden.
Reid then classified the 90-year-old Australian Rupert Murdoch as an incipient terrorist threat, approvingly reading a tweet from an advisor to the scandal-plagued Lincoln Project: “If Rupert Murdoch were applying for American citizenship today, there would be ample evidence to classify him as a domestic threat and deny citizenship. He’s a dangerous man who should be treated as the anti-democratic propagandist he is.”
If Rupert Murdoch were applying for American citizenship today, there would be ample evidence to classify him as a domestic threat and deny citizenship. He’s a dangerous man who should be treated as the anti-democratic propagandist he is. https://t.co/o7Lx529X7u
— stuart stevens (@stuartpstevens) October 28, 2021
“We can’t take his citizenship away,” Obeidallah said mournfully. “I almost wish there was a way, but you can’t do it. I think you can only counter” his influence.
Reid and Obeidallah focused their ire on a new special which Carlson produced for Fox News’ streaming platform, Fox Nation, titled “Patriot Purge.” The documentary contends that the Left accuses its critics of terrorism so that it can impose legal sanctions against them.
Reid and her guests continued to attack Murdoch as spreading foreign propaganda. “What Murdoch has delivered, largely through FOX News in the United States, is exactly what Vladimir Putin wanted to achieve with his disinformation campaigns, turning one part of America against another,” said Reid, apparently unaware that the greatest Russian propaganda charge during the Cold War portrayed the U.S. as a systemically racist nation, much as Reid does. Dana Milbank of The Washington Post struck a more scatological tone, saying, “If Murdoch takes this once great newspaper any further down the toilet, I think we`re going to call it the Wall Street Urinal.” Obeidallah added zingers by calling Texas “an apartheid state” and nicknaming Tucker Carlson “Tucker Klansman.”
CNN followed suit the rest of the weekend. “The Murdochs and Tucker Carlson, their primetime pyromaniac, appear to be Hell-bent on dragging this country into a civil war. Jefferson Davis would be proud,” said former White House correspondent Jim Acosta on “CNN Newsroom” on Saturday afternoon.
CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter again hyperfocused on the Murdoch media dynasty on “Reliable Sources” on Sunday morning. “Are the Murdochs trying to be threats to American democracy? Is Rupert Murdoch a threat to American democracy?” Stelter asked guest Bill Carter, who replied Murdoch has “always been a destructive figure.”
The New York Times national political reporter, Astead Herndon, agreed with his fellow panelists that the threat of domestic terrorism from Fox News supporters appeared imminent.
“I think it’s a mistake for us to think of January 6 as an isolated event,” he said.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.