Fox and GOP try to blame Biden for Trump’s indictment, without proof

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Even by Fox News primetime programming standards and after all, we’ve learned from the networks $787.5 million Dominion settlement over its decisions to ignore journalistic principles to meet the needs of the former President Donald Trump and his supporters, it was a striking editorial choice.

As President Biden spoke Tuesday night, the chyron at the bottom of the screen read, WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER ARRESTING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL.

It was a summary that might have made at least some sense during a conspiratorial monologue from ousted host Tucker Carlson. But that wasn’t the context; it was presented simply as the thing that happened as the network showed Biden making remarks.

And just like the Dominion situation, it should be read for what it is: a baseless allegation that fits perfectly with Trump’s policy goals.

Fox News said in a statement Wednesday, The chyron was immediately removed and has been addressed.

But the chyron, which appeared for about 30 seconds, didn’t come out of nowhere; in many ways it was a high point. For days and months, Trump and his allies have been pointing in that direction, despite the lack of any real evidence that Biden played a role in the decision to indict Trump.

Biden said categorically last week that he never, not once, suggested to the Justice Department what it should or should not do regarding whether or not to press charges. He also said he has not spoken and will not speak to Attorney General Merrick Garland about it.

The decision to press charges came from special counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Garland to isolate the case from political influence or the perception thereof. Garland himself is not authorized to reverse Smith’s decisions without informing Congress.

There’s no reason to believe Biden played a role in indicting Trump or getting his political rival arrested.

But that didn’t stop the whispers and even, in the case of Fox’s chyron, outright assertions. (The host for that 8 p.m. hour on Fox was morning and opinion host Brian Kilmeade.)

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) was among the first to respond to Trump’s indictment on Thursday, saying: If people in power can jail their political opponents at will, we have no Republic.

Over the weekend, Trump claimed Biden was trying to jail his main political opponent.

Shortly after Trump’s first court appearance on Tuesday, Fox hosted his 2024 opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, to outline his request for information on any interactions between Biden, Garland and Smith. That’s an important question, intoned host Martha MacCallum.

Ramaswamy offered no evidence of such Biden interactions or involvement. But he said he was suspicious because of selective omissions from Trump’s indictment, including failing to mention Trump’s late 2016 pledge not to prosecute Hillary Clinton on charges. questions of classified documents. (Never mind that, in fact, Trump has repeatedly insisted on prosecuting his political opponents, including Clinton, after supposedly backing down and the whole idea of ​​this effort is that a president shouldn’t play a role. in such matters.)

Another popular innuendo on Tuesday was the baseless notion that Biden had in fact announced his intention to take Trump down through the court system. Rep. Nancy Mace (RS.C.), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and others pointed to comments Biden made in November at a press conference:

Q: So the whole genesis of this G-7 conversation was tied to your predecessor, who is about to launch another campaign. So how can they be reassured, if this is the reason for their arrest, that the former president will not return or that his political movement, which is still very strong, will not return?

BIDEN: Oh, yeah? (Laughs.)

Q: — once again seize power in the United States?

BIDEN: Well, we just have to demonstrate that he won’t take power if he shows up. I am making sure that he, under the legitimate efforts of our Constitution, does not become the next president again.

Trump also underscored those comments two months ago when he was indicted in Manhattan.

While Bidens’ phrasing was awkward, there’s simply no reason to believe he was referring to indicting Trump or anything other than Trump’s election defeat. The context of our Constitution’s legitimate efforts was that Biden spoke at the press conference about Trump’s efforts to void the 2020 election.

It’s kind of like Carlson pointing the finger at Bidens promises to shut down the Nord Stream pipeline as if they were threats to blow it up and claiming it showed that Biden had in fact blown it up. Last week, Carlson unceremoniously backed away from that theory in the face of real evidence.

Indeed, the whole effort is very Carlsonian. It injects conspiracy theories into the nation’s blood under the guise of simply asking questions. He assures that the worst interpretation is probably the right one, because your political opponents are just bad. It twists known facts to fit Trump’s narrative of a Deep State plot against him.

And its fertile ground, given that about 8 in 10 Republicans see the charges as politically motivated.

Trump often complains that Fox isn’t toeing his line enough, despite the network having to fork out nearly $800 million in the Dominion lawsuit for bending over backwards to do just that. The message sent on Tuesday evening seemed to be: we were here for you and continue to promote your conspiracy theories, regardless of the evidence or their track record.

Fox seems to have acknowledged that he went too far, which is remarkable in that he was just saying what Trump says. But there will apparently be no shortage of right-wing figures willing to echo and promote Trump’s claims, even if they are not always so direct.

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