Donald Trump is in fine fettle this morning. He’s all juiced for CPAC, which Jimmy Kimmel says stands for, “Clowns Periodically Assembling in Convention Centers.” Trump is going to be the keynote speaker and he’s totally jazzed. So he took a little time this morning to not only crow about that but to weigh in on Fox News
Trump, like a lot of other people, is blaming Paul Ryan for Fox News getting out of hand. Although of course Trump’s definition of getting out of hand is the opposite of what the rest of the civilized world means by that expression.
And Trump is thrilled to be able to lash out at Ryan this way. Ryan has been disloyal, has said he wouldn’t vote for Trump for another term, and Trump is tickled pink that this Fox News debacle with Rupert Murdoch and Dominion Voting Systems is blowing up in Ryan’s face.
Paul Ryan is taking considerable heat for being on the Board of Directors of Fox News and watching the entire stolen election fable play out and doing nothing. CNN:
In the interview, conducted by conservative commentator Charlie Sykes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and posted Tuesday on The Bulwark Podcast, Ryan was asked how he could associate himself with a company that “is pumping toxic sludge, racism, disinformation, and attacks on democracy.”
“Do you have any responsibility?” Sykes asked.
“I do. I have a responsibility to offer my opinion and perspective and I do that, but I don’t go on TV and do it, right. So I offer my perspective, my opinion, often,” Ryan replied. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
Sykes continued pressing Ryan.
“Is there a red line for you at any point where you said, “‘I cannot be associated with a company that does this’?”
Ryan declined to directly answer the question. Instead, Ryan said, “I want to see the conservative movement get through this moment. And I think Fox is a big part of the constellation of the conservative movement.”
“Is it the solution or the problem?” Sykes asked.
Ryan said he believed Fox News is “gonna have to be a part of the solution if we’re going to solve the problem in the conservative movement.”
“Because there isn’t a bigger platform than this in America,” Ryan said. “So I think the conservative movement is going through a lot of churn and a lot of turmoil and I don’t like where it is right now.”
I think it’s pretty easy to read between the lines here that Ryan knew what was happening was dead wrong but he and the other board members basically did nothing to stop it. That’s an inescapable conclusion and one that Ryan is going to have to live with.
I also think it’s somewhat ludicrous that Ryan is conflating conservatism with the MAGA doctrine that Fox News is spewing. The two are apples and oranges.
Meanwhile, it looks like this lunatic is probably going to cruise to a second GOP nomination after being routed from the Oval Office in 2020.
Trump is out there, as usual. He’s out there spewing his stolen election nonsense. Yet, despite all that, he’s still the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in the polls.
More evidence that the Republican party is sinking to its knees like a sick cow and that’s not good for America. Democracy is built upon two functioning political parties. One functioning party and another one going to hell on a bobsled is a recipe for chaos and the worst thing for a democracy. That’s where we are right now. That’s where we have been for some time.
I’m not really going to throw stones at Ryan or the rest of the Fox “News” board members without knowing how much power that board actually wields. EVERY company is set up with a “Board of Directors” (or similarly titled body) but not all boards are created the same. Some have the ability to get rid of the company’s founder if need be while others can be fired at will by the company’s founder.
The Fox board may have very little actual power in day-to-day operations (especially over what the “news” folks do and say). The Murdochs could be dictatorial in their control and the board merely goes through the motions for appearances.
I may be wrong in this but, again, I’m not aware of the Fox corporate setup. I have little use for Ryan (he’s always been easy on the eyes but, then he has to go and start talking) but I’m not going to treat him like he’s solely responsible for the blight that is Fox “News”; the Murdochs bear far more responsibility for the blight of Fox “News” than any single member of the board (or, possibly, all members of the board combined).
Ryan is an evil pissant who deserves all the shit that can be thrown at him.
Murdoch should apologize true but for subjecting this country to the dreck it has been spewing all these years all the while referring to it as “news”. Yes, apologies are due from the putz.
I don’t believe Trump wrote either tweet. I believe that every time he uses proper grammar, spelling, and language that it’s someone else writing under his identity, trying to make him sound more….grown-up? Intelligent? Less of an idiot?
I wouldn’t be too sure on that – there is a phrase ‘SHOT like a dog’ but tbh I’ve never heard ‘fired like a dog’ anywhere else.
It’s that sloppy use of idioms that make me unsure that it wasn’t really Trump (allowing for the lack of upper case in words)
Ryan handed over a trillion dollar tax cut to himself and the rich. He helped in the development of this Maga party. He never stood up to Trump and supported all his fascism. Fuck that weasel. He has no principles. He doesn’t give a rat’s ass about democracy. He stayed on the board of the fascist network. He took the money and ran. May he wake up in a coffin full of black widow spiders.