At our house, we depend on an antenna for TV channels, but on rare occasion, like at the tire store or in a motel, I find myself alone with a cable TV and a channel clicker. In that case, I do what any sane person would do … I click right over to Fox News to see what they’re talking about. To someone without cable TV at home (me), Fox News is like an exciting and mysterious foreign land.
I recommend that all my favorite lefties spend an hour or two on Fox when they get a chance. The TV visit isn’t just to see what’s on, which is loud, repetitive and predictable. The goal is to check in with what our rural neighbors are watching and what the talk will be next time we see them. They pick up their arguments directly from the arguments of the Fox pundits. For many Missourians, Fox is the soundtrack of their lives.
I recommend watching right-wing media, and there are a lot of them, because, from now on, elections are fair game for challenges by the losing party. The arguments we hear from right-wing pundits today, the discrediting and mob anger, may be part of every election from now on. That’s the power of media running 24/7 in the living room. The New Yorker recently described right-wing media as a “perpetual outrage machine.”
It’s not only the content that’s compelling. The question is: Why is Fox production so seductive? Is it the shrill authoritarian voice of the opinionated speaker? The explosive noise and color of the station IDs? The inflammatory headlines? The rock and roll breaks? Is it the feeling of being an insider in a big, conspiratorial world? Whatever it is, the Fox-ers can’t turn it off. And I don’t blame them. Even if I’m on a schedule, like last time I tuned in, it’s hard to get away.
Fox content is, as I said, loud, repetitive and predictable. Maybe I should have said predictably right-wing, overblown and one-sided. So you can imagine my surprise to learn that on June 16 they aired the hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. That was the day that we learned that Vice President Mike Pence was the only grown-up in the room on Jan. 6, and that Trump pressured him to overturn the election when rioters were just outside his safe room. Even if you’re not a Pence fan, you have to have respect for a man that stood up to his boss at the same time he was being threatened with hanging by a mob.
Viewer comments on the Fox website praised Pence for his heroism while some loyal viewers saw the hearings as “political theater” and “another HUGE waste of taxpayer money.” One chimed in that “The people on this committee should be investigated and charged.” A lively debate ensued on the website.
No lively debate was happening on the PBS site. Instead, PBS viewers were treated to the comments of Watergate investigator Bob Woodward, comparing the old hearings with the new and Trump to Nixon. Thoughtful, intelligent, and boring.
Contrast Woodward’s serious recollections and insightful comparisons with the posts from Trump on his Truth Social Networking App, the “uncensored” app that Trump launched after being banned from Twitter and Facebook. At its launch, it was the number one seller on the Apple App Store. In recent tweets, Trump called Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide who testified against him, “A Total Phony” and called the Jan. 6 Committee “a Kangaroo Court.” Hutchinson had detailed Trump’s actions, reporting that a Secret Service agent had told her Trump demanded to be taken to the Capitol on Jan. 6 despite the riot in progress.
It would be great if Fox continued to run its coverage of the hearings but as I write this Fox has given time back to its right-wing pundits who interview lawmakers that agree with the Trumpists. But, even so, as testimonies against Trump stack up, he’s losing support.
On Jan. 7, 2021, the day after the riot, a Politico poll reported that more than 6 in 10 Americans said Trump was “at least somewhat responsible” for the violence. That immediate reaction was diluted by the yammering by right-wing media and a year later, in February 2022, Pew reported that only 43% agreed with that finding. But things are moving slowly toward the truth and in June 2022, the numbers started creeping up. At the same time, the allegation that Trump was “somewhat responsible” has moved to the suggestion that criminal charges should be filed against Trump. By July 1, the AP reported that 48% of Americans are in favor of criminal charges while only 31% disagree. 20% have no opinion.
Having the June 16 hearing on Fox may have turned the tide for truth.
Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, August 1, 2022
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