Now that it has happened more than once in clear, quick succession, it’s time to say that our President is getting many of his political stances and political ideas from watching daytime Fox News commentary.
The first instance of clear Fox-idea-borrowing by the POTUS was when he suggested that Chicago should be taken over by federal forces if they could not control violence in the city.
Trump’s statement on Chicago, seemingly out of nowhere, happened just after an “O’Reilly Factor” segment aired on Fox News pointing to the city’s crime rates. During the segment, O’Reilly cited specific statistics about the city’s increased violence while guest Horace Cooper said,
“I don’t know another word besides ‘carnage’ to describe the devastation that’s been taking place.”
An hour later, Trump tweeted about Chicago, citing the same statistics and using the same word – carnage – to describe it.
If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible “carnage” going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
Then again early Thursday morning, Trump lifted another Fox News segment for his Twitter ranting, this time talking about the protests that occurred at U.C. Berkeley in response to violent anti-semite and “alt-right” personality Milo Yiannopoulos.
Though the opinion Trump shared was not one alien to his own point of view, the timing of it made it clear that once again, he was taking his policy beliefs straight from a Fox News chyron.
Twitter user Danielle Blake pointed out the clear correlation between Fox and our President’s tweets.
Like. Clockwork. pic.twitter.com/OIkQZYqIxE
— (((Danielle Blake))) (@abradacabla) February 2, 2017
It’s no problem, really, that the president is a fan of trash “news” television – we knew that already. After all, he has openly urged Americans to watch Fox News before, even as a sitting president.
But both of these instances, Trump is proposing dangerous, freedom-infringing actions based solely on something a paid television pundit is saying.
With all of the intelligence advice and most knowledgeable people available to assist him, Trump would rather take his cues from “Fox and Friends.”
