Folks, it's as simple as this: If Trump is guilty of inciting a riot upon the U.S. Capitol (and he is), then those who incited Donald Trump are equally guilty. More so, in fact, because they are the root cause.
That means Limbaugh, Hannity, Dobbs, Ingram and Levin, among others, should be fired for cause, brought up on charges, and prosecuted for peddling a false product, and perpetrating a fraud upon the general public - both of which are federal crimes.
It also goes without saying that, after five years of shilling for Trump, the right-wing pundits have been proven dead wrong. The only rational conclusion people can make is that the Hannity/Limbaugh caucus simply cannot be trusted anymore.
Of course, they don't want that. So they're trying to find any excuse for Trump, and by extension themselves, that they can find.
Rush Limbaugh was quick to attempt to blame Left-wingers. On his January 7th show, he said that the crowd "undoubtedly" included some Antifa, pro-Democrat instigators. Social media quickly joined in spread rumors that Antifa members infiltrated the crowd and caused the attack. However, many arrests have been made since, and they're pretty much all right-wingers.
When that explanation failed, they quickly pivoted, trying to say that the attack was only "a few bad apples," and that the vast majority were kind and respectful. To that, all I can say is, 'roll the footage!' Do a head-count on everyone being unruly, violent, or disrespectful, and you'll see perfectly well that it was way more than "a few."
In fact, the right-wing origin of this riot was put well beyond shadow of doubt when footage circulated of Alex Jones participating in the crowd itself, after spending much of his own fortune promoting the event. Naturally, he sneaked off before the Capitol was breached. He is currently being questioned by the FBI.
On January 11ths edition of 'Fox & Friends,' Judge Jeanine Pirro equated the ban against Parler to Kristallnacht. No, really, she did!
On January 7th, Lou Dobbs claimed the Democrats were trying to "overthrow" Trump. No joke!
Even after Cumulus Media ordered its talk show hosts, like Mark Levin, to knock off the "stolen election" rhetoric, they went right on ahead anyway, most of them claiming to have not received the memo.
Mark Belling contributed to the madness the Monday after. You might think that after a weekend to reflect, Mark would see that his fiery rhetoric contributed to the boiling over of Trumpist extremism. But no. Instead, fearing to lose the job he doesn't need (because he's wealthy and of retirement age anyway) he calls the responsible crackdown on those who continually shout "fire" in a crowded theater, like himself, a form of oppression.
"Just checking over here, I want to make sure I haven't been canceled yet. Am I still on the air? Am I allowed to broadcast? I think it's beginning to dawn on people exactly what's going on. We are in the early stages in this country of total totalitarianism. And I'm not going to sugarcoat this because it's going to continue until it's stopped."
When you perpetrate a public fraud, there are laws which prosecute you. One cannot sell a fraudulent product in a grocery store, or a department store, because that will get you sued and your business shut down!
How much more important is our news media!
Now, I believe in freedom of speech. Belling should be able to go on spewing whatever bullshit he wants. BUT NOT ON A NEWS NETWORK!
The word "NEWS" is sacred! You tell the truth in that territory, or you get the fuck out!
And yes, there is room for editorializing. The Op-Ed page is as old as newspapers themselves. But not only should op-ed be clearly delineated, but those who do op-ed SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED SAY PROVEN FALSEHOODS! Because that crosses the line between opinion and fraud! If your opinion is based on the notion that (for example) gremlins are in control of the Pentagon, you should probably be held accountable if you decide to print or air that statement.
In the news, one can have an alternate opinion. One cannot have alternate facts!
"It is breathtaking that Twitter kicked Donald Trump off," Belling said on Monday. "Because if they can kick off the President of the United States, that means they can kick off anyone. What chance has Joe Blow in Joplin, Missouri have if Donald Trump can't survive on Twitter?"
Except that Joe Blow in Joplin doesn't have 80-odd million followers, 90% of whom will believe any bullshit he makes up.
This is a question which should have been brought up back when Twitter should have kicked Trump off four years ago! A better question is, why the hell did Twitter allow this to go on for so long? Why did it allow Donald Trump to spew anger, hatred, racism, bigotry and even sedition for four solid years with zero consequences? Isn't it fair to say that Twitter gave Trump way too much leeway just for being the president?
Trump is guilty. The right-wing media cult leaders who made Trump in the first place are even more guilty still. If Trump is to be made a pariah, if his impeachment is to be successful to bar him from participating in the 2024 elections, then so too much Hannity, Limbaugh, Levin, OANN and Newsmax.
They are snake oil peddlers, who should be treated every bit as harshly as Kevin Trudeau, James Van Praagh, John Edward.
Let them give their bullshit opinions. That's free speech. But if such opinions depend on dissemination of outright bullshit, they've started to sell fake product, and have thus crossed the line.
Our laws, or at least FCC policy, should reflect that.
Eric
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